It's not every day that I get chance to read comments about one of my fr ames on an international forum, and so I am very grateful to Wyndham for hi s recent contribution to the List. Obviously I am doubly grateful that he f ound that the frame handles well, although I knew from the original owner, Peter Gibbs, that he found it an excellent machine for his long time-trials ie not as twitchy as a radical T-T machine and not as leggy as a massed st art one.
It is interesting to see the frame built up with this eclectic mix of Europ ean accessories, particularly a ZEUS triple chainset, and some radically-sp oked MAVIC-ASSOS wheels, as the last time I saw photos, when it was owned b y another member of the CR List, it was decked out with full Campagnolo Rec ord equipment..
I last saw it in the flesh, so to speak, about eight, possibly ten years ago, when it was in its original aquamarine meta llic finish, and sported an all-Japanese build-up of Suntour Superbe Pro eq uipment.
Something has been bugging me about the frame..and the bike since I saw the photos of the frame, as it had been repainted by Arthur Caygill, of Richmo nd. When new, the customer specified one of those gear lever bosses that sa t atop the down-tube and supported a pair of those Suntour levers that had a self-compensating lever for the front mech. It is the removal of this fea ture and the addition of a pair of Campag D/T bosses that has given the frame more of a road racing than a time-trial appearance. In any case I wou ld not have raked the fork blades so shallowly had the frame been ordered f or massed-start use.
In recent weeks three other BESPOKE frames from the early 1980s have surfac ed; one of them is very radical T-T frame with the shortest rear triangle t hat I ever built, another is a dedicated criterium frame destined for use in Belgium and Hol land, while the third is a dual-purpose road-racing/occasional time-trial f rame typical of that period..
Photos can be found at; http://www.flickr.com/
Norris Lockley...Settle UK