[CR] Pollard Track Frameset---POLLARD PHOTS POSTED

(Example: Events)

Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:05:58 -0800
From: "Peter Jourdain" <pjourdain@yahoo.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Cc: harrisbucklin@gmail.com
Subject: [CR] Pollard Track Frameset---POLLARD PHOTS POSTED


Greetings---

Well, I've dug through the archives and uploaded some Pollard auction photos to my photobucket account and you may click on the link, below, to view them.

The frames shown are, in order:

1. A lovely late-40s/early '50s Hellenic Pollard track frameset, finished in flat grey, sold on ebay maybe four years ago. For me, that was one of "the ones that got away." No transfers on it.

2. A '50s Hellenic Superlite road frame in orange, which clearly shows the serif-style typeface on the downtube, but no type on the seat tube.

3. A '70s Pollard road frame (non-Hellenic) finished in light metallic blue with crimson bands. It's hard to see, but in the band on the downtube I believe it shows the straight, sans-serif typeface. Again, no type on the seat tube.

4. Another road frameset from the '50s (non-Hellenic) reputed to be a Pollard, finished in orange. I say "reputed" because it seems to have a different head tube transfer than any of the others. In fact, it looks like the six-sided star of R.O. Harrison's "New Star Cycles." Perhaps this was on of those auctions where the seller uploaded one or more incorrect photos to ebay. I've seen it happen before. Curiously enough, though, when I blew up the full-shot of the frame there IS a faint transfer on the downtube, and I believe it may say POLLARD in the sans-serif type.

http://s840.photobucket.com/albums/zz325/RetroCyclist/POLLARDS/?start=all

http://s840.photobucket.com/albums/zz325/RetroCyclist/POLLARDS/

As far as drawing any conclusions from the above as they relate to Harris Bucklin's lovely blue Pollard track frame for sale, there aren't many. While none of the frames above display a treatment similar to Harris' with two different style typefaces on the same machine, both serif and sans-serif typefaces seem to have been used by Pollard, without regard to timeline. And while none of the above frames show a large sans-serif font on the seat tube, I've seen many track machines which differ as to paint and transfer details from standard road bikes built by the same company. The nature of track racing, being quite public, often caused builders to apply extra, different, or larger graphics so as to advertise their marque more easily to the masses attending Hearne Hill or any of the other track venues. I've also seen professional road machines done up in this fashion, for the benefit of photographers, etc.

My own personal opinion is that the odds are quite high that on Harris Bucklin's frame the paint and transfers are original, and that it has not been repainted. It was simply supplied with big POLLARD transfers on the seat tube so as to easily call attention to the frame as it flew around the track.

Cheerio,

Peter Jourdain
Whitewater, Wisconsin USA