PRICELESS!
Thank you Brian
John T.Pergolizzi
Brooklyn, NewYork;
who always dreamt of going fast!
>I have a Reg Harris track bike, in fact I have owned two, not the Raleighs
> that he rode as a professionsl but track bikes made in his factory in
> Macclesfield during his short lived venture into bicycle manufacturing.
> When
> I told my Dad in 1963 that I wanted to race track and that I was going to
> build up a track bike from bits and pieces he told Norman Grattage, a
> close
> friend of Reg and the manager of Fallowfield stadium in Manchester, and
> Norman told my Dad that Reg was selling his personal track bike that he
> had
> made for him at his factory. This frame was super strong, had liners in
> the
> chainstays to accommodate Reg's extreme jump and had about a dozen Reg
> Harris transfers on it, and it was all Campag with a Campag inch pitch
> chainset, Campag large flange track hubs, Campag seat pin with Unica
> plastic
> saddle, a cheap Ambrossio stem and no name steel track bars, cheap Milremo
> pedals, Mavic track sprint rims and Dunlop No 2 tubs.
>
> It is not widely known but Reg made his first comeback in 1965 as a
> reinstated amateur, many people have forgotten this comeback (including
> Reg), but because he had sold it to me, he had no track bike, so he asked
> for mine back and gave me another Reg Harris track bike as a replacement,
> which was also made in his factory, I will be bringing this bike to the
> Cirque. He was all set to win the Gran Prix of the City of Manchester at
> the
> 1965 Wheelers meet (he won his heats easily) when half way through the
> meet
> it started to pour with rain and the meet was cancelled. Reg rode one
> other
> meet that year and was beaten by Paul Jenner in the sprint either at
> Coventry (the Butts) or Herne Hill, this really put Reg's nose out of
> joint.
> Reg wanted a revenge match "omnium" (kilometer time trial, sprint, and
> flying 200 meter time trial) but Jenner chickened out and so Reg retired
> again, only to come back again for his famous win of the British pro
> championship in 1974 at 54 years old. The funny thing about this is that
> Reg
> never mentioned this first comeback in 1965 in his book "Two Wheels to the
> Top", probably because it left a sour taste in his mouth. During this
> comeback in 1965 Reg rode a lot with the our club (Manchester Wheelers)in
> club 25s and on the track at Fallowfield, my claim to fame is that I was
> his
> 4 minute man in a club 25 and he passed me at about 20 miles, he did a 60
> minutes something and I did a 1:5:48 (I was only a schoolboy at the time
> and
> eventually my PB came down to 58:12). I used to train on the track with
> him
> as well (along with a bunch of other guys), doing bit-and-bit for lap
> after
> lap, it was marvellous. One day he arrived at the track to find me
> practicing track stands "what the hell are you doing" he said "practicing
> track stands" I said, "why don't you practice going fast before you
> practice
> going slow" he replied - wise words indeed.
>
> Reg was never interested in trophies or nostalgia - only money, he sold
> everything he ever won, silver tea services, watches, all his bikes and
> trophies, it all meant nothing to him, I'll bet that as soon as he
> re-retired in 1965 he probably sold my first Reg track bike as soon as the
> wheels stopped spinning, I'd love to know what happened to that bike.
>
> I have only ever seen 3 Reg Harris track bikes, the two I had and one
> ridden
> by Peter Gordon. Reg gave the bike to Peter so that he could advertise the
> marque for him, Peter was a very good rider (British Amateur Road
> Champion)
> and it wasn't unusual for good riders to be given bikes in the days before
> sponsorship so that the bike name could be seen around. Peter's bike, like
> the first one I had, was covered in Reg Harris transfers, top tube, down
> tube, forks, chain stays. For some reason Reg and Peter had a falling out
> and Peter put duct tape over all the transfers - it looked horrible, but I
> guess he achieved his goal of sticking it to Reg.
>
> Brian Booth
> Toronto, Ontario
> Canada, M1V 2S8
>
>
> .......__o
> .......\<,
> ....( )/ ( )