OK I can tie this thread to the 1982 Union Square Criterium thread.
My old friend and training partner Mark Lobit, who appears in the photos (#113), was best friends with Harold Gulbransen Jr.. Mark and Harold grew up racing together. They started racing when they were 5 years old. Corky learned frame building from Dick Power. The first frame he built was a 20" wheel midget track bike that he made for Harold Jr. That is the only Corky bike that Corky still owns. Mark and Harold were multi time national champions. They both spent their entire racing careers riding Corky bikes.
Anyway, while Mark was in art school Corky wanted to get new decals made. So he had Mark design them with the sea-horse motif that you see in Anthony's photos. So there is a clear line of demarkation between the older "Corky Special" graphics and the newer seahorse graphics.
I've owned quite a few Corkys including the afore mentioned pacing motor. When I was just starting out Corky was the premier marque in the New York City area. Many of the top riders had them... Corky stopped building bikes in the late 70's but he still had all his equipment until 1995 when he moved to San Diego. At that time he called me up and offered to sell me the contents of his shop for $500. That included a couple cases of Nervex lugs, many boxes of tubes including a wooden crate full of Accles & Pollack tubes that he had gotten from Dick Power, two NOS Brooks Swallow saddles, several cigar boxes full of Campy track drop outs, all his tools and jigs, a huge Jack Taylor sprint tandem that the boys had ridden in the nationals... Silly me, I passed.
Jamie Swan Northport, N.Y. Centerport Cycles Inc. http://www.centerportcycles.com (mapped) http://www.limws.org http://www.liatca.org http://www.cabinfeverauctions.com
On Nov 23, 2007, at 3:31 PM, Anthony Bier wrote:
>
> Hello list,
>
> I have to admit that i haven't been keeping up with the list
> lately as I
> have a lot on my plate. So it seems fortuitous that when I opened
> the lates
> t digest in my CR folder one of the topics being discussed is days
> gone by
> in the New York cycling scene. Some may recall my request for
> information a
> bout a year ago about a builder named Corky Gulbransen (now a
> champion wood
> carver I believe). As far as I am aware no one on the list owns a
> Corky an
> d there is precious little information on the internet. I found two
> people
> who knew anything about Mr. Gulbransen and there is one photo on
> the net of
> a motorized training machine. Cycleart has restored one as well
> but I have
> no idea who owns it and have never seen a photo. My machine will
> be rebuil
> t with 1971 correct nuovo record parts, including bar end shifters
> (the onl
> y option for this bike). Items not correct include the seatpost
> (has min in
> sertion line), the headset (pretty minor) and cables, housing,
> hoods, toe s
> traps. I even found a cinelli 1A with a nutted clamp and 7mm bolt.
> Only las
> t week did I obtain a unicanitor in black suede without the cinelli
> embosse
> d on the back. This is my oldest bike and it is being built on a
> budget so
> all the parts will be stripped and polished as I could not obtain
> mint or N
> OS parts. I expect to finish assembling the bike by next summer (I
> haven't
> even taken delivery of it yet). Thanks to Mark Bunten who did the
> paint and
> decal art/sourcing and also to the contributors of information
> (Jamie Swan
> and Edward Albert) and to the person who found the bike, Darwin
> Gregory. M
> ay I also suggest/request we add Corky Gulbransen to the American
> builders
> list on the CR website? As promised here are some pictures of my
> restored C
> orky Gulbransen Criterium Machine. There is also a before album of
> the spra
> y bombed rusty nightmare.
>
> http://www.wooljersey.com/
>
> Thanks
> Anthony Bier
> A week away from Victoria, BC