I am taking a break from transcribing radio interviews (how much fun is that on a sunny August day?) to start dribbling in some of my bikes in the hope that this far-more-knowledgeable-than-me crew can add to my knowledge base.
I was living in the UK back in early 2000s. When I saw a bike with a 60cm frame on the Loot classified site. I was particularly drawn to the owner\u2019s mention of Dura Ace components and so I drove up from Oxford to Warrington (just outside of Liverpool) to see it.
http://picasaweb.google.com/
The seller said that it had been his son\u2019s bike when he\u2019d raced. But that his son had died tragically and so he was selling it. I (maybe naively) accepted his apparent grief as the reason he\u2019d scratched the names off the frame (I think it said \u201cR Breen\u201d but it is not very clear.)
I was even less aware of bike lore back then and so was a little taken aback by the really old Dura Ace kit. I\u2019d never seen such an old setup.
The other \u201cinconvenience\u201d was a ding in the seat tube. Cosmetically it was unfortunate and knocked this bike out of the collector\u2019s class (if it ever merited a place there.) But I figured it would be sturdy enough.
I road it around Oxfordshire while I was there and never really thought about it much (Maybe because it was usually raining and that took some of the pleasure out of the rides.). It always seemed \u201cnervous\u201d, as if it had a short wheelbase. When I moved back to Canada, I left it in the ex-girlfriend\u2019s garage, in a bike bag.
Last fall I finally brought it back to Canada and have found it a joy to ride ever since, my ride of choice in the country. I am amazed at how cleanly and evenly the simple friction shifting works. It strikes as crisp, smooth and accurate as any STI or whatever those \u201cin the brake lever\u201d shifters are called.
I did contact the Ron Spencer Cycles shop that still operates in Warrington. \u201cEstablished in 1978 by ex National Champion and International racing cyclist Ron Spencer.\u201d His son Chris told me that his father couldn\u2019t remember when it was made but that it was definitely made by Harry Quinn. (though there appears to be no Q-serial number.)
Now back to that scratched off name. I was somewhat disabused of the romantic notion that the seller was just trying to deal with his grief when another custom-made bike (custom for someone else, as I\u2019d purchased it 2ndhand from a friend), a Cyclops, was stolen in Toronto a few years. The first thing the thief did it seems was to scratch Robbies\u2019s name off the cross tube, presumably to disguise an utterly unique and easily identifiable bike (so identifiable in fact that I got it back when a LBS owner, riding to work early one morning, pulled up beside some guy on a white and purple Cyclops\u2014I\u2019d put the word out. He challenged the rider -- he thought it looked a bit odd a fellow 5\u20196\u201d on a 62cm frame \u2013 the guy dropped it and ran.).
So, the Ron Spencer might well have been stolen too. I never thought to ask at the time. I\u2019ve tried to find a "Breen" in the Warrington/Liverpool area phone directory, but with no luck. I can\u2019t remember the address or directions to the house of the seller. I\u2019ve this week written to Chris Spencer again asking if they might have kept a log of the people whose names they had painted onto a bike (it was likely not everyone.)
I await his reply.
And I would be curious what comments you all might have.
Peter Stock
Toronto, Canada