Hetchins
- Thread starter stedlocks
- Start date
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OP
OP
stedlocks
Über Member
- Location
- Stortford, near the Airport ;-)
Sorry for sounding so suspicious! I don't know if it was ever Yorkshire way, to be honest....it's interesting that you say show frame, as that was one of the possible reasons for the different styles on the frame that Flash mentioned. It seems to have a frame number from much earlier than 1979 ....possibly as early as the 50's apparently. He thought that it may have been made for the Earl's Court show, or some such.....what did you do at Cliff Pratts?
midlife
Guru
Hi
Cliff Pratt's......... Like all kids of the baby boom era I was bike mad and my mum and dad bought me a Carlton Cobra when I was about 13 in 1973-4. It must have cost them an arm and a leg as we still had an outside toilet
I used to visit all the bike shops in Hull but Cliff Pratt had the biggest stock of lightweight stuff so I used to go and stare in the window for hours dreaming and looking in the shop; like most kids did I guess.
The owner Bryan Loukes simply got fed up of me hanging around and told me if I was going to be there all the time I might as well make myself useful and do something. I started sweeping up and cleaning bikes, then punctures, then PDI, then saturday job, then after school, then holidays, selling, workshop, meeting the reps and going to shows like Harrogate and York as a hanger on.
During all that I raced; TT, road, circuit etc and sat on the window edge of cars following races. My Avatar is the cutout bottom bracket of my Kevin Sayles TT bike Tragically I was never that good but loved it LOL
I came across quite a bit of show stuff from the reps and at the shows themselves, even the magnesum alloy kit for Peter Post's attack at the hour record. A lot of manufacturers produced show frames that did the rounds, even frames about a foot high with all the lugs but the tubes just a few inches long.
My memory is pretty shot but there is something about the combination of the vibrant stays and seat stay cluster that rings a bell which is why I wondered if it was a show / demonstration frame.
Thing of beauty as they say Is the head badge non standard colours?
Cheers
Shaun
Cliff Pratt's......... Like all kids of the baby boom era I was bike mad and my mum and dad bought me a Carlton Cobra when I was about 13 in 1973-4. It must have cost them an arm and a leg as we still had an outside toilet
I used to visit all the bike shops in Hull but Cliff Pratt had the biggest stock of lightweight stuff so I used to go and stare in the window for hours dreaming and looking in the shop; like most kids did I guess.
The owner Bryan Loukes simply got fed up of me hanging around and told me if I was going to be there all the time I might as well make myself useful and do something. I started sweeping up and cleaning bikes, then punctures, then PDI, then saturday job, then after school, then holidays, selling, workshop, meeting the reps and going to shows like Harrogate and York as a hanger on.
During all that I raced; TT, road, circuit etc and sat on the window edge of cars following races. My Avatar is the cutout bottom bracket of my Kevin Sayles TT bike
Tragically I was never that good but loved it LOLI came across quite a bit of show stuff from the reps and at the shows themselves, even the magnesum alloy kit for Peter Post's attack at the hour record. A lot of manufacturers produced show frames that did the rounds, even frames about a foot high with all the lugs but the tubes just a few inches long.
My memory is pretty shot but there is something about the combination of the vibrant stays and seat stay cluster that rings a bell which is why I wondered if it was a show / demonstration frame.
Thing of beauty as they say
Is the head badge non standard colours?Cheers
Shaun
OP
OP
stedlocks
Über Member
- Location
- Stortford, near the Airport ;-)
Good work! People like yourselves should write your memories down for posterity, as most of them are going to be lost in time......a friend of mine used to know most of the good builders around London...he holds the patents for some chater lea stuff too! I spotted a lovely pair of unfinished, twin plate crown forks, just sitting under his stairs. When I asked about them, he said ' oh, they're Dick Morris'..when I asked how he could be sure, he said 'I was there when he made em!'
I think the badge is a stock Southend one, but I do have this, which is a bit special....
I am in contact with Paul Hetchin, and after chatting for a bit, he asked for my address, and sent me some bits.....this is, apparently, the original headbadge that was sent to Alf, I believe, for approval for the final design. You will notice that the finish is very rough, and there is no proper lettering....it was just to see if the design was ok, before making the proper ones.....
No one has seen this before!
I think the badge is a stock Southend one, but I do have this, which is a bit special....
I am in contact with Paul Hetchin, and after chatting for a bit, he asked for my address, and sent me some bits.....this is, apparently, the original headbadge that was sent to Alf, I believe, for approval for the final design. You will notice that the finish is very rough, and there is no proper lettering....it was just to see if the design was ok, before making the proper ones.....
No one has seen this before!
OP
OP
stedlocks
Über Member
- Location
- Stortford, near the Airport ;-)
TheCyclingRooster
Veteran
- Location
- Scarisbrick,Lancashire
Interestingly enough way back in the mid/late 60's I had a 1937 Hetchins (Vibrant Triangle) Curly Stays that was originally built as a 2 day Brilliant Track Frame complete with Double Crown Forks but did not have the fancy lug-work that is/was so often associated with Hetchins - the frame number was H108 (verified by Len Ingram of the Hetchins Register;it was visible on the bottom bracket shell and on the rear track ends.
Several years later they were removed and replaced with Road Dropouts and the frame cold-set at Walvale Cycles,Liverpool by the late Norman Roberts to allow a 5 spd block.
I continued riding the Hetchins until the day that it was nicked by some light fingered low-life from my place of work just off of the city centre.
The frame had been stripped and the double crown forks removed - I later rebuilt it and ran it for a couple more years before foolishly selling it to Harry Hall Cycles in Manchester because after getting married I had no means of safe storage.