Colin Laing
Hello Stuart, Selaing...and others on this thread
I didn't know who Colin Laing was until today. Wife drug me to a community garage sale near Fort Myers this morning. Only had $100 with me, and had vowed to wife no more bikes. Saw bike laying in the grass next to a driveway full of yard sale items. Told wife, prolly a POS, but gotta check it. Saw the fancy scalloped lugs, picked it up and saw all Campy, knew I had to have it.
Decals say Colin Laing racing cycles Tucson. Lady sold it to me for $60, which was all I had left in my pocket (she asked for $100). They had moved here from Arizona. Her late husband got it new, she said she thought in the 60s or 70s. His name is hand painted on the top tube,"J.C.Sutton". His name was John. She said he shoulda stuck to road biking, he got into mountain biking (rather extreme out west mountain biking) and had a couple crashes. His last crash broke 5 ribs, damaged kidneys, spleen etc. He never recovered, and died as a result. He was 71.
I got a box of papers with it, one is a note and receipt from someone with a hand written note that his Campy short reach brakes were on back order, with apology for the inconvenience. The hand written receipt showed 1980 Campagnolo road group Nuovo Record for $478. There was an address hand written 1421 E.Hedrick Tucson, AZ. Not sure if this was original components or upgrades, not sure if the frame was built earlier and these were upgrades or if the frame was built at that time. There are no numbers I can find on the BB shell. The bike is dusty, no rust, and the paint and decals are in lovely shape. I've read with great interest this entire thread, and was hoping maybe Stuart or one of y'all could tell me any info bout this frame, and if it may be in Colin's book? It measures 24" to the top of the (very) long point on the seat tube lug, but probably more like 23 ½" if the lug weren't so ornate, so not sure exactly the size. The BB shell has cable guides brazed underneath it, with 3 slots you can see the BB dust shield through. The rear brake cable has 2 cable stops on the lower left hand side of the top tube so it's bare cable the length of the tube. The wheels/tires are 700c. The reason I think the frame may be from the 70s is because the campy downtube shifters are clamp ons, and I would think if it were an 80s frame they's be brazed on, but I'm NOT an expert, and just getting back into cycling having recently refurbished my 1982 motobecane which I bought new at age 18.
I recognize this is a hell of a find, and even my wife knew I had to get it (this hobby is new, but they're stacking up quick, as well as boxes from eBay). The only decal that's hard to read is the one at top of seat tube which tells the type of tubing. Thanks in advance for any info, I'd love to post pics if I can figure that out. Again, I can't find any numbers.