Jeirvine found this on his local CL and was kind enough to facilitate for me. The wheels that came with it were, to say the least mis-matched. The front is a 32h, 700c, gold anodized magic tubular. The rear sports a 27', 40h, clincher ambrosio. Matching either rim has proven to be difficult thus far and I'm trying to keep it with that British flair. I'm planning on putting on strong light 93s, cotton tape and campy cable clamps. I'm afraid of really cleaning up the paint because the decals have definitely seen better days. Needless to say I will not be repainting it.

I've also made contact with Peter Matthew's shop in Liverpool. He's apparently more known for wheel building then frame building and I haven't seen anything about Pete Matthews built bicycles on line. I'm thinking this might be a contracted job for his shop.

Love it. The patina is incredible. And I love the painted on "E McCreary." Must be a previous owner's name?

Nice!

The front wheel should be 32 spokes, of course. A 32H hub is easier to find than a 40!

I'm hoping to keep it 32–40. I have a set of 36 hole wheels that would look good on this, but I'd really rather keep it closer to spec.

I would assume so! It definitely has character.

What's not to love about this bike? Very cool; I'd love to find an old British bike like this.

I'm pretty excited. I love the bag support, leaf and fenders!

I think I'd also like to have some drillium on this to match that front dιrailleur.

Yeah it needs a carradice bag to complete the look.

Aaron...what a bike...the patina is incredible...I am sure you will clean it up "appropriately"...getting some grime off of it is about the extent would be my guess! Good luck on keeping the wheels as original as possible...

The extra little signed portion is also very cool..

Wow...what a find!

Now...as the Mission Impossible movies like to say..."if you accept this challenge..." Wouldn't it be great if you could get the "whole story" of the bike? Find out who "McCreary" was? Maybe Pete Matthews built wheels for him (her?) and they asked for a special frame? Knowing that story would definitely move this bike to the "top of the heap" as far as looks, patina, worldliness...and story...even if McCreary proves to be a nobody in the cycling world!

Wow...congrats dude!

I'll keep the forum posted with what I learn! The guy I'm interfacing with, Lee Matthews, seemed quite interested and very friendly. This is definitely a case where less is more as far as the restoration. I VERY gently went over it with a wash cloth and wax - I think any more than that might destroy what remains of the decals.

It'll definitely be getting a caradice! Maybe a handlebar bag as well.

To be honest about it, I was initially interested in it as a parts donor for my Mooney (this is pretty much exactly what I wanted to do with that bike)...but when i saw it, that went out the window.

Nice find. I like the oddball brand stuff. Kind of resembles a Raleigh to my eye.

I was thinking Holdsworth actually. It looks too clean for 70s Raleigh.

I love it. Strange cable routing under the BB though. I have some extra "above the BB" clamp-on guides that might work on that.

Eager to see it when you have it finished.

that thing has mad style, love it!

I just love seat stay caps like this, so elegant.

Okay, so these are not the 'money shot' photos. But very interesting. As [MENTION=19743]USAZorro[/MENTION] pointed out, the under-the-bb cable routing is strange. The reason it's strange is that there is a single cable stop at the bottom of the down tube; and the derailleur is a post-1967 Record without a cable stop. This frame was made for a derailleur with a cable stop. I'm not sure exactly what that means, beyond the fact that this frame was not made with this derailleur in mind.

And what about the 531 decal?

When did they start using decals with TI REYNOLDS LIMITED verbiage?

I'm inclined to think this frame is from the early 70's, or possibly the late 60's

I would not be surprised if it was from the 60's. My JRJ has a cable stop like this and I eventually ended up with a late 60's Campagnolo derailleur which had the required integrated stop.

Really cool frame. You know I love stuff like this!

Definitely Holdsworth.

Fun project Aaron.

I think the TI new decal was post 74 but I'm not sure.

autocorrect?

Classy bike indeed! The pinstripes and other hand-painted details are really neat.

I confess I misread the painted name as if the last R was a P, and the scratch looks like a y following the E, such that phonetically it would be "I am Creepy."

+1. I had to do a similar cable routing work-around when I decided to upgrade the Valentino FD on my Cilo to a Record FD.

Those wrap around seatstays are beautiful.

Such a neat project! Kind of baffling why the 27" rear and a 700c front. For such a nice bike, would think it rather odd a prior owner taking the whatever approach in replacement. Could the fork and crown help date it?

Is there an appropriate Sachs, huret or non-campy italian derailleur that would have the stop I want?

I think it hurts more than it helps. Galmozzi = Gal mosey. Campagnolo = camp and moldy. etc.

Autocorrect is switchoffable.