crank_addict

This English made Witcomb landed gratuitous and without known history. A kind lady gifted it off at a LBS and where the owner gave it to me. All that was mentioned it hadn't been ridden in 30 to 40 years. I'm assuming it was the lady owners personal bike as a name is etched into the crank arm and bb shell.

Appears original, all Campagnolo Record except for the Weinmann centerpulls. 3ttt Record stem, Cinelli del Mondo bar, Mavic tubulars, Regina f.w.. The derailleur is marked 1972.

The tubing decal is mostly decayed off, can vaguely see a bit of Reynolds and something about Campagnolo on the fork blade. Campy long dropouts and fork ends. Most of the Witcombs I've seen of that era have the wrap around seat stays, but this one is completely different. Fillet brazed to a lug with a seat clamp collar. Note the large rectangular bb shell cutout. Its cleanly done and looks factory. Additionally, the front brake and front derailleur has some drillium work.

Any insight on the year of production, model type and type of tubing is appreciated. I won't have a chance to get into the project for some time though quite likely when I do, will be a preservation.

[IMG]DSC_1849 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1857 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1859 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

crank_addict

[IMG]DSC_1855 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1863 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1858 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1856 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

crank_addict

[IMG]DSC_1854 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1853 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1852 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1851 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

crank_addict

[IMG]DSC_1850 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1865 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1864 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1862 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1861 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1860 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

rhm

I'm sure the tubing is butted 531, but you knew that. The seat stay treatment is remarkably similar to what Carlton was doing on the Raleigh Professional in the early 70's. Campy cranks sometimes have a date code; hub locknuts usually do.

Brakes are consistent with early 70's. The only feature that looks out of place to my eye is the seat tube collar.

Put a saddle on it, or wrap something around the seat post parts, they can get lost! I suspect someone at the bike shop snagged the original saddle.

Congratulations, by the way!

crank_addict

RHM- thanks for the insight. With such a small shop yet reported their annual output / early 70's was 1,000 bikes. The bike boon era begins along with the USA Witcomb established around that time. To meet demand, could it be the English Witcomb would purchase Raleigh frames, spray and decal them??

(BTW, first thought I had is the RHM saddle on the RRB is going on this bike ;-)

3speedslow

I have no info to share but would like to add my name to the fan club! That is a spectacular gift to you.

So will this be your entrant in the clunker challenge?

Drillium Dude

Wow, that is uber-cool - too bad somebody let it decay like that! A bunch of cool details wherever one looks. I'd call that a candidate for full-resto for sure. Color me jealous

Agree with Rudi about the seat collar - but you know, it almost looks like there used to be binder ears on the seat lug but for whatever reason they were removed. Can you confirm?

DD

nlerner

The '72 Witcomb UK catalog is posted in the VCC library:

https://www.veterancycleclublibrary.o...20Library).pdf

Charles Wahl

Beautiful bike; it's just too bad that it was ridden hard and stabled wet. Maybe cleanup will bring it back a lot. Are any of the town/bike shop stickers dated? Based on details and lack of mudguard eyelets, it probably does date to the early 70s. Now, that's a BB cutout! Whoever made off with the saddle didn't have the sense to take the Campy two-bolt seatpost too.

crank_addict

Outstanding reference - thank you!

In the above archived reference, there's a notice about Lee Katz and his 'merry men' of Turin bike shop -Chicago being a selling representative. An original Turin decal is on the seat tube. There's also a city of Boulder CO license with expiration 1976 and then another for Elk Grove Village (next to ORD airport).

crank_addict

Thanks Jeff. You've got me thinking on this one. One hand says leave it purist original though somehow the silver and not quite contrasting decals doesn't give much. I dig patina and quite forgiving for aging character, though this one is crusty bland. I envision it like a shining beautiful new bone stock '73 Porsche 911 coupe in silber. How not exciting would it be if it were scratched and full of surface corroded spots?!

Then again, I think its meant to be preserved only, begging to be enjoyed and just another chapter of its life. The city license stickers could remain too. There's some story in it likely with a very strong lady rider. Check that cog out. haha

Good theory on that seat pin binder. Have yet to fully examine.

Steve Whitlatch 

Thanks for the link. Looks like my frame is the Roubaix model.

IMG_8856.jpg

Steve Whitlatch 

You will not really know how bad the paint is until you clean it up and use some rubbing compound on the frame. I bet it will clean up well. You can get decals from here. https:// /h-lloyd-cycles.myshopify.com/ I got my headbadge and seat tube decal from them. Reasonable prices.

That bike is a gem. According to the catalog, yours is the Ultra Rite Time Trail frame? I really do not know how you can put that bike off for a future project? I would take a few days off work to play with that. LOL

crank_addict

Clues of the seat cluster-
This Witcomb surely looks factory original but unlike the 1971 Carlton Giro (depicted below), they intentionally didn't use the braze-on / bolt through tabs. The lug also has recesses for setting and brazing those tabs. The top is fitted for the collar clamp vs. scalloped on the Carlton version. The two version also differ at the underside of the lug where it joins the toptube -opposite radius.

[IMG]DSC_1859 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]seat cluster 1971 Carlton Giro by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

rhm

Oh, it's definitely not a Raleigh Pro, I didn't mean to imply that. But there are lots of ways people have done the "fastback" stay treatment, and your Witcomb basically does it the same way as the Raleigh, that's all I was implying.

Likewise, it is interesting that the 1972 Witcomb catalog (as linked above) shows one bike with a similar style of fastback stays and a separable seat post collar (referring to the WO 1 time trial frame). This tells us that these features are consistent with a 1972 Witcomb, and were certainly options a customer could have requested. But your frame is clearly not the same as the WO 1 in the catalog photo.

crank_addict

^ Just a hunch and probably was an ordered frame with some features picked of other models....

The shore lines are fairly crude, especially compared to Steve's bike (above). I've personally seen his Witcomb and its shows more crisp in the filing, lug prep.

xiaoman1 

CA,
If it was in my garage, I would just wash it and use polishing compound on the paint because it is less abrasive than rubbing compound. I would also leave the reading decals alone and do a L.andA...but as I always say it is your bike so do what floats your boat.
Nice find, BTW where is your LBS?
Ben

Steve Whitlatch 

According to a video I have seen doing my research, a BBC documentary type show at the Witcomb shop, all bikes were custom order. You could not just walk in the shop and walk out with a bike. You got measured, picked your options and came back six months later to pick up your custom bike.

Drillium Dude

This was the pic that made me think the ears had possibly been lopped off. Note the darker area where they would normally be.

But yeah, the top of the lug is cut flush, so that does support the idea that the collar was the intended fitting.

I'm excited to see how well this cleans up. It may not need a resto after all. I mean, I'm not seeing a lot of dinging/chipping of the paint, just what appears to be surface rust and a lot of grime build-up. It'll take some elbow grease to remove, but just maybe the grime is protecting some very nice paint.

Eagerly awaiting updates

DD

crank_addict

In regards to preserving its originality, a nice little surprise are the Vittoria Mondiale's. I had peeled them off but until now really hadn't bothered looking them over.

One tire had a large white blob of paint, probably latex. Aired them up, a quick wipe of water to the logo's and that white blob. The paint nicely peeled off. Side walls still supple and no cracks, great base tape intact. I lightly wire brushed off the old mastic and voilą.

With the great condition rubber, now leaning again towards a preservation. Might have a stash of older red cloth bar wrap but will be on the hunt for older red cable sheathing. Fun schtuff ;-)

[IMG]DSC_1875 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_1876 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

crank_addict

About time I show the completed Witcomb. Finished approx. a month ago and since clocked a few hundred miles on it. Love it.

From what I've learned, its an early WO-1 frameset (1971), fairly rough in the lug work and specific built as a tt racer duty. Then in 1972, Witcomb offered a revised version of it including vertical dropouts. Mine has Campy horizontal and indeed is a factory seat post clamp setup. The bike was shipped to Turin shop in Chicago -1972. Lee Katz was a distributer of Witcomb. Then its voyage to somewhere in Australia, later to Boulder, CO then Elk Grove, IL.

In appearance, it may look small size for my liking but actually is perfect. Into the drops and for late season riding, feel solid and quick with it. I kept most everything possible original including gearing. Not much of a climbing machine, it does feel 'heavy or lazy' handling during a climb. Major toe overlap, but hey... dat's the way I roll.

[IMG]DSC_2250a by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

crank_addict

random post and pics of the formerly neglected -gem-

My current fave English lightweights. (left: Vic Edwards in Peugeot - BP livery)

[IMG]DSC_2294 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

bikemig 

Sweet bike. The owner of the shop I worked at had 2 witcombs. I thought they were beautiful bikes. Very nice score and looks good (even if a bit small, )

crank_addict

[IMG]DSC_2252 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_2259 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]DSC_2258 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

fork 745gm
[IMG]DSC_2162 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

frame 1,862gm
[IMG]DSC_2161 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]