Bike ID help please
 

This is in portland. No serial numbers that I can find.

I do see a Santa Barbara shop sticker. That may or not mean anything.

the BB offered zero info.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7ec1dd743.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1b1b9dfc5.jpeg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...011d04ea0.jpeg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8caec34ef.jpeg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f48e0b07e.jpeg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4385872e1.jpeg

:eek:

Must be a custom build at that height

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definite anglophone origin

wonder if Tim Neenan/Lighthouse might be a possibility...

he continued to build with full-sloping crowns after most others had moved on to other things

also, Chris King was working in Santa Barbara about the time this was constructed...

looks to hail from the seventy-six to seventy-eight era

[MENTION=160106]bulgie[/MENTION] [MENTION=359469]DougF[/MENTION]attic



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Hendrickson's Bicycles was owned by a Doug Knox. He also imported components including Time pedals and such.

There is a Douglas Knox who works at VP Components, who import bike parts, including pedals. Likely the same Mr. Knox.

Let your fingers do the walking.

I was wondering about the size too - and if maybe it once belonged to Andre the Giant or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. :) That thing looks HUGE!

Back when I was working at one of Philly's more notorious shops, myself and another mechanic worked on a 73cm USA Witcomb. It was large enough that I could squeeze myself under the top tube and pedal the bike, holding the bars like ape-hangers. The customer who purchased it had to duck his head when he came in the door to the door to the shop, as well as occasionally dodging the wheels, tires and other junk hanging from the ceiling.
Sorry that's no help on this frame ID, but yet a tall bike anecdote.
Phil

bill walton?

Perhaps. I understand he was big into biking.

But it's probably not the one he lost in Portland at the Championship Parade in 1977. He got it back a few days after the parade, and his son still had it (and was still riding it) as of a few years ago.

I met Kareem once, circa 1970. I have since met a couple of 6'9" friends, but Kareem's sheer height caught me completely off guard. :)

Bill's bikes were bigger than this.

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we were dorm mates one year at UCLA

our rooms were just a few doors apart on the same floor

they had to make a special bed for him to accommodate his altitude

he was still Lew Alcindor of course back at that time

forty some year later found meself standing right next to him as we waited for a traffic light to change on a street corner in Beverly Hills

thought of saying hello but then realized did not really have anything to say and he must get pestered all the time by people who recognize him when he be out and about so thought it kinder to remain silent


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Yes, looks custom to me, too and possibly from one of the Santa Barbara notable builders, but which one I can't say.
Some ambiguities: the early Columbus decal is odd on a frame with these forged semi-vertical DOs (Guessing they are Shimano?) as is that pump peg, but other things to note: no WB bosses, nutted brakes, apparently a Cinelli "can-opener" BB shell (TBC), paint may not be original (but might be) and might be Imron.
Lugs look thinned, seat cluster is very nicely detailed...it's the work of somebody who knew what they were doing, but didn't bother to "sign" this work...

The lugs are Folson (Henry James), early style. Not thinned by the builder (or at least not much), that's the way they came. I first saw them about 1980, but they could be older if I was simply unaware of them for a time. AFAIK only American builders used them back then. Correct me if I'm wrong, anyone ever see them on an offshore frame?

I dare to go against the knowledge and wisdom of juvela at my peril, but I would guess a couple years later The combination of the under-BB cabling makes me think it is no earlier than the late-70s, and the five-speed rear end makes me think it's no later than the late-70s. I am prepared to be humbled by my betters if my thoughts and assumptions are off base (it wouldn't be the first time, it wouldn't be the last), so have at me.

I saw Kareem riding out San Vincente Blvd in West LA/Brentwood c.1981. In my memory, his bike was significantly bigger than that - his wheels looked stupid-small on his very big frame, and these wheels look within spitting distance of normal compared to the frame. (Of course, I ride a 64cm frame, so that clouds my perspective.) I'd guess that to be about a 68cm frame, as it looks like I could ride it, although all stops would be an adventure for my naughty bits. No way I could have ridden the bike I saw Kareem on.

Robvolz, are there any distinguishing marks on it at all? It's a beautiful bike and it would be great to give proper credit to the builder. It also looks a smart "bang for the buck" build.

Not a single mark

obviously this wouldn’t fit my dachshund legs….

but I’m so curious, I’m going back with calipers and measure the bb (68-70?) and seat post.

I had two others (on another site w more frame-builders) message me that it some Jim Merz elements.

Merz bikes usually had JM followed by numbers, but on his registry, some were left blank.

Im not the guy to say it’s a Merz unless the man himself does.

? :twitchy: ;)

Fish lip stay-dropout joining. Shimano drops (I think).

Could it be an early Serrota or Skip Hujsak or something?

Maybe, but would either of those have been sold in a Santa Barbara shop (assuming that shop decal is legit)?

Kareem’s Confente was a 67cm, that was the limit to what Columbus would make in 1977. Mario would have made him a bigger bike had he trusted 4130.
‘Mario remarked that he really needed bigger wheels. Cranks were 180mm.

there was a huge fire at Kareem’s home at one point, I do not know if the bike made it clear.

That is a good point. Maybe shipped there for convenience? I was just spit balling since it seems custom, but a bit odd as well in the choice of lugs, BB, fork crown and dropouts.

I know some shops put their sticker on it if you get a simple tuneup

stickers that I didn’t ask for really annoy me.

My dad once returned a Jaguar because the dealership put a plaque under the trunk.

made them fill in the little rivet holes and repaint

I was hoping for more than an emoji from you. Cat got your tongue? :p

Unlike merziac I'm not a Merz expert, but it's my uderstanding that serials starting with JM were only the bikes he built for himself. Most had other letters, the initials of the customer it was built for.

Bike in question is not a Merz, the reason I'm confident of that is the seatstays are attached too low on the lug. While that could be because the builder couldn't source seatstays that were long enough for this Gigantor, Jim was (and is) too much of a perfectionist to allow that. He'd have come up with some other solution. I dunno, splicing in another section of tube to make the stays longer maybe.

Just guessing really, but a Merz is more perfect than this frame in some other places too. I mean it's finely built, just not Merz-level.

Interesting. I was wondering why the caps seemed off, but the available stock issue makes a ton of sense.

Any ideas who this could be?

@Robovolz any pictures of the underside of the BB and the brake bridge?

Agreed.

we had a bunch of off forum back and forth on this, you are correct about the S/N's and I would contend that you are far more of an expert than I having done the same work as Jim and full well know what it takes to get here.

I considered many of the same points you bring up, the SS attachment, the poor work on the fork crown and unworked lugs all leave no doubt, not a Merz.

I think @juvela is (as usual) spot-on here. For evidence, I have these photos of what I believe to be a very late '70s/early '80s Tim Neenan Lighthouse. The fork IMMEDIATELY rang that bell for me -

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e9167fa768.jpg

Whilst the BB shell is not identical, it just puts out the same sort of vibe, you know?

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c1303debc9.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...987e130374.jpg

Forgive me the multiple photos of the right rear dropout, but I wanted to try to capture an angle close enough to the OP's to show the similarity. This, too, jumped out at me when I saw the post.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2fe7ccebd9.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...08f4714683.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...79cf35c8f5.jpg

Here is the serial number pic of mine, no. 1631 - though how he did his serial numbers is a mystery to me, as I have never been able to find a way to get a response from him. Maybe all my emails, etc., are out of date.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ca402e976.jpeg

Finally, some pix of the bike as built - in a much more pedestrian 60cm or so size, which is (hallelujah!) my size.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...43521cdffc.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3366b00b39.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9e742cffd4.jpg

Mine still bears the remnants of its Reynolds 531 tubing sticker. My understanding is that Mr. Neenan switched over to Columbus tubing relatively early on. Mine has lugless fillet-brazed construction except for the BB shell, and later Lighthouses are fully fillet-brazed or fully lugged, but not hybridized like this one. Mine came to me drilled for traditional nutted brake calipers, but I opted to drill for Allen key, so there's that. Rear spacing on mine is 126mm, but they were always custom, one-off bikes anyway, so that proves nothing. I DO sometimes wonder if mine was built for 27-in wheels, as there is clearance for 32mm tires AND mudguards. And mine has the under BB cable routing combined with the ancient Campagnolo diver's bell cable housing stop on the underside of the chainstay - which requires a funky ferrule, and I could see Neenan concluding that's more trouble than it's worth. I think that's classical red Imron paint on both mine and the OP's bike, so likely original - and in my search for info on Lighthouse bikes I've seen several examples with this precise color and general style.

If the enormous bike fits, AND it is indeed a Lighthouse, it is a joyous experience waiting for someone. I adore mine, which has turned out to be pretty much what my Rivendell was supposed to be and never quite pulled off - but that's another rant for another day.