Strange Windsor Pro
 

The bike gods (No offense Pastor Bob) were smiling on me today, found a red 22" Windsor Pro at a dollar store that never has ANYTHING but Magnas and Huffys. Pays to be stubborn, I guess. Don't know the esoteric parts as I don't see many fancy bikes around my blue collar town, and would appreciate any info from the experts here. Bike has some heavy duty chrome top Shimano track drop outs, a Campy pista crank with 49t Campy ring, KKT Pro Ace pedals, nice Shimano BB, unknown front brake, strange Weinmann rear brake, and Campy downtube shifter with the absolute cheapest SunTour rear der I hav ever seen..... One cable stop is Campy, one SunTour. Unmarked headset, really cool Gran Comp stem, SunTour Cyclone brake levers and Windsor drop bars. Front wheel is a Normandy hub dated 76 with generic spokes and a nice Weinmann concave 700c rim, rear is an unkown alloy hub on a Rigida AL rim. So what is this? A bastard stepchild of a track bike? The bike shop sticker is from Cyclery North in Chicago, which I hear was a pretty upscale place. How old is this? Worth keeping? I normally would ride a 24" frame, but my current steed is a 1980 Super Gran Prix, which is several steps (or floors maybe?) below this.

Wow, interesting. Do you have a close-up of the track drops? I see a derailleur, how is it attached? If you have a true track frame you can get a heckuva a lot for it on eBay, that thing looks great to me. Campy pista cranks go for a couple hundred if they are in good shape. Score!

Here is a link to an old eBay auction for a bike that looks very similar to yours, judging from the seat cluster:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1974-WINDSOR-PRO...QQcmdZViewItem

The rear brake is a Weinmann Delta Pro. Mid-late '80s, as far as I know - Berto's '88 publication "Upgrading Your Bike" makes mention of it. Has a variable mechanical advantage adjustment on it, according to the book.

-Kurt

HELLO!! Nice catch. It looks like an awesome street fixed gear! That is very strange and VERY VERY cool. Congrats on the find.

Edit: interesting looking seatpost. Is that a cinelli saddle?

If one does not mind a bit of elementary machining (mostly grinding), it's easy to hang a rear derailleur on a frame with track dropouts (been there ... done that with a Swedish Avanti and a SunTour V). The derailleur claw is mounted backward. If possible and convenient, grind a stop into what is now the rear-facing curve of the claw; if not, just tighten the derailleur mounting bolt, with a shim or two, if necessary. Works like a champ.

The saddle is leather, kinda worn, I think it says WINDSOR on the side. The seat post looks to measure just over 27mm on my calipers. I cleaned off the front brake, it has AGC 300 on it. It has to be the coolest little brake caliper I have ever seen. Also, here is a pic of the rear drops.

Heh.. we've heard of people converting road bikes to "Track" bikes, but I never heard of the other way around.. how strange and interesting, maybe it could be the new fad? Nice looking cycle!

Dia-Compe Aero Grand Compe A300Gs, black anodized. I have a spare pair in bare aluminum from my '85 Raleigh Grand Prix (and I have a second pair on my '84 Raleigh Competition). They perform very well - just don't use up the pads...I've yet to find a replacement source other then Yellow "Overpriced" Jersey.

-Kurt

Some Windsor info:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/vrbn-o-z.html#windsor

Looks like someone used all of his talent to put something together from spare parts laying around a shop.

The Avanti was a wedding present from my wife's brother. Not having any use for it and having decided that fixed gear was definitely NOT my thing, I gave it to a coworker at Bikecology, who turned it into a 4-speed by removing the outer cog from a Regina freewheel and machining the reversed derailleur mounting claw. This was in 1973, making this hardly a "new" fad. :)

If you plan to keep the gears, as I would, I would definitely reverse that claw, to facilitate rear wheel removal, puncture repair, etc.

Bastard stepchild is right, but the frame is a Windsor Pro Track and if you want to flip it you have just what the market wants right now...vintage track iron. Those components make the weirdest gruppo I have ever seen, and I've assembled a lot of weird ones in my day. Funny that those Mexicans drilled a track frame for both F&R brakes, but it was funny times. Nice bike, and with that Campy Pista crank it's worth some big $$!

Very wicked cool find! . . . where's the jealous smiley? ;)

And based on the above quote, did you get it for a dollar?!? :D

That's a high-dollar find by my standards, for sure... the cranks alone go for WELL over $200, frame will go at least that high...

Amazing. Great find.

$35. I was very, very lucky. I saw it at the bottom of a pile -- yes, I said pile -- of bikes and my heart started palpitating when I saw the Columbus sticker, sorry to say that was the first time I have ever seen one in person. I nearly wet myself when I saw the crank. The guy who runs the place was standing on top of the pile tossing bikes aside like cordwood to get to it. I've seen sides of beef treated more gently. I wanted to get up there with him and start tossing too, but I couldn't move my feet. I had to concentrate on breathing......
You gotta remember, I live in an old factory town, homey don't know 'bout what rich folks ride. You SoCal guys and big city boys get all the nice ones, I get Varsinentals to chew on. :rolleyes:

Very good find, makes wading through all that pig iron worth it. This kind of post is what keeps lots of us going.

Yup, find of the year so far, easily. Frame with those decals intact will hit +450$USD on eBay and the cranks at least 200$USD, nice.

Funny thing that nobody has tried to stick a ton of Cinelli decals on this Windsor yet, considering that I've heard stories of fauxed-up Cinellis from Windsors - and this thing certainly DOES look like a Super Corsa copy...

-Kurt

Good for you, that's a Excellent find!

Tom

I'd smile too! :D My dump has turned up zippo since last fall. Can't wait until Spring cleaning begins in another month or so. Great find!

Cool!

I'm fascinated by the way the seat stays are integrated into the seat fastener. I've never seen anything like that around here.

Yes, that was a hallmark of certain high-end Windsors. Since they were made in Mexico, we do see them here and there in southern California. They are generally beautiful bikes.

You beat me to it, Kurt, but I had a similar thought ... :)

:D Flying C... :D

Most tasteful mid-'80s decal scheme I've ever seen, IMHO - the Flying "C" logo scheme looks particularly stunning on a reddish-bronze machine...

-Kurt