Proctor-Townsend
 

I stumbled across a banged up Pinarello with a near mint full Campagnolo nine speed Veloce grouppo the other day. After paying three hundred dollars for the bicycle and a few odds and end, I asked the fellow if he might have any older road bicycles. He told me that he had an old Proctor-Townsend in the shed but I probably wouldn't be interested in it. Needless to say, the fellow was wrong and I ended up with two bikes that day.

The P-T was in an accident that bent the down tube. The frame had been sent back to the Proctor-Twonsend factory for professional repair. The repair looks to be perfect and the bicycle was ridding with the repair for quite a while. Anyway, the front forks have been replaced with a modern alloy set that look just fine but not quite right. I am looking for a Proctor-Townsend fork set for a 54cm frame. I have lots of stuff to trade if you prefer.

Does anyone know anything about the Proctor-Townsend marque? I did look up some past postings and found a small bit of information about the bicycles. I do hope to seek out all the historical information I can find and then write a feature article for MY "TEN SPEEDS".

Well, I don't know much about Proctor-Townsends other than what I found by searching this forum but I just got one of my own recently.

If the fork on yours was anything like mine you may have a hard time replacing it as it's quite unique:

http://velospace.org/files/IMGP0477.jpg

Cool though eh?

Until I saw mine listed locally a couple of weeks ago I had never heard of Proctor-Townsends but mine appears to be a very well build bike with a lot of nice details.

Proctor Townsend predessor?
 

After seeking out an old Proctor it was my good fortune to find two in as many weeks. I have been trying to find a nice old Proctor or Proctor Townsend and now I am lucky enough to have one of each. I did, however, have to give up a nice Marinoni "Special" to get the Proctor which is in near mint condition. The paint is cleverly splattered with paint making paint chips a non issue to touch up. And there is one paint chip that I have noticed so far.

The Proctor is full Super Record with the exception of the wheels. Wheels are not an issue for me since I have a set of Super Record hubs laced to Mavic rims hanging in The Old Shed waiting for just the right bike to hook up with.

Wow, that is quite a week you have had Randy. I nearly had my mitts on a Proctor road bike a few years ago but it just wasn't the right timing. There was a Proctor Townsend track bike up for sale in Toronto recently but it was a funny-bike frame so I don't know if it ended up selling.

Here is a photo of the Proctor that I passed on back in late 2005:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...Ez/Proctor.jpg

Holy crap it's first gen too!

There's a brief section on Proctor in The Custom Bicycle. The one thing that I recall is that they invented "Dr. Proctor" as a means of giving themselves some respectability!

There's a pdf version of the book somewhere online. Anybody remember where? Is it the CV links sticky?

I'll try and remember and post later.

I am not sure if this is the same "Proctor/Townsend" as the OP is talking about.

Brad Proctor and Bob Townsend had a small custom and production bike business that was based out of a shop in Edmonton Alberta.

Nice bikes, I recently traded a frame/fork in a deal for a racing tandem and I have another NOS F/F that I had painted and then the fork destroyed by a shop:mad:

vjp

Gotcha. As I recall, the Proctor that I'm referring to was out of Baltimore. Thanks for the correction.

Proctor-Townsend ride...
 

Spent a bit of time and got the Proctor-Townsend road worthy. The bike is now fitted with full Shimano 105 and everything works just great thanks to the advice some of you offered regarding a 105 Integrated Shifter that wouldn't shift.

The bike handles very well and seems to accelerate rapidly although I am certainly not capable of putting it to the real test. I like the feel and the way the bike works. It is easy to shift when compared to all of my other bicycles (all down tube shifters except one set of Barcons). The brakes are very easy to actuate, once again when compared to the more Old School stoppers fitted to the other bicycles. The ride, thanks to the steel lugged frame and fork set is typical of most of the other bikes that I most appreciate. All in all, I got lucky with my P-T.

I've got to find a Townsend bike, it'd be a great to own a bike that shares my last name.

Build your own? That's what I had to do...

My son has a Proctor-Townsend for sale at the moment. You might want to send him an email. His address is

my10speedbike@hotmail.com

His name is Joshua and you might want to let him know that I referred you.

Best regards,

Randy

I picked this up a few weeks ago and since then I cut the stem out, changed the cranks and added a rear rack and I just tried to put some fenders on. Then I saw that the chain stay bridge is not drilled, and the front brake hangs to low and the front fender hits the tire. Now I don’t know what to do with the bike. I’ve got a Townsend that I’m building as my road bike so I wanted to use this as a commuter/light touring bike.



Randy, you don’t have an older touring bike in a 58 or 59 you would want to trade would you? ;)haha

I have had this Proctor in The Old Shed for a couple of years now. I am just about finished building up my Cyclops and the Proctor is next on the list. I stress, this bike is a Proctor, the predecessor to Proctor Townsend, as I understand it.

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