Bike Talk

Mine is s/n #214, still here in Edmonton. Love to see and hear from other Proctor or Proctor-Townsend owners

Bike Talk

Still have the original sales receipt for this Edmonton builder. Originally set-up for road-racing, I've since converted for touring to keep with my pace

Met a guy this week riding a Maranoni fixie and we spent a few minutes reminiscing about Proctor and Proctor-Townsend bikes. Brad has retired to B.C. and I made contact through Facebook to ask if he ever wrote a history but the answer was "no".

Ugi

Not sure how open this thread is, I am fairly new to the forums. Anyway, I own a Proctor frame that I bought in Edmonton quite a few years ago. It is much too small for me, at around 52 cm., but I bought it for the Campy Super Record group. It is his touring model, having full braze ons for racks and fenders, low rider braze ons on fork. It is a lovely dark green colour and is in pretty good shape. It sits now as frame and fork, unused, with a Campy headset. I am almost at 10 posts so I should be able to take some photos and post here if anyone is interested.

Bike Talk

Yes, please post pictures, hopefully also some when it was all together. Nice to see this thread come back to life

Ugi

I'll take some tomorrow, unfortunately I don't have any of the complete bike. It has been sitting for quite a few years unbuilt. I really wish it fit me because it is a lovely frame and deserves to be ridden.

Ugi

Sorry for the delay in getting some pictures up. Busy with other stuff for a while. so here are some photos of the Proctor frame. The decals are in very rough shape and the paint has nicks and scratches. The drive side chainstay is dented unfortunately, but not enough to compromise the tube. All Reynolds 531 like most Proctors, Campy dropouts.IMG_2344-small.jpg

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Bike Talk

What is the serial number?

Ugi

It's 394. Do you have access to a database of Proctor serial numbers?

Bike Talk

Nope, it just helps to date the frame. Brad Proctor is a bit reclusive and hasn't followed-up on our FB conversation to document his history of his bikes.

d_dutchison

I sometimes think of Brad Proctor is the Rodney Dangerfield of Canadian frame builders, utterly brilliant but " I don't get no respect !". Brad is a an artist with the torch.

Bike Talk

Hey, thanks for awakening this thread I can update somewhat. Brad and I connected on FB and back in November he promised to write up something on the history of Proctor bikes. Keep tuned...

garryg

I picked up a Proctor a year or so ago. It is in wonderful shape. Serial number 371. It has Zeus cranks and pedals as well as Zeus hubs. Brakes are shimano 600. Suntour shifters.I will post pics when i get ten posts.

Ugi

Looking forward to seeing the photos. I'm still looking for a Proctor in my size, which is about a 58. I almost had one last year but in the end the seller sold locally to save the hassle of shipping. I have an Arvon Stacy frame, it would be nice to own another from an Edmonton area frame builder. It's my home town.

Bike Talk

Yes, please post of the Proctor as soon as you can! I added a bunch of background on Brad Proctor in my intro thread here: Hi from a Proctologist

Ugi, thanks for mentioning Arvon Stacey, love his work. Can you post some pics too? Is it the long-wheelbase tourer? They guy is in his late 70's, is he still making bikes?

Ugi

I'll try to put up a few photos of my Arvon Stacey. It's not built up right now, I've never managed to get the frame to work in a build for me. It's a rather large frame, but has significant toe overlap. Also, it doesn't take tires bigger than 28s. That said, it is a beautiful frame. It had a decal on it when I bought it saying 'Randonneur' The chainstays are very long but it isn't a touring model. Arvon Stacey retired at over 80 a few years back from what I know from the fellow who had learned frame building from him at Arvon's shop in Ardrossen.. He was supposed to take over the business but health issues may have prevented that.

garryg

Bike Talk

Sweet, looking forward to it. I wonder if Arvon deserves his own thread? Edit: I take that back; the pool of Alberta builders is so small its probably best to keep them together!

Bike Talk

garryg, that is a great color :-) Looks like it sees regular use too!

ingo

1987 Proctor Townsend 531c. This was my second Proctor. Raced on it for 6 years. Campy Chorus, then it had C -Record. Finally became the winter bike. After not being ridden for 10 years, I parted it out. This was the harshest riding frame I have ridden and steering was too quick so that's why it is gone.

The first Proctor was sold to a friend, then ended up in a Vancouver garage sale. Now it is in Toronto and is posted in the C&V section. I kept the original fork as a spare and sold it to the current owner when he posted a request for any fork that would fit, reunited after 20 years.

Bike Talk

Glad to add your bikes to the Proctor archive :-) Do you have the serial numbers for both?

I share your experience about the quick steering angle. I swapped in a more relaxed carbon fork when converting to a triple touring configuration.

Ugi

I finally built up the Arvon Stacy and it rides really well. I bought a Soma low trail fork for it, with 65 mm of offset. No more toe overlap. So on went a Gilles Berthoud handlebar bag. Rode it on a group ride today from Nanaimo to Chemainus, and it felt very comfortable. Not very light at around 25 lb without the rack and bag. I managed to take one not very high quality photo of the bike in Chemainus.

Bike Talk

Would love to see some close-ups of the frame when you have a chance. What are your favourite elements of Stacy's build?

Ugi

Sorry,I've been out of town. I tried to reply a little while ago, the uploader wouldn't work, kept stalling at 90% of the photo uploaded. I'll try again. I like the ride of this bike with it's very long chainstays, approx 47 cm. No handle up to 28 mm tires, and barely. There are fender eyelets, but I can't imagine being able to install them with larger than about 23 mm tires. This is supposedly a rando frame. Otherwise, there are lovely details here.thoroughbred, but then neither am I. I installed a Soma Champs Elysees low trail fork. The bike had severe toe overlap with the original fork. Problem solved. There are a few odd things about this frame. It will only The lugs are nicely done, they must have been heavily modified by Arvon to fit the ovalized down and top tubes, or even fabricated himself. The paint is a very rich, dark purple/blue. I believe he did the painting himself. All in all it's quite a unique frame, likely very few like it.

Bike Talk

Very nice, Ugi, a real gem.

Bike Talk

Do you happen to have the serial number for this frame?