curtis race

[retrogeezer]

thats the nicest bmx iv seen for a while, didnt it used to be on the intro page of the curtis site?

how many curtis have you? iv got 4, soon to be 5.

Yeh, it was on the Curtis homepage....and they never asked me if they could use it or got back to me when I asked them about another bike I have that looks like it was made by them. I sent them pics of all my bikes (about 10 at the time) and not a dicky bird.

 

[kanerdog1x1]

oh. doesnt sound like gary, hes a sound bloke. iv spoken to him on the fone many times, and met him a couple of times, but this shouldnt get me special treatment. iv sent him fotos via email, and hes posted them on the site every time. he even did me a set of proper 80s nos stickers for one of my race frames, brian curtis still had a set from bitd!

 

[retrogeezer]

Yeh, I was quite surprised. They obviously got the email as they used that pic...

Here is the other bike, it's a PR Racing which was apparently a small family firm.

There are too many similarities for it not to have been made by Curtis. I will have to try them again.

This is my Curtis Cruiser:

A Brian Curtis Freestyler....one of only 2 I know of and the other is a frame only..

My Nos Curtis Freestyler:

My Brian Curtis Expert:

 

[Crell]

Did "Brian Curtis" predate "Curtis" ?

I only remember the latter ?

I hope you've put that prolite in a garage now, just looks like it's discarded !

 

[retrogeezer]

Well, Brian is Gary's dad....I'm not sure what the details are but Curtis BMX's were sold from 82/83ish I think.

The Brian Curtis ones I don't remember as I got a moped in 1985 and forgot all about BMX! I do have a freestyle bmx mag that has the Brian Curtis freestyler in (a prototype) and that is dated 1986.

There are very few Brian Curtis ones around..

 

[kanerdog1x1]

not his dad, just an employee. gary has worked for brian since way back in the day, not long after he left college.

dont want to go into a history lesson but.... brian did his apprenticeship at rickman (i think), who make motorbikes. he left them to start up his own business making 'scramble' bikes, what we know today as motocross or more like enduro bikes. they had a really good reputaion for handling, so good that both yamaha and honda had them make the factory frames in the later half of the 70s. just after this, gary having just done a welding apprenticeship asked if brian would take him on, he did, and the bicycle side of the business came from garys interest in bmx.
gary now has taken over the business, which pretty much now only produces push bike frames.

i am really impressed with the collection that you have, but i am not convinced that pr frame was made by curtis, as there were other manufacturers making bikes of almost equal quality. possibly made at the wilson factory? there headtubes look really similar.

i also know the whereabouts of a freestyler frame, from 84, and two cruisers (complete bikes) both from 83 i think.

 

[retrogeezer]

Sorry, I though Gary's surname was Curtis too...

The PR headtube is the same as a Curtis, the way the seat stays meet the seat tube is the same, the rear dropouts are the almost the same as the ones on the Brian Curtis bikes and the forks are identical. Oh, and it's made from T45 and Curtis are the only manufacturer I know that used that tubing. Wilson and Rickman used Reynolds tubing.

I will mail them again to see if they can answer the query.

 

[kanerdog1x1]

fare enuff. i think its good that curtis went their own way with the tubing, the t45 really is very strong. much more suitable for a heavy duty frame than lightweight tubes designed for making road bikes.

oh, on a side note, do you know owt about wilson frames?

 

[retrogeezer]

Not much, did have a cruiser a few months back.

I know the Halfords race team rode Wilson bikes and that they are very nicely made.

 

[Brabazon]

I had a chrome Curtis Pro like the one in retrogeezers pic back in '84 or '85, and used to write to the factory in Frome pestering them for stickers and other gubbins in the way you do when you're about 13. Fantastic bike, the geometry was perfect, and amazingly enough to this day I regret ever having sold it. Every now and again I look on ebay to see if there are any to be found, so I'm chuffed to discover this thread for a bit of nostalgia...!

The Curtis was a brilliant frame and forks, and I seem to remember, bloody good value too at about £99!

I'm sure I have a photo of it somewhere...

Jon