Harry Quinn Road Bike

[alixbrown]

Hello I am newbie to the forum but am hoping someone on the forum may be able to help me. I am just about to start restoring a Harry Quinn road bike and would like to get some more history on the bike if anyone can help me. I have owned the bike since new, it was bought for me around 1984 from Gerry Shields cycles in Manchester. I have been reviewing some of the other posts on the forum about the various types of Harry Quinn bikes that were made. My bike has the Harry Quinn England badge on the front of the headset which I think means it comes from the era when Frank Clements was involved with Harry Quinn but I am not certain of this and would love to find out some more information on the history of my bike. The bike has an frame number on the bottom bracket which is 40151, there are no letters on the BB as far as I can see. I know that this means the bike is not an early Quinn made by Harry himself as I understand these all have frame numbers which start with a Q. The bike has lots of sentimental value to me and I would love to know a little more of the history of the bike if anyone can help me. I have attached some pictures of the frame.
Alistair

 

[alixbrown]

Harry Wuinn

Hello forum members I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on my Harry Quinn, I notice there are quite a few posts from members on HQ's so was hoping someone on the forum could help me please.

 

[alixbrown]

Additional information

I have had a further close look at the frame and I can now confirm that the ends are Gipiemme, i can still the manufacturers name embossed in the ends. Hopefully this may help to date the frame.

 

[blightyinfurs]

Hi Alix,

I've got four Harry Quinns (including one 'Clements era' frame) so might be able to help a little. If you look at the bottom bracket shell, there should be a frame number on it, that's the first thing to look at.

Are there any other stickers on the frame, bar the standard HQ decals and the Reynolds sticker?

 

[alixbrown]

Frame number

Thanks for the response. The frame number on the BB is 40151 with no letters. The only other badge is on the front of the headset which is the Harry Quinn England one.

 

[blightyinfurs]

I was doing some more reading of the HQ broachures, and as I understand it, Harry Quinn didn't produce 'Off the peg' frames as such until the company was in Wales, around 1983. I could be wrong on that, if anyone wants to correct me.

http://s120.photobucket.com/albums/...d 1991/?action=view&current=07HunterRange.jpg
(From Fiks)

I've got a sixties HQ that was sold off the peg in Walton Road, but this was because the original customer did not complete the payment, so it was sold locally. The other two frames (that I believe are genuine HQ) were custom-built to order.

Any genuine Welsh HQ built frames from 1984 should have a Qxxx (3 digit) number.

The Quinn that I have that would have been produced under Clements is made from what appears to be single-butted Tange tubing, or something similar. It's extremely heavy, and the lugs are fat, rough and unfiled. The equipment that came on the bike is budget. There is also a sticker from the shop that it was bought from on the downtube, which I think is also a Manchester shop. I'll have to have a look when I'm back at the house. The frame number on the BB is a long one, beginning 'M2M'.

My gut feeling is that your red frame may not have had Harry's involvement. However, it's clearly much better made than the Clements frame I've got; and if it's a straight 531 frame, it'll be well worth keeping.

 

[blightyinfurs]

One other thing - the Clements frame I had didn't have water bottle bosses or a gear hanger, and also ran 27 1/4" wheels. Is that Campag headset original to the frame? I can't see that it'd have been put on a cheap frame.

I'll have a look at the Quinns when I'm at the house next and try and post more info.

 

[alixbrown]

Very many thanks for the feedback this is so helpful and very kind of you. It seems like the mystery is deepening about this! The bike was bought for me from Gerry Shields bike shop in Failsworth in Manchester in 1984, I was big friends with Gerrys son Chris and knew Gerry very well (the three of us often spent our Sunday mornings cycling in Saddleworth). At the time I bought the bike Gerry had owned the frame for a couple of years, he then built up the bike for me. Most of the components were fairly standard stuff as my father insisted on spending most of the budget on the frame!

With reference to the frame the Campag headset is the original off the bike and has never been changed. I also have the original Campag shifters. The bike always had 700C wheels fitted to it from new.

If you can shed any further light on this then I would be immensly grateful.

This may not be related but I also have a Falcon frame from the same era (reynolds 531 similar to the Quinn ) which in an Ernie Clements designed one which I also bought from Gerry Shields in 1983. This will be my next project to renovate once i have the Quinn sorted.

 

[alixbrown]

HQ Brochure

I have just been having a look at the brochure which was in the link. I have to say that the spec on the Harrier 531C in that brochure does look a lot like the spec on my frame with the exception of the headset (mine was always a campag) and the dropout (mine appears to have Gipiemme dropouts).

I do remember that when we bought the bike that Gerry Shields took me and my dad into the loft in the shop and pulled the frame out of his stock of frames and that the frame at the time had no headset and that Gerry fitted the Campag headset when he built the bike up.