Is this really a Harry Quinn?

[r-jay]

My father-in-law grew up in Liverpool and was the proud owner of a Harry Quinn in his early years. Late in life, he managed to acquire a Harry Quinn bike through a friend at Church. This, in turn, made it's way to me. The bike has been in a box in my garage for a couple of years and I finally unpacked it. I've heard plenty of stories about the Harry Quinn name being used on non-Quinn bikes, but this one is a little strange.

Firstly, it seems to be an early '60's touring frame (I don't have a history of vintage bikes so am happy to be corrected). The lugs look good and the detailing was obviously nice when new. It's an orange frame with a gold 'detail' round the lugs. Groupset is mostly campag (gran sport rear mech but possibly record cranks with the 5-arms?). Brakes seem to be the first generation weinmann 999 centre pull. Dropouts are campag. Bars are alloy cresta, stem is an "Il Primo Milano". Rims are lightweight alloy and seem made for sew-ups and hubs are also Campag large flange. All good.

However, the challenge is in 2 areas. Firstly, the down tube decals are different to any I've seen in pictures for a Quinn (it looks like it said something like "Hand built in Liverpool" under the name). Head tube decal seems consistent with early Quinns made in Walton Road. Secondly, as you can see from the BB Shell, there is no frame number. There's an oval stamp on the upper side of the BB shell which reads something like "BGF" but is hard to read.

The bike is in pretty poor condition in places and would need a lot of restoring to be rideable again. If this genuinely is a Quinn then I'll be tempted to treat it to some care and restoration. If not, I'll probably hang it on the wall and just admire it "as-is" as it's still a nice looking bike with the chromed forks / stays.

All thoughts appreciated.

Richard

 

[Midlife]

Very neat frame and genuinely old as it has a BB grease nipple. Doesn't look like a touring frame as it's too "short" and does not have braze ons for racks etc. Bar end shifters were very popular for the Road and Time Trial Guys of the Era.

As for being a Harry Quinn ? not sure as all the Quinn's I came across in the 70's were numbered on the BB with a letter "Q" at the start being made of an "O" with an "I" through it to make it look like a "Q". I gusee he didn't have a letter Q stamp LOL

Nice though and well worth restoring, keep it yellow...........a popular colour at the time.

Shaun

 

[biggs682]

looks good enough to ride as is .

same as Midlife says re frame number and the Q

 

[ORS]

That's a nice 'un and hopefully good enough for plenty miles yet.

Can't help you with much useful information tho' can confirm the bottom bracket shell is from RGF, a French works, as depicted and outlined on RB at: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=252681#p1894892

 

[Nob]

Should have a Q stamped somewhere on the frame surely ?

 

[Robbied196]

The Q isn't on all of Harry's frames. Harry's early frames just have a 4 digit number, the Q began being used randomly in the late 50's and didn't appear on all frames until around 1963. Some bikes were also 'user' built in Harry's workshop and a few appear not to be numbered. The early headbadges have the Walton Road address so its a possibility this is an early 'user' built frame, it looks to be a quality job.

The Q followed by 4 digits is a good rule of thumb for Harry's bikes from the mid 60's to late 70's if looking for a genuine Harry Quinn. Its a good rule to avoid anything Frank Clements sold after he bought the business and supplied Quinn badged cheap imports.

 

[kenners01]

that bike looks awesome

 

[Old Ned]

Not seen that design of down tube transfer before. It is therefore an early one................. :roll:

Seriously though, it could well be an HQ, it looks nice enough to be one. The fork rake and lugs look very similar to mine from the mid-60s' by which time the majority of HQ's had the 'usual' C&G Finishes hand painted names etc. on the DT and elsewhere. This does make the transfer you have even more interesting. TBH, I don't remember if mine had a number or not. I never bothered with such things then. I ordered it from Harry, I collected it from Harry, it said Harry Quinn on it. Ergo, it was a Harry Quinn.

Keep it as it is. Clean the paintwork with a gentle application of T-Cut or similar and maintain its patina. It will only have it's original paintwork once - and I doubt very much if you'll be able to source replacement transfers.

Here's mine for comparison. The main differences to yours are the 'fastback' seatstays and vertical rear dropouts.

It were flippin' cold that day!

 

[Nob]

That's a small gear your pedaling Ned 42x16 possibly

 

[Old Ned]

That's a small gear your pedaling Ned 42x16 possibly

Yep, it was an early season (Feb?) 3-up on the East Lancs Rd. somewhere near Kirkby. We had to pedal fast to keep warm and, of course, in those days, you never used a big gear early in the season. Did you?

The other 2 are hanging on to my wheel....................

With the TA chainrings it would have been 52/44 tooth and a 14-18 block.