tristanl.g
Retro Newbie
I recently purchased a new (old) track bike from a nice gentleman somewhere in London. I wondered if anybody could help with what it is.
The frame was advertised as a Ken Bird Track frame, and the chap I got it from explained he had bought it off a gentleman racer at Herne Hill in the 80s, at which point he repainted it (hence the no decals) and fitted a brake for time trialling. All of this is a nice bit of history but not hard evidence of its provenance, I'll put some pictures up of the BB which is drilled and has a 5 digit number on it, so if anyone has any ideas they would be much appreciated.
The components are all odd but okay, some nice mavic 280 rims laced to mismatch mavic hubs, a sugino mighty crankset, sakae BB, cinelli stem etc.
I have no reason to think it wasn't badged as a ken bird, however, having read a little, it appears he never made frames, but instead sold either his brothers, roberts or jackson frames, badged under his name. So if anyone can shed some light on it, I'd be much appreciated.
[IMG=http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/8803/fiqz.jpg][/IMG]
[IMG=http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/5185/9l4b.jpg][/IMG]
The frame was advertised as a Ken Bird Track frame, and the chap I got it from explained he had bought it off a gentleman racer at Herne Hill in the 80s, at which point he repainted it (hence the no decals) and fitted a brake for time trialling. All of this is a nice bit of history but not hard evidence of its provenance, I'll put some pictures up of the BB which is drilled and has a 5 digit number on it, so if anyone has any ideas they would be much appreciated.
The components are all odd but okay, some nice mavic 280 rims laced to mismatch mavic hubs, a sugino mighty crankset, sakae BB, cinelli stem etc.
I have no reason to think it wasn't badged as a ken bird, however, having read a little, it appears he never made frames, but instead sold either his brothers, roberts or jackson frames, badged under his name. So if anyone can shed some light on it, I'd be much appreciated.
[IMG=http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/8803/fiqz.jpg][/IMG]
[IMG=http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/5185/9l4b.jpg][/IMG]
the forks curve quite near the end so that puts it earlier than late 80's when the majority of track forks had a very gradual curve and sometimes looked almost straight. Drilled BB with big circles is usually mid 70's but not always...the frame would have been drilled for road use / getting about. I only came across one person riding a fixed for TT and that was a girl who was a track cyclist and used it for 25's (brave soul) in the late 70's
