My Fuquay

[negr6]

Late edit - Oh bugger - put it in the wrong category! Oops. A few of the bits are post 1998. Will that do?


Hi,

Some pics of my Fuquay. It has an interesting history - it was custom built for a then mate of mine, and was displayed at the Bike '95 show, and some scumbag nicked it from Greg Fuquay's stand the evening before my mate was going to go collect it.

My mate lost his job just after collecting the replacement - I made him an offer for the new frame despite me being a couple of inches shorter than him, then built it up with a few choice bits when my bike shop wrench-monkey's meagre salary allowed..

It's not seen much use over the years, but has evolved - it started off with Pace suspension forks, Hope / Pace hubs and Renthal sub130 flat bars, with bits being swapped and exchanged between it and it's garage buddies, which include a nice shiny 2001 Merlin mountain, and a rather dog-eared S Works hardtail from 1999.

Thanks to the slightly odd choice of a 1" steerer, it'll not evolve much more!

Nice old -school dealer sticker from CJ Frost cycles in Hitchin - they ordered me most of the bits.

Note the ding in the rear rim - Morzine 1999! (whilst fitted on my S Works)

Oh - another little historical nugget - I was seeing this girl in Stotfold in 1995 or 1996 and her sister had a friend who was 'really into cycling'. At a party, I briefly met her friend, and while I was admittedly very very drunk at the time, I believe the friend had a quick go on my bike, and quite possibly chipped the paint a bit when she got off it and put it back in the garage. This girl went on to have a bit of success at the velodrome in years to come.............

 

[orange71]

Very nice, quite similar in design to my Fuquay (I guess not surprisingly!!). Mine's Columbus tubing though (a bit stiff for my liking unfortunately).

 

[negr6]

It's huge! How tall are you? Mine was built for a guy circa 6'2" (I'm 5'11" and it's ok) and my head tube is about half the length of yours!



Nice colour though.

 

[lewis1641]

that looks really good.

did the stolen bike ever get recovered?

 

[orange71]

It's huge! How tall are you? Mine was built for a guy circa 6'2" (I'm 5'11" and it's ok) and my head tube is about half the length of yours!



Nice colour though.

the seat tube is actually 'only' 21", however the headtube is 8"!!! I managed to get in touch with the original owner recently and it turns out he is 6'6". I am 6'3" but have long legs and a short back proportionately, so large framed bikes usually don't actually fit very well as the top tubes are too long. This one fits me perfectly (although I concede looks odd!)

 

[negr6]

To Lewis - No idea on what happened to the original bike - presumably it disappeared, never to be seen again.

Is Greg Fuquay still around? I remember hearing he'd given up and returned to the USA. He was originally in the USAF as a technician wasn't he? - oddly enough, in I know a bloke who was a colonel in the USAF and at points during his flying career was based at Lakenheath, Suffolk, and flew F111s and occasionally F15s out of there. Perhaps at some point their paths crossed - who knows?

 

[orange71]

I understand he went back to the States and continues to be a technician and no longer makes frames. 'Chipps' from the MTb mags is still in touch with him I gather. I tried to track him down (unsuccessfully, as Chipps didn't get back to me after initial discussions) at one point to get the history of my frame (before I eventually found the actual owner of it).