Wire brush would leave ‘brush’ marks lol like fine scratches. Not the dimples as above. Probably just poor casting, or in a previous life may have been stripped and let rust and then cleaned up, hence dimples in the tubing.
correct though, etch primer will get that lovely and smooth!
Batter up…
Alright, batter up again! Got a thing for unknown frames!
Please excuse the gf’s messy room/bad photos… it’s currently residing at her place in Syd. I bought her a thousand bucks worth of camera and equipment 6 months ago and she still takes photos on her damn iPhone…
Sand blasting - Ouch!
Etch primer is just a thin primer. Once you’ve etch primed it, then hit it with with a ‘High Build Primer Filler’ - the UPOL stuff is really good. Then give it a gentle sand with a 400 grit (you want to keep the surface ‘rough’, relatively speaking, for the colour to bond well with it. Use heaps of clear too.
The only Aussie frame that I have seen with that fork crown design was a coughs McBain. Honest truth… Of course, I’m no Spirito.
I have had a similar fork crown on a Beretto and a hillman.
That ‘11’ on the bottom bracket has appeared on Aaron’s Cecil Walker which may have been built by Mr Wigham of Paconi fame.
The serial number on the rear dropout is probably your best lead…it’s ringing a bell in my head, but I’m going to have to give it some more thought.
Thanks! Have seen the 11 on a few unknown frames so whatever there, but yes if you can think of anything surrounding the serial that would be awesome! Looking at it, the 74 is stamped in a different typeface to the rest so I’m guessing it’s 1974 but that’s all I got! I was hoping it would click with someone as its the frames only unique feature.
I don’t think it will be a hillman as they usually stamped the BB shell!
Got the same fork crown on my Whitehorn.
My turn. Stripped frame, fully chromed, Campagnolo dropouts, 27.2 post, english threaded BB, 120mm spaced, replacement fork.
that is so nice, i can’t help with identifying, but its just super nice
oh shit, i was bidding on this frame on fleabay.
id be interested to know as well!!
x
I remember a very similar frame that a guy here in Sydney had (he’s now in NYC - Bruce). Forum user HPallet might recall the frame builder’s name. Not 100% but I’m thinking it was from NZ.
It too was all chrome and almost the exact same home-style steel chainstay bridge fab. like yours. Unfortunately I don’t have pics to compare.
I’m not a betting man but I’m almost wager my last $5 that frame is/was made in Italy. Just reeks Italian. Not a Miyata for sure and I’ve never heard of any local builders using BB’s with Italian threads (unless they were nuts, liked making things difficult or just didn’t care).
One Aussie frame builder thinks it could be a Kerry Hopkins. He also said it Definately looked like Reynolds tubing, probably 531.
looks absolutely nothing like any KH I’ve ever seen. They had oval fork blades, newer tubing (late 80s to early 90s build dates) and had serial numbers on the BB. Even the one built for another shop had KHxxx on the BB.
Spirito, my frezoni has a Roto BB too, but English threaded.
My thoughts exactly. So I give up!
This is why I don’t bother even trying to Id frames,
Even saying it looks like 531 is a big call.
Ive even been stung buying frames that I was told was one thing and ended up being another.
Without performing metallurgical tests, saying its any tubing is a stretch. I bought this full knowing i would never know. The serial was a nice bonus though and sometimes you get lucky!
Whats the plan for it HLC? respray?
