Steve
Maas, Long Beach, California
February, 2005
I still can't believe how lucky I was to find this bike. I was
contacted by the owner, in Arizona, who had found the Hetchins bikes on my site.
He asked if I had any suggestions for
selling it. I made the usual ones (eBay, Classics Rendezvous email list, and so
on) and then said that I'd love to see a picture of it.
I received the pictures below and nearly broke my dentures when my jaw hit the floor. It was a mid-60s all-chrome Magnum Opus in remarkably good condition. Even my size! I then made a suggestion that eased his marketing task considerably, and a couple weeks later, the bike was in my garage, on my workstand.
As with the discovery of any previously unknown Hetchins MO, the bike generated a lot of excitement. Flash, the webmaster of the Historic Hetchins website, put some of the pictures on his site. The pictures also found their way to other classic-bike archives. I feel fortunate to have a bike that has generated so much interest.
Below are some thumbnails of the pictures of the bike. To
see a larger version of a picture, click on the thumbnail. Use the back button
of your browser to return to this page.
Here are some pictures of the bike at its former home in Arizona:
Below are some pictures of the bike as I received it:
The bike is in remarkably nice condition. The chrome is good, with a little corrosion peppering here and there. The worst, which is not really bad, is on the fork. No peeling, fortunately; what looks like chrome loss on the seat lug, in the above pictures, is actually just brown grease.
The frame was first sold in early 1967 but made in 1966. The components are somewhat later, early to mid 70s. Originally, it probably had some rather ordinary components, which were worn out by 1974 or 75. It was then upgraded with Campagnolo parts. The brakes are side-pull, but the frame was clearly designed for center-pull calipers. Because of this, I will replace the side-pull brakes with center-pull ones. The bars and stem, however, look very 1960s and are probably original. I love the badge on the stem, even though it has been drilled to allow for the brake cable.
The head-tube badge and fork crown are unusual. Hetchins MOs usually had painted brass badges and twin-plate crowns. I have been told that Hetchins occasionally had trouble obtaining parts, not unexpected in the 1960s British economy, so other parts sometimes were used. This is an example of that situation.
The bike has tubular tires, which need to be replaced, on Martano rims. In spite of my antipathy toward tubulars, I bought a set of Clement tubulars as replacements. I'll keep tubulars on the bike; it just seems right for it. The wheel hubs have a 1975 date code, so the wheels probably are upgrades as well. A few spokes have lost tension, so I need to retension and retrue the wheels.
Although the bike was well preserved by the dry, warm Arizona climate, it needed some work to get it into pristine condition. I started by disassembling the bike, then cleaning the frame, first with naptha to remove oily dirt, and finally with denatured alcohol. I fixed a couple of the larger spots of chrome damage. The worst was under the top tube near the front, an area about 1 cm in diameter. A spot of gray paint had been applied, apparently to prevent rust. I sanded it off and used my nickel "copy chrome" brush plating kit to cover it with metal. I did a similar repair to a rust spot on a chainstay. The lower headset cup also was missing some chrome; I treated it similarly.
The existing (and badly worn) downtube transfer was easily removed with alcohol. I applied a set of Hetchins "fairground" transfers on the downtubes and a new badge transfer for the seat tube, as well. To locate the transfers precisely, I first measured the locations on my Hetchins Keyhole. Then, I put pieces of masking tape on the frame, with alignment marks in ink, as a guide for applying the transfers. After drying them overnight indoors, I covered the transfers with clear lacquer for protection. The new frame artwork gives the bike an especially elegant appearance. I gave it a quick polishing with Simichrome while everything was apart and completely accessible. Final polishing will happen after it's all back together.
As usual, I cleaned and relubricated all the bearings: crank, headset, wheel hubs, and pedals. I'll keep the chrome pedals, even though they are actually track pedals. A little liquid metal polish cleaned them up well, even though they had a fair amount of rust pitting.
I installed red cloth bar tape and a new Brooks B17 narrow saddle, which I got from Bicycle Classics. (Very good prices on Brooks saddles and nice guys to deal with.) New cable sheaths are red, and, of course, the bike got new stainless steel brake and gear cables. I found a nice set of Universal 61 center-pull brakes on eBay and put a set of Matthauser pads on them that I had been hoarding. I replaced the gold-colored Suntour freewheel with a Regina, since, on a chrome bike, it looks much better. Like all Regina freewheels, it sounds like I'm being followed by a guy with a machine gun, but, hey, this is a mid-60s British bike, so what could be more appropriate? To give reasonable shifting, I installed a modern chain. The Sedis chain that came with the bike looks great, but it's just not flexible enough to shift well.
I retensioned and trued the wheels. They needed it. I broke only one spoke, even though a number of the spoke nipples had seized. I may still replace the spoke nipples, which may require completely respoking the wheels, since the existing ones are irrevocably tarnished. I found that lacquer thinner worked great for cleaning the old, hardened glue off the rims. I also polished the rims and lacquered over the Martano labels to stabilize them; they had started flaking off.
I buffed the stem, handlebars, and miscellaneous parts on a buffing wheel. This is remarkably effective for polishing aluminum to a mirror finish; the improvement is stunning. It also works well on brass and for polishing steel parts prior to plating.
Below are some pictures of the bike. I wouldn't say it's finished at this point, but probably close to it. For one thing, I'm not happy with the tires I found; even though new, they have a lot of scuffing on the sidewalls that can't be cleaned easily and makes them look a little shabby. I may also change the pedals, in time. The seatpost looks like it was cleaned at one time with a rotary wire brush; I think I may replace it with one in better condition. Just a few things to keep me busy.
The bike's maiden voyage was on March 6, 2005. Just a 20-mile loop from my home to El Dorado Park and back. I stopped at a bike shop to get a couple minor items, and it attracted quite a bit of attention. The second time I had it out, a British guy on a modern bike pulled me over and wouldn't let me continue until he had inspected every inch of it. I don't take the bike out very often; it's not a "show bike," in my estimation, but I do like to keep it nice.
In early 2006 I replaced the Campagnolo track pedals with chrome Nuovo Record ones. I also put the Clement tires on my Hetchins Spyder, where they look much better, and installed a set of Panaracer tubulars. These have a cool red strip around the sidewall, which picks up the red accents of the bike's other details. Someday I'll find a nicer seatpost, and that should finish the job.