Being involved in the graphics industry and feeding my love of cycling has led me over and over again to the conclusion that their paths cross. A lot. I have always been a bit of an Ital-junkie myself, but I have still always admired the skill and artistic eye of the old British frame builders (not to mention the neo-American builders). My father also shares my passion for the bike; naturally, we decided to add one of the grand British marques to our riding collection.
Our involvement with the Hetchins Experto Crede Plus began in March, 2009. My father and I had been collecting Italian and British components for a as-of-then undecided project. The Plus appeared on eBay offered by Hilary Stone; it looked like a good candidate for some tender love and care. The attraction of the Plus was the lugwork and the thin stays and fork. Needless to say, the frame arrived after the typical eBay bidding battle in late April. The beauty of obtaining a vintage Hetchins was not only the machine itself, but the extensive historical records and documentation curated by Len Ingram. After some quick shots of the serial number, he replied:
“Your latest frame is listed as a 23-inch straight Experto Crede Plus Circuit of Britain model (Frame Angles). It was built by Bob Stratful and sold from the shop on the 28th May 1962, price £23.9.6d.”
This frame was the tenth Plus to be added to the Hetchins registry. With this new information, there was no choice but to bring it back. The chrome was pitted & rusted and the most recent paint was done with a spray can. The fork proved to be the most worrisome part of the project. Some well placed decals had hidden the fact that corrosion had perforated both fork legs clear through. The bottom bracket shell was packed with old grease which quite literally had to be spooned out.
We judiciously removed sections of the frame’s paint to get a better idea of the condition of metal. In its current condition, the frame was unsafe to ride. The fork could have buckled under hard braking. At this point, the skills of a frame builder were needed before paint could be considered. The scope of the project began to become quite large. After contacting four reputable frame builders (being turned down from each) the fifth said yes, a decision he would come to question later.
Tom Kellogg and Jeff Duser of Spectrum Cycles, in Breinigsville, PA surfaced as the men for the job. We took the frame & fork to their shop for an evaluation. Everyone agreed that the fork was in a dangerous condition and needed major repair. Jeff thought that there could be some old fork legs, he left to rummage through a box of tubes in the back of the shop. A few minutes later he returned with two unused Reynolds fork legs which were a perfect match to the originals. The twin plate for crown and the Agrati ends were to be salvaged and used with the new legs. The go ahead was given and the boys got to work.
The Plus has stiffeners extending down the fork legs from the crown. During the deconstruction of the fork, these stiffeners were damaged beyond use. Using the old pieces as templates, new stiffeners were fabricated. Jeff even brazed the new pieces to the legs slightly askew, just like the originals. The next challenge was replicating the graceful fork rake. The jigs that were in the Spectrum shop were not set up to start the bend further down the leg. Tom and Jeff constructed a new fork jig with ample leverage with some encouragement from fellow builder, J. Peter Weigle. The rake on the renovated fork is indistinguishable from the original and done on the first try.
The frame was in rough condition. Using the original 1962 price as and the page from the Hetchin catalog as starting points; we deduced that our Plus was ‘Super Finished’ with chrome plating for ‘severe service.’ The original plan was to strip the frame of the old plating and to re-plate the entire frame and add painted accents and panels. After the frame was stripped, re-plating the entire was not feasible due to the pitting of certain areas of the tubes. The headlugs and the stays & fork ends were re-plated. After much deliberation, a lovely shade of emerald green metallic paint with analogous gold head tube. To punch up the awesomeness, I picked out some super-retro Coronation decals.
Tom Kellogg was the painter and the pin striper. The overall work that Tom & Jeff performed took about eight months. We went back to their shop to pick up the frame in January, 2010. When we first saw the renovated Plus, we were speechless. The completed project was far beyond our expectations.
We tried to stay as period correct as possible with the components. Every part except the crankset, which is a Campagnolo three arm steel unit from 1970, is period correct. The pictures of the completed Plus illustrate how happy we are with the final product.
The frame was displayed at the 2010 North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Richmond, Virginia. Tom Kellogg’s Spectrum Cycle booth was used as the venue. There was a constant crowd of admirers, including some notable biking news outlets. Even Cycling News took some photos and notes.
“Naturally, some bikes at NAHBS were notable for their incredible paint jobs and finish work such as the stunning Hetchins restoration done by Tom Kellogg of Spectrum Cycles. Kellogg says this customer restoration is one of just twelve known remaining samples out of 150 produced and the “particularly challenging” project took five months to complete from start to finish.
In addition to the tedious paintwork, Kellogg says he also had to replace the fork blades, fill in numerous deep rust pits and rechrome all the requisite sections. The finished product is astounding in its thoroughness, though, and it’s a veritable certainty that the current owner will take better care of it than the previous one.”
We’ll be taking the Hetchins out for its first state-side ride on May 28th, forty-eight years to the day after it left the shop in Tottenham.