This page features a replica which is so good, that only someone who interviewed the builder would know it is not genuine.
The frame was brazed by Alistair Rickett in 1993, using a (Magnum Bonum) lugset cut by Len Phipps. He needed a frame with a longer tt than anything he had seen before, so he built one for himself. He had experience building over 40 frames; he learned the craft by working with a builder ex-Rattrays/Flying Scot. The main tubes are actually Columbus Nuovo SLX (despite the Reynolds sticker). 531 fork blades and stays. It bears no serial number.
The frame is painted in a purply-blue flam with gold trim, by Mick Arondale of Jackson Cycles. (They should not have fitted Hetchins transfers, as this is Alistair Rickett's work, not Hetchin's).
The components are 1993 Campag Athena groupset, with 1993 Chorus hubs.
Unlike other replicas, this one gets the details right. No over-elaboration typical of many replicas, no crudely mismatched chainstays and bb shells, no ugly proportions, not a farago of bits never intended to be together on one frame. This is the best tribute Hetchins I have seen to date.
|