This is the frame as I received it in February of 2008. Although the paint had faded and had the requisite cosmetic problems you would expect on a 48 year old frame, there were no dents or dings anywhere. I was also happy to see dried grease on a lot of the chrome. This kept the corrosion to a minimum. One exception was the seat binder bolt (photo D) which I thought it would have to replaced. It can also be seen in the photos that the bike must have been in the sun for a good deal of time. The paint is faded on the left of the bike, while the right side shows little if any paint fade.

The Universal brake hangars, WA headset and Bayless Wiley bottom bracket were all included with the frame. These items were not salvageable for the restoration. The hangars had extensive corrosion as did the headset. The bottom bracket was in very good shape but was for a cottered crankset. The seller was going to put the crankset with the frame when it was shipped, but he must have forgotten. In any event, the bike was gong to be rebuilt with period-correct Campagnolo components. I, however, retained the Bayless Wiley lockring to use on the Campagnolo bottom bracket that was installed into the frame (just a little tribute to the bicycle's component heritage). The Campagnolo cable stop on the down tube, leads me to believe that the last shifters on the bike were bar ends. That was also discarded due to heavy corrosion and the fact that down tube shifters would be installed instead of bar ends.

This is the first frame I have owned with oilers on the frame. I have often wondered about the amount of grease that has to be injected to effectively lubricate the bearings. Well, I found out that it was a lot! The amount of grease in the head tube and bottom bracket was amazing. And it looked to be all original, there was no sign they had been rebuilt.

I removed all the components and sent the frame off to be restored. I chose Matt Assenmacher whose shop is in the central Michigan (Assenmachers.com). I have known Matt for many years and his paint work is incredible. Matt apprenticed with Bob Jackson in the 70's, so it was only fitting that he do the work on this, the most British of framesets. Matt was happy to see the headbadge was in place as underneath it would be an accurate representation of the paint original color. I elected to have Matt match the color scheme of the original, dark blue with silver pinstriping.

I supplied Matt with the transfers he would need for the restoration. Unfortunately, the transfers would present a bit of a problem.

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Creating Hetchins Transfers