Poyner - oh wait - Harry Quinn

FINNEY1973

Senior Retro Guru
Thought I'd share my latest project with you all. I picked up a 'Poyner of Wolverhampton' some months ago via ebay. It was bought on a bit of whim and it didn't go for a great deal of cash. I was attracted to the short wheelbase and the Super Record crankset. Everything else was a bit of an unknown, as was the overall condition. After winning the auction (£3 under my maximum bid) I took a trip to the West Midlands and brought the bike home. Initially I was a tad disappointed as the paint was in pretty awful condition, and it needed a lot of work to bring it back to some level of decent shape.

However, the bike was a complete conundrum. I'm certainly no expert in older bikes, but despite appearances this bike was not as it appeared. The bike was dressed in an 80's paint-scheme and apart from the crankset (1977) everything was early to mid 80's - Cinelli XA stem, Giro bars, Bianchi Saddle, SR seatpost, Mavic 571 front hub and a rather fantastic Ofmega Premier rear mech. The frame told a different story though - looked 70's all day long. Drilled BB shell, beautifully filed down lugs, single DT shifter, over BB cable guide and 70's style fork crown. Best part was the braze-on brake bosses - never seen those before.

My assumption was a 70's Poyner that had undertaken a facelift in the 80's, so off I went researching 70's TT bikes. Must put on record a huge thanks to Shaun (Midlife) who has been a great source of information whilst I decided what to do with the bike. End result was to re-build with period parts based around the crankset date of 1977.

Anyway, this is what I bought....
 

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So to the plan - paint was in very poor state, rust was evident, few dints and dings so I took the plunge, a full restoration from metal up. I took the paint back to bare metal to see what the rust was like and how deep it was sitting. In fairness, it wasn't too bad so I applied a full dose of Jenolite and although it didn't exactly make the rust disappear, it certainly took it back to steel. The dints and dings that were big enough to fill got some Quicksteel applied and then once filed down and was onto the primer.

One thing I did notice when in bare metal state was that the braze-on brake bosses had Brev Camp stamped into them. Front & rear drop-outs also bare the same, so despite the shoddy condition, here was a frame of some quality, certainly very, very light and definitely worthy of restoration. Oh and the five numeric numbers on the BB - no answers on the www and no info on Poyner so I left that at that (more of this to come)

Some more pics of the dirty part of the job...
 

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So to that 5 'digit' frame number 03439 - it wasn't until I'd completed the primer and 1st coat I was inspecting my first attempt at spraying a frame that it caught my eye - it wasn't a 0 but a Q. Straight away my hunch was Harry Quinn so I contacted RB member Blightyinfurs and asked him how the Q was constructed - "a 0 with a 1 struck under to create the Q" came the response. There we are, not a Poyner but a Harry Quinn. Cross referencing ClassicRendevous the frame number would be somewhere between '72 & '75 by my reckoning.

I must say at this point, knowing more about what I'd actually bought and then knowing that it was a genuine HQ built in Liverpool, I was pretty bloody happy. So despite ordering Poyner decals from H Lloyds and buying what was principally a pile of components based around 1977 or thereabouts, the build had new impetus, just needed new decals...
 

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So onwards towards the completed bike...I took Midlife's info on 'flam' paints and after a tip-off regarding a local shop who mix paints for aerosol use I decided on Amaranth - purple that looks blue(ish) in the sunshine. 2 coats, decals applied and 2 coats of lacquer - easy. Well, not really - the lacquer is a bit uneven in places and all those tiny dints & dings show up much more than when it was bare metal. But all in all for a first attempt it's a very solid attempt and the colour is superb.

So to the components...

Frame: Assumed Reynolds SL
Fork: Assumed Reynolds SL

Headset: EDCO Competition
Stem: Cinelli 1A
Handlebar: Cinelli 66 Campione del Mondo (early logo)
Bar Tape: Tressorex
Bar Ends: 12 gauge shotgun cartridges.

Brake Levers: Campagnolo 2030 Nuovo Record
Brake Calipers: Campagnolo 2040 Nuovo Record
Brake Pads: Campagnolo
Brake Cables: Casiraghi

Shifters: Campagnolo 1013/6N Record
Rear Derailleur: Campagnolo 1020A Nuovo Record V3
Derailleur Cables: Casiraghi
Cassette: Regina Extra 'Oro Type Gold 6 speed 13T-18T
Chain: Everest 1/2 X 3/32 Serie Oro
Cranks: Campagnolo 1049/A Strada Super Record 1977
Chainring: Campagnolo drilled
Bottom Bracket: Campagnolo 1046/A Nuovo Record Strada
Pedals: Crankbrothers Eggbeaters

Rims: Super Champion Competition "Arc en Ceil" 28 hole
Hubs: Campagnolo 1034 Record
Hub Skewers: Campagnolo 1034 Record
Tubes: Continental

Saddle: ISCA Competition
Seatpost: Campagnolo 4051 Super Record fluted 2-bolt
Seatpost Binder: Campagnolo 1070

The brakes are pretty difficult to set up as the braze on bolts hold the tension spring and therefore alignment is limited - to this end the calipers aren't quite sitting correctly and pressure isn't applied quite equally via both brakepads. All in all though, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out even though it wasn't what I had planned when I originally bought the bike. However, I'm delighted to add a Quinn to the stable and I've learnt a lot and thoroughly enjoyed this project.

Hope you like the final result :)
 

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The History Man":13ei35uc said:
Oooooh! Looks like it's wearing suspenders. Very sexy.

Haha - like that. Will look better with some nicer photographs - those don't do the colour justice so i'll see if I can get better ones done...
 
Bathed in sunshine....it could almost be the summer of '76....
 

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