Bill Nickson frame - worth restoring?

Hi,
a few years ago I bought a resprayed Bill Nickson road bike in order to do LEJOG. Did that, and really enjoyed the ride and the bike. Trouble is that the seat tube by the bottom bracket has now rusted through (water in the seat tube, despite me squirting lots of waxoyl down there). The bike is a welded Deddaccai frame, with 8 speed Dura Ace running gear, carbon forks (not sure if they are original though), and Hope Ultralight hubs (since replaced due to the bearings failing in the front and the flange splitting on the rear). I guess it's a late 80's, early 90's frame.

The bikes a really nice bike, and it fits me very well. Since I stopped riding it ( a year ago) due to the frame rusting through, I have bought a new bike, so technically I don't need the Bill Nickson bike (possible turbo trainer duties only, if I get desperate enough).

Is this a classic frame worth restoring (reweld or braze, and decent respray), or is it nothing special?

I really like it, but don't want to throw money at it for it to be worth next to nothing.

Thanks

Hi, i cannot exactly anwer your post but i can tell you that I have a brand new from old stock bill nickson frameset in deda steel. On looking at the BB shell i noticed that there are no drain/breather holes from the seat tube (or others) through the BB shell. I will make a small drill hole through bottom of the shell and up through the top under the seat tube to aid drainage. I think that your frame might have rusted through in that area as (if the same as mine) theres nowhere for excess water to go, if its the same as my frame the water has no way of escaping unless you take out the seat post and tip it up. If your BB is not the same and allows drainage then I dont know why its rusted through there.
Just thought it may be similar in build charateristics as mine. Im looking forward to building it up once Ive put in the drain holes- a bit extreme possibly but I think a small drill hole will do more good than harm!

Hey, this is only very rough, and you may want to wait for someone who knows a bit more, but I did a quick search on prices:

A new seat tube from Bob Jackson costs about £90.
Obviously, you'd need to respray as well - about £100 or so.

I've seen a couple of Nickson frames, eg on Ebay, from Hilary Stone, between £150-£250.

So based only on these rough prices, you'd probably about break even.

Of course, it also depends on whether you particularly like the frame, or if
it's an especially unusual or collectable one.

Hope that's useful,

John

Thanks guys.

There is no drain tube near the bottom bracket, so the seat tube has filled up with water and rusted through. When I saw the first rusty bit I filled the seat tube with waxoyl, but it was probably too late as it got worse. Drilling a drain hole in the bottom bracket to empty the seat tube would be a good thing (and one in the underside of the BB to empty that).

Money wise, I think you're right - it's a break even at best, so I think consigning the frame to the turbo trainer is the only option.