Hetchins Magnum Bonum

Having hung in the garage for a few years now, this one has finally risen to the top of the build list. This bike has been in my family since 1962 when it was bought from the Hetchins shop in Tottenham for £21.14s. It's seen some use and has been stripped and repainted previously. With the greatest respect to my predecessors they didn't do a very good job which made the decision to strip and repaint an easy one! Plan is to strip, repaint and rebuild using as much of the original parts as possible.

Anyway on with some pics first up is prior to paint stripping

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And after!
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WOW! How lucky are you?

I am just guessing that you DIDN'T do the paint stripping in the kitchen, or did you?

Watching this with interest, much interest.....

Paint stripping NOT done in the kitchen!
It was surprisingly easy, having researched on here and other forums, hearing how Nitromors isn't what it used to be, I was expecting it to be a long job. The reality was 20 minutes dabbing on Wickes gel paint stripper with a toothbrush, wrapping the frame and forks in a bin bag for an hour, then another 10 minutes with a pressure washer. The result is more or less paint free.

I was more than a little bit chuffed to find a decent amount of chrome on the stays and forks
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Another hour or so with a wire wheel on the drill and I'm back to bare metal.
Not a single dent or mark on the whole frame, surprising considering how it has been stored. For at least 20 of its more recent years the bike lived in my grandfathers shed with a bit of old cushion for protection against his other bikes. (More to protect his other bikes I might add!)

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THAT is beautiful. :shock:

Got bored with Eastenders so back out to the garage to work on the forks.
In the first pic you can see they were painted with some chrome visible. Once the paint was off its clear they are fully chromed. If I were aiming for concours condition I'd say they need rechroming. As it is the parts I have to rebuild although very good, aren't perfect. As a result I'm polishing up as best I can. Anyone else use a dremel for polishing? Once I found the right size polishing head and compound its been the best way to renovate metals that I've found. So far done a very dull Zaskar and Xizang with good results. it's been useful for getting into the detail on the forks.
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Shiny! Only dull bit is from my grubby paw prints.

Another -
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Blimey......never came across a track frame like that with "vibrant" rear end in my days in a 70's bike shop

I'd personally stop and take advice from a Hetchins user group if there is such a thing........


Shaun

Shaun,
I hope I'm one step ahead in respect of that! Thanks for the advice though, I'm leaving the frame for a bit before I decide on spraying myself or sending to a pro.
I made contact with Len Ingram of Hetchins.org a few years back and sent some photos of the full bike. Len was able to identify the bike from sales records, also to advise on the correct transfers, these I have sourced from Lloyds. It's a road/path frame, drilled for rear brake with track ends. We were both of the opinion it may have been modified or repaired over time as the b/b shell doesn't have the same lugs as the rest of the frame. It does look like it was done by Hetchins as the shell has been stamped with the frame number also found on the drive side track end.

As for rarity I've seen a few others with curly/vibrant stays with rarer lug patterns than this one - one of which lived in the same shed as this one! There are a few in the gallery on the Hetchins site with curly stays and track ends.

I've done a few rebuilds and restos on more modern ie retro stuff, but I don't see this being much different. All the original parts are there and mainly need cleaning/regreasing. In a way it should be easier - no mechs; shifters; cassettes brake set up etc nor the decisions that go in to what to use!

Cheers,

Jonathan

If I had a Hetchins to work on I think I would give Eastenders a miss to!

A beautiful frame, I have seen Hetchins frames in books, and am looking forward to seeing this one progress. I was told recently that Hetchins had a shop about 5 minutes away from where I live in Southend on Sea, and would like to find out more about this. Good luck with the build, it looks great so far and I will look forward to further instalments!

It is indeed a lovely looking thing....and they ride wonderfully too!
Mine came from the southend shop in 1979.....it too, will be a family heirloom, as it rides so well, I will never sell it.



Original paint, one previous owner who gave up cycling after a near miss down a country lane which spooked him.....perfect size for me too!

I will be following this thread closely too!