Another Aussie track bike

Sold this a while ago and decided I'd build another track bike...

Picked up this mystery frame:













After a bit of detective work it turned it to be a Petrus, built in Melbourne sometime pre-1979 by Peter Brotherton, who was a former UK Olympic track cyclist. 531 main tubes, Columbus stays and fork, tange BB; very few produced so no serial number.

This is the guy that built it, in the 50s when he was on Raleigh:


Unfortunately...I'd built it by that stage and guessed it to be somewhat more modern than it is. I went for more of a late 80s-early 90s spec. Wolber Profil TX hard ano on Dura-Ace 7500 hi-flange hubs, 7600 Dura-Ace crankset with a Campagnolo BB (ISO cranks), Thomson post that came with the frame, Tange Levin alloy headset, Nitto bar and stem, Flite 1991, Kyokuto Ace pedals for pics. The paint is as received for now, its not original but not too knocked about; Cyclomondo Greg is working on some Petrus decal art so when thats done I will respray in the pale metallic gold lurking under the purple (its a bit of a Violet Crumbler right now!)














Ideally I would like a 600 Aero seatpost (26.6) and some 7500 cranks. I have a HKK Vertex Silver chain coming to replace that ugly KMC.

Love the way it rides, aggressive but quite livable.

Loving it. Is that a 1/8" chainring then or are you using 3/32"?

Its all 1/8" stuff, think its a 7710 chainring.

Nice

Thats really nice but imagine it will be a real beauty once its painted as described.
Do you have any info on its history or how it came to you? Always interested in individual bikes history.
Hows it ride in general? Are you using it for track work or general type use?
Sorry for all the questions, just really interested
I dont think many will get the reference to the violet crumbler over here in the UK as they're aren't sold here much to my dissapiontment, but my sister sends me care packages from home with VC, cherry ripes and sherbies :roll:
Look forward to updates

Jamie

Gday Jamie,
I haven't been able to get any provenance on who owned it prior unfortunately. It came from Brisbane of all places, which is an awful long way from Chelsea Heights in greater Melbourne! The confirmation on the brand came from the builder's son (who also helped build them), its apparently pre '79 as they went to Cinelli BB shells from then on.

I plan to use it at some club track evenings when we start again for summer, tbh at the moment I've mostly just been using it on our paved interurban cycleway. Mostly I just love the design and ride of old track bikes and do like to have one in the stable.

As for the ride, well as you can see from the angles and clearances its a pretty sharp handler, but its not twitchy and feels quite balanced. The frame is massively stiff compared the McBain I had previously and it really goes when you stand up and sprint it. The front end is quite low but on the street I'm using the 'flat' mostly and around a track its not uncomfortable in the drops.