Harry Quinn? I don't know...

Cab

Cab

Retro Guru
This frame has Harry Quinn transfers & a 531 'respray' sticker, but no serial number. Any ideas what it started out as? came with a right mix-up of parts & 700c wheels, but there's enough clearance for 27". seat post is 26.8mm. I doubt it's anything rare, but stop me if it is (could be just another powder-coat fixie in 2 weeks). Here's a few pictures (apologies for quality; poor light this time of year. I should never have mentioned PJ's FGG submission) that may give a clue:
HarryQuinn001.jpg

The rear dropouts have these small threaded holes:
dropouts.jpg

fork crown has extensions down inside of leg:
forkcrown.jpg

cable guide under bb shell, a simple bent strip, has allowed cable to cut into shell:
BBshell.jpg
 
it looks genuine, the reynolds sticker matches the age and style (and the way its disintegrating) , so you just might have the genuine article
 
It may be original, but 531 is thin walled tubing and that looks pretty damned rusty to me. How's the flick and ping test? I hope it doesn't go flick and crunch!
 
GarethPJ":27vn9k5v said:
It may be original, but 531 is thin walled tubing and that looks pretty damned rusty to me. How's the flick and ping test? I hope it doesn't go flick and crunch!
Click to expand...

Looks like surface rust at the most. The drive side of frames are usually protected by the oily muck flung off the chain/ cassette. This preserves frames for many years even when laid up.
 
Re-edited my first post to try & get it on the page better (sorry, only just started on photo-bucket).

Thanks for the ebay example, Jones: just like mine but original owner maybe swapped a few parts on mine (nice Dura-Ace non aero levers). ebay seller has the same fixie mindset as me.
 
I hope it is a genuine HQ but it must be remembered that the brand name was used by Townsend(?) at one period on some real 'gas-tube' bikes but I don't think that this is one of them. The rear drop-outs and re-inforced fork crown show that it could be a good one. If the rear drop-outs are Campag (which they look like), the small holes (which should be threaded) are for fitting their short-lived 'Porticattaneo' device which was a curved alloy casting that screwed to these holes and onto which the chain was allowed to 'derail' by a special down-tube lever. This enabled the rider to remove the rear wheel without the chain coming off etc. so (theoretically) providing quicker wheel changes in races (and not getting your hands so dirty!).
 
The paint’s rough, but the frame doesn’t look too bad inside. Only thin bit is where a chain ring scuffed the stay at some point. The paint looks worse above the rear dropouts as ‘p’ clips were used to fit mudguards. I realise one reason it may not have a frame number stamp is bikes I’ve seen from around that time sometimes have a ‘security’ type sticker with the frame number on.
I didn’t actually get round to starting work on it before a frame that fitted better showed up, so if any local riders are interested it’s up for grabs. (56cm frame)
 
When I saw the thread I thought that it might be appropriate to introduce you to the builder himself.

Still alive today at 93yr :D :D
 
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