1980's Ian May Aero Bike help required new pics added
- Thread starter biggs682
- Start date
Diamant_Don
Retro Guru
It's the niche of the niche biggs682! 
And, seriously, there must be more than two still out there!
And, seriously, there must be more than two still out there!
Well what a day Sunday 11/01/15 was , we had more comments re the late Ian May than I can ever remember having before .
A few weeks ago I joined the facebook page called 80’s Cycling remembered for no real reasons other than curiosity .
I had a brainwave earlier in the week re putting a plea on their asking for any info re Ian May and his bikes but one thing and another meant I didn’t get round to doing it till yesterday morning .
I also wanted to speak to Iestyn Adams before doing it to see what he thought about the idea , but I decided to go for it and boy I could not believe the response we had .
We had a message from somebody who worked with him , another from a couple of his customers who had bikes built by the man himself ,and were still owned by them .
We also learnt that frames built by Ian May were allocated a 3 digit frame number that were prefixed by IMC , this confirms my thoughts that both of my own bikes were bought in frames just stickered up as Ian Mays although this is a bit of a blow it doesn’t come as a great surprise .
Below are some snippets from some of the messages and a mention is given to the people by whom they were made .
in the words of the poster Michael Day
” Ian May wheel’s Mavic GP4 Campag super Record hubs 28 spoke, 33 years old and what can I say….Spandau Ballet…so true….
Lol “
Michael also commented
" Both 531 double butted, and ian used diff decals on those frames I believe, mine both hand made to fit me…he was really OCD about measuring and getting it right for me " and " He always put IMC and the number of the frame..three digits"
We also had these comments from ex Ian May employee Patrick Collerton
"Ian may
Hello I worked for Ian when I left school in 1982' as your article said he did build frames, he was just getting into it when I worked with him.
I was there for 6 months on the government work plan.
Ian was a kind man and was know for his wheel building, Mark Bell stated that he would not ride any other wheels.
Alison May is Ian's sister she is on face book "
" the shop was a family affair his mum dad brother Gary and Allison , Ian used to build the frames upstairs.
he did sponsor the port sunlight wheelers late 80s. He started out working for another shop in Birkenhead Alec Green. One of Ian's first bike brands was fangio that he sold a lot of, they also made clothing "
Derek Taylor said the below
" Alec Greens was a local to me bike shop Raleigh / Dawes dealer and years after it closed I was talking to a mate at work and mentioned Alec Greens and it turned out he was the mechanic in there
Unlike · Reply · 1 · 11 January at 20:11
In Appreciation Of Merseyside Bikes strange how these things come round
Like · 1 · 11 January at 20:16
Derek Taylor I wonder if the owner of the wheelbase knows any information about the shop as he was in the same school as me and it's only a short distance away from Ian's old place "
so all in all it was a very full day with some good new snippets of information .The next thing we would like to see is a picture of the shop in its glory days !!
A few weeks ago I joined the facebook page called 80’s Cycling remembered for no real reasons other than curiosity .
I had a brainwave earlier in the week re putting a plea on their asking for any info re Ian May and his bikes but one thing and another meant I didn’t get round to doing it till yesterday morning .
I also wanted to speak to Iestyn Adams before doing it to see what he thought about the idea , but I decided to go for it and boy I could not believe the response we had .
We had a message from somebody who worked with him , another from a couple of his customers who had bikes built by the man himself ,and were still owned by them .
We also learnt that frames built by Ian May were allocated a 3 digit frame number that were prefixed by IMC , this confirms my thoughts that both of my own bikes were bought in frames just stickered up as Ian Mays although this is a bit of a blow it doesn’t come as a great surprise .
Below are some snippets from some of the messages and a mention is given to the people by whom they were made .
in the words of the poster Michael Day
” Ian May wheel’s Mavic GP4 Campag super Record hubs 28 spoke, 33 years old and what can I say….Spandau Ballet…so true….
Lol “
Michael also commented
" Both 531 double butted, and ian used diff decals on those frames I believe, mine both hand made to fit me…he was really OCD about measuring and getting it right for me " and " He always put IMC and the number of the frame..three digits"
We also had these comments from ex Ian May employee Patrick Collerton
"Ian may
Hello I worked for Ian when I left school in 1982' as your article said he did build frames, he was just getting into it when I worked with him.
I was there for 6 months on the government work plan.
Ian was a kind man and was know for his wheel building, Mark Bell stated that he would not ride any other wheels.
Alison May is Ian's sister she is on face book "
" the shop was a family affair his mum dad brother Gary and Allison , Ian used to build the frames upstairs.
he did sponsor the port sunlight wheelers late 80s. He started out working for another shop in Birkenhead Alec Green. One of Ian's first bike brands was fangio that he sold a lot of, they also made clothing "
Derek Taylor said the below
" Alec Greens was a local to me bike shop Raleigh / Dawes dealer and years after it closed I was talking to a mate at work and mentioned Alec Greens and it turned out he was the mechanic in there
Unlike · Reply · 1 · 11 January at 20:11
In Appreciation Of Merseyside Bikes strange how these things come round
Like · 1 · 11 January at 20:16
Derek Taylor I wonder if the owner of the wheelbase knows any information about the shop as he was in the same school as me and it's only a short distance away from Ian's old place "
so all in all it was a very full day with some good new snippets of information .The next thing we would like to see is a picture of the shop in its glory days !!
Quick update i found another Ian May bike although pretty sure this is not one of his own built frames due to frame numbering ie 03325 .
Its a nice frame to ride and has some nice details ie fork profile , rear seat cluster , clearances are close and campagnolo drop outs fr & rr .
Shame the paintwork is not in better condition but hey ho .
Its a nice frame to ride and has some nice details ie fork profile , rear seat cluster , clearances are close and campagnolo drop outs fr & rr .
Shame the paintwork is not in better condition but hey ho .
