My old Allin
When the Eroica Britannia hit British shores, I realised my Condor d'Italia time trial bike from 1971 wouldn't be suitable for the trails and hills in Derbyshire, with its lightweight wheels, tubular tyres and only 5 racing ratio gears. It was then I realised I had the ideal bike sitting in the garage: my old Allin which hadn't seen the light of day for over 28 years. Luckily I hadn't got rid of it. I then decided to prepare the bike for Eroica 2015!
This is the Allin in its original set up when I bought the frame second-hand back in 1972. The white paint work had a smoke-effect finish, which was very unusual at the time, with the fork ends and rear drop-outs left unpainted bronze. The lugs were sifbronze welded and very neat. Other equipment included a cottered Stronghlight chainset and Weimann side pull brakes. The photo is taken in 1972, when I was 13 years old, probably on the F4 somewhere, by Len Thorpe. I think I still have the silk racing vest, although it has shrunk over the years!
This is the final incarnation of the Allin. By 1974 the novelty of the smoke effect paint finish had worn thin and I decided to hand-paint the frame red. A cycling club friend had managed to obtain some original Allin decals and looked the part with some world-championship bands and the original head badge. I had graduated to a Stronglight cotterless chainset, with a 54 tooth ring, which is still on the bike and brakes were changed to Mafac centre-pulls, which were more appropriate as the frame had braze-on's for centre-pull brakes and twin handle bar gear shifters. Looking at the photo the handle bars and stem look to be the Cinelli ones which went on my replacement time-trial bike...a Hugh Porter Bantel. The rear mech is a parallelogram Sun-Tour item. The picture, another Len Thorpe photo, was taken on July 20 1974 riding in the Lampard 10 time trial on the F4 and recording a 24.22 and taking fastest schoolboy. I managed a personal best on this bike in the same year....23.05, not bad for a 15 year old with no aerodynamic aids...bar a head-band!
This is another picture from the archives. Once again a Len Thorpe photo, taken at an earlier date than the previous one, possibly the Kingsdale open 10 mile time trial on the F4 held on the 8th April 1973 when I was just 13. This was usually my first open event of the year and was only open to Schoolboys/Juveniles and Juniors and on this occasion I recorded a 27.47. I went on to ride this event no fewer than 5 times. Best result was coming 2nd overall to Tony Doyle and on my last ride I was presented with a bottle of French Champagne!
This photo is of the Allin in 2015, 43 years later! I rode it in the L'Eroica Britannia in June 2015 covering the 55 mile route without any problems.....apart that is having one puncture caused by fitting those anti-puncture strips in the tyres! Apparently where the two ends meet, it causes abrasion....especially on the Strada Bianchi...and results in a hole in the inner-tube. Needless to say they went back to Decathlon for a refund. So far in 2015 ( November) I have covered over 660 miles on it and even raced it in a 10 mile time trial! (ok...probably the slowest I've ever recorded, but it was still inside evens!)