For a while now I have had a hankering for a road bike. I began watching auction sites and the hankering developed into a desire and then almost reached the 'must have' stage. The tipping point came I think when my mate announced that he had bought himself a new road bike and at that point I began to look more seriously what was available. After a lot of consideration, my choice came down to either a Decathalon Triban 3 or looking for a vintage bike. Most of the bikes I saw were either too expensive for me, or needed too much work. The rest were just crap and I found myself leaning more and more to a the Decathlon, Modern bikes don't exactly set my pulse racing so I held off a little longer, but eventually I was on the verge of going to see the Decathlon and would probably have bought one. I came across the bike in the photo while browsing through the Gum Tree auction site and as it was only in Teesside I decided to go and have a look. It is a Hugh Porter and thought to be about 40 years old. For its age seemed to be in quite good condition so after a quick whizz around the block and a little haggling (not one of my strong points,) the bike was loaded into Johns van and brought back to Whitby where I gave it a better going over. It seems to have been restored at some point in its life and in all honesty it is not exactly a first class job, but I still think it is worth what I paid and look forward to using it. Of course at the first opportunity I went out for a spin and it handled like a thoroughbred. It does need a little work in the short term and the frame may need to be refurbish at some stage,but I think that may be a job for the next owner whoever that may be. All I am going to do is enjoy it while I can. I know very litte about Hugh Porter bikes other than they were produced by Woodrup Cycles. the frame number looks like 4426.
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AuthorJust an old fart but young at heart Archives
June 2015
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