Sad Days: Beautiful Bicycles That Have Been Turned Into Fixies.

The Fixie

Before we really begin, I wanted to provide you with a good example of a solid fixie.  Simple frame, solid design, meant to be a fixie.  No other dreams in mind. No gears.  No shifting. No craftsmanship, no workshop arguments about what steel tubing to use or whether alloys would be worthwhile.  No makers who earned their stripes tooling after cycling greats in the middle of the night to repair a flat on a second's notice or replace a spoke.  Nope. This bike was designed for someone who just wants a good workout, a cheap bike and a way to get around.  It is perfect.  Either that or someone did such a good job gutting it, that it doesn't matter.

It is also not the subject of this post.  This post is about the pure number of good, solid, 1970-1990 steel frames that exist in Cambridge, but have been gutted in order to become "fixies."  For someone looking for a really particular bicycle, this is devestating.  There are none.  There are some nicer low-end newish roadies floating around.  And there is literally a PLETHORA of gorgeous frames... gorgeous frames that all would need hours of work to be rebuilt.  This post is about them.  I focused on bicycles that were locked in such a way to allow photographs.  Yes, environment limits, and yes it's hard to really see a frame if it is surrounded by 25 other bicycles.  No matter how awesome the frame.

The Murray PaceMaker

The odds are good that this Murray Pacemaker came about in the late 1980's after Murray (originally a United Auto Workers company that produced top of the line cycles in the '30's and '40's in addition to auto parts) was acquired by the British investment firm Tomkins pic.  With the last US made Murrays' produced around 1988, most Murray bicycles are now, and since then have been, produced in China. and sold around the world.  The original "Pacemaker" was the Murray Bike, sold at the 1939 World's Fair.  In recent yearsthe name and brand reimagined in much less glory on the racks of stores similar to Kmart and Target.   Not the best frame in the world, but despite that, it is an older steel-framed roadie that has been converted into a fixie.  

Sad Day.

The Low-End Raleigh

This poor little low-end Raleigh (mid eighties maybe?) has not only been turned into a fixie, but it's original handlebars are gone, making it hard for us to tell if it was designed as an early touring bike, or if it was just designed to tool around town adorably on with a cute basket.  Founded in 1887, Raleigh is one of the oldest bicycle manufacturers in the world.  Orginally production tooled bicycles out at the breakneck pace of 3 bicycles per week.  However in it's most recent "merger" (read "corporate takeover") Raleigh was estimated at worth more than 100 million US dollars.  Originally a high-end manufacturer, Raleigh now produces for a variety of markets.  Again, not the best frame in the whole wide world, but one that converted into a fixie.
Sad Day.

The Sun Solar 5

The Sun Solar 5 was produced by a company owned by Raleigh (remember our Raleigh above?).  Returned bicycles and frames were sent to a factory in Carlton where they were re-worked and re-branded, before being resold.  Before being acquired by Tube Investments in the 1950's, Sun had it's own line of bicycles, motorcycles and bicycle fittings.  The original company was founded in 1885, but not much remains of that brand, or that name, anymore.  Particularly not when people go turning Sun's into Fixies.
Sad Day.

The Harry Hall 
(unknown model...it's already awkward enough taking photos of bikes, let alone messing around with them to find serial numbers and model identification info.)

The Saddest Of Them All.
Now here is an interesting bicycle.  Not a brand or shop I was familiar with, I was intrigued by the frame's solid design, lack of rust (despite the wear of the stickers) and the moulding of the frame just at the gooseneck and fork (nowhere else).   A little google work and I find out that Harry Hall, who is no longer about, was a renowned bicycle mechanic  and maker in the UK who worked from the 1950's until his death at 78.  Tuning and fixing the riding machines of world class atheletes, building their bicycyles and then running his own little bicycle shop (now owned by one of his sons....the other son apparently killed his French wife, I guess you can't win 'em all).   My guess on the age of the bike (after plodding through some forums) is early to mid eighties; aka: the Golden Years of steel frames, and a time when Harry Hall was wrapping up his bicycle making career, and winning racing competitions around Europe for his age group.
The reason this bike is the saddest of them all?  It is a vintage steel frame, still in very decent condition that came out of a small family run shop that at the time was producing a limited number of cycles and whose owner cared very much about bicycling and producing good bikes.  It's reflective of Miele in Canada (before the buyout) or Pinarello in Italy.
Now it is a fixe.
It even still has the original fork.

Sad, Sad, Sad, Sad, Sad Day.

In other news, I know what kind of frame I'm on the lookout for, and when I find it, I will need help selling the bike I got to get to and from class on.....