01 September 2015

I only took ten years.

As some of you know there are two "marks" I really enjoy.  Moulton and Mclean.  This post is about a McLean I have been chasing for 10.  This bike rode around NYC messenger style on the gritty roads for ten or maybe even longer.

Well It finally came me for free.  well free is a misnomer.  This bike was in relative solid condition until it decided to have a fight with a truck.  You can guess who won.  It has been a long time since I fired up the blog but I am going to dedicate some time to this project and to the blog on this.  So here are the first salvo of photos to get us started on the journey of saving this wreck.



Here is how she looked when first spotted in NYC 10 years ago.

And here she is after the frame took on a truck in the city.  Ok I got the frame for free but not really because she needs to go to surgery at the hands of Mr. Russ Denny.







 So now the repairs begin and the story go on.  More to come.......

5 comments:

  1. I saw your comment (5 yrs old) on the italiancyclingjournal blog (about the very large Confente). I was struck by your "Silk Hope" name and avatar. I was a new resident of Durham, NC in the early 80s and had gotten to know McLean (he had relocated there too) a couple of years before he suddenly died. Today I tell people who are awakening to the value of old steel about McLean. The way I put it is Mclean would have had a Richard Sachs level stature as a frame builder if he had lived. He would have stuck to his standards and kept doing things much the way Sachs has - I feel certain. But even here in his home state he is nearly forgotten. My question is how have you come to know and appreciate his frames? I myself have been catching up on Confente's place in the 70s / 80s pantheon of frame builders.

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  2. First of all I was born in Chapel Hill. But the real story is, I was at a bike show sponsored by Dale Brown in Greensboro (Dale was McLean's best buyer and friend). He introduced me to Fonville's Frames. Being an architect and loving things very simple I fell in love with his work. I now own four of them. Since I am a native TarHeel I liked the moniker. Btw your comment about Sach's is spot on. If you send me your email I post you some Pics.

    Jack

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  3. I'd like to take a look at your collection. I was also born in CH but grew up in Charlotte. When I started riding there were a couple Mclean's amongst the club riders. The pure and clean aesthetic of Silk Hope's were appealing to me as a teen and are especially now -I've been on a long side-trip away from lugged steel. I raced and that leads to riding whatever is the latest distraction. I started out racing for Dale's team. He in my mind is the best imaginable MC for almost any cycling-related gathering. You must have been out west a while to have had handle or been around those Confente sales. Email is viewable here (the hotmail one is the hub of all my email):
    goo.gl/l2EFE
    Mark

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  4. I would be interested to see after photos. I sold mine for a fairly high price. Before I received payment I had another unsolicted offer for $500 more, but it went to the buyer that I had committed to.

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  5. I would be interested to see after photos. I sold mine for a fairly high price. Before I received payment I had another unsolicted offer for $500 more, but it went to the buyer that I had committed to.

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