regards,
Niall

I am Peter Quinn, son of Harry Quinn and co-builder from 1983 to 1993. Some of the info in your article us correct and some is not. The serial numbers are nothing to do with the number of frames build since 1948, we didn’t start at 1 ! If you send me your frame’s serial number ( stamped on the bottom bracket shell ) I should be able to give you a bit of it’s history.

The bad news is that Harry died on 1st October this year, his funeral is on monday 12th. He passed away peacefully, no illness – just time !

Regards

Peter Quinn

I think touring frames make *great* fixed projects – I much prefer the look to the aggressive geometry of true track frames.

Nice work.

Next time you’ll be building your own wheels too…

You can get rear hubs that are 130mm – Goldtec and Phill Wood for example. Phils have a narrower chainline than Goldtecs.
There is a list of transmission components that have worked for people:
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread3372-5.html#post913114
And Sheldon Brown made these lists of different components and their chainline.
http://sheldonbrown.com/chainline.html
http://sheldonbrown.com/bbsize.html

My dad ordered one of the last Liverpool-made Quinns before Harry Quinn retired (for the first time) in the early 80s. It was a thing of beauty, with hand filed Prugnat lugs and 531 tubing. The lugs on the seatpost had been filed right down so they smoothly blended into the tubing.

The headbadge on these should say “Harry Quinn Ltd” and “Walton Rd, Liverpool” but not all did. My father’s frame, being very tall, just had “HARRY QUINN” letters, arranged vertically, as on the forks. The serial number on these will be in the format “Q1234″. My serial number doesn’t fit this pattern.

Soon after that Ernie Clement’s Brother bought the brand and then sold it to Falcon cycles. They churned out a range of very ordinary factory bikes branded as Harry Quinn. The headbadge on these says “Harry Quinn” (without the Ltd) and in my case “England”

The quality of the finish on mine leaves a lot to be desired. The lugs don’t appear to have been filed at all. Yet the tubing is good light stuff, and the stays are chromed under the paint. It was originally supplied by a bike and toy shop in Shropshire, according to a sticker on the frame. This pretty much rules out it being sold as a made-to-order frame, so it must have been sold as a complete bike, which can only mean Falcon/Townsend era.

In the late 80s Harry Quinn, having moved to his son’s farm in Tenby, Wales, was reportedly so annoyed at the poor quality of the bikes bearing his name that he bought the brand back and started building hand-made bikes again with his son, Peter. They built everything from tourers, racers and track bikes to mountain bikes, and also ran frame building courses. These Welsh-made bikes obviously wouldn’t say “England” on the headbadge. They may have just had “HQ” letters.

In the end if you spot a frame and it looks like the right one for you then buy it. Transfers can and do get changed. If you have a “Q” serial number then Harry built it in Liverpool. Mine the fork steerer tube had the tubing type stamped in (presumably so they knew what stickers to put on it after paint) I can’t imagine you’d need that on a hand-made frame; it’s the sort of thing a factory would do though, so if you’ve got that it’s probably a Falcon.

definitely have to agree with the above comments re stickers though..

like your tip about sugar ’sand’ paper. cheers for that.

Zxxxxxxxxxxxxxx