Picture the scene. It’s late April 1981, and frame builder Sam Hudson is enjoying his passion for cards during a break at Raleigh’s elite Specialist Bicycle Development Unit (SBDU) in Ilkeston. Halfway through a hand, his boss Gerald O’Donovan calls to him, his voice straining to be heard above Making Your Mind Up by current Eurovision darlings Bucks Fizz, crackling from the radio.
“Build yourself a bike if you like,” O’Donovan says, with a smile. “Help yourself to some parts, but don’t use anything too expensive.”
(Image credit: Future / Richard Butcher)
OK, there may be a bit of poetic licence in that story, but this is the basic premise of how this unique bike came to be.
“Gerald was a generous man,” says current owner and former employee of O’Donovan, Dave Marsh, of the Universal Cycle Centre, Rotherham. “It wasn’t unusual for him to let his team build their own bikes.”
(Image credit: Future / Richard Butcher)
Owner of the Universal Cycle Centre in Rotherham, Dave Marsh owns one of the most diverse collections of classic bikes in the UK. From working at bike maker Carlton to racing in his early years to organising events, Marsh has spent his life around cycling and is one of the foremost experts on classic bikes.
What a team it was. Under the guidance of Jan Le Grand, these guys had crafted Joop Zoetemelk’s Tour de France-winning bike only the year before.
Hudson quite literally made his mark on his new 753-tubed bike by shaping his initials into the Prognat 62 D lugs. His name is also inscribed beneath the bottom bracket, together with the date stamp SB1581. (May 1, 1981.) Most prominently, he captured his love of cards by cutting decorative suit pips into the seat stay wrapover and the fork tangs.
(Image credit: Future / Richard Butcher)
The rest of the bike is a mishmash of parts, evidence of Hudson’s scavenging. There’s a lot of Campagnolo – the 52/42t three-pin chainset, the rear mech and the pedals are Nuovo Gran Sport, while the hubs and the calipers are Tipo, and the front mech is Super Record. The drilled dropouts, an SPDU signature, are Campy too.
The shifters are Simplex Retrofriction, the bars and stem Cinelli – Criterium and XA respectively – and the levers are Weinnman Carrera. Rims are Weinmann Concave 36-hole 700c. Finally, the seat post is SR, topped with a Selle San Marco Concor Supercorsa saddle.
