Handmade Mclachlan from Newcastle

[rokwiz]

Hi Everyone,
Got this old girl finally up and running while in Sydney town.
Its a Columbus Genius tubed, John Mclachlan (Civic Bikes Newcastle) ex racing bike that was given to me shortly after John passed away,
This might be one for Torana88 as I don't know its age and have been meaning to find out. 80s 90s Torana ???
Components wise,I'm still using most of the Sachs stuff, with cheap 7 speed rapidfire shifters and Dura Ace clincher wheelset, It was originally built up with a Sachs New Success groupset and singles wheelset.(saving all the originals) Which is strange because all the stickers on the bike are Campag, no idea why. Yeh I know its a bit of an ugly duckling, lovely chocolate colour frameset and all, but it turned out to be a great city bike. I'll post up some better close ups if y'all want to see em.

Geoff

[WyvernRH]

Some more photos would be nice please. As someone who knew John and Margaret I always wondered what became of all the frames he built, they just seem to have vanished, you never see one around the Hunter area. He built a nice steel frame but tended always to the 'racy' end of the scale, even when it was meant to be a tourer . Margaret still assists the new owners at Civic Bikes at the weekends. They tend to specialise in the commuter/city/cruise end of the market nowadays.
Cheers
Richard

[rokwiz]

Hi Richard,
Yeh probably have met you sometime on a NCM ride, usually go on the Saturday morning saunter, or the Saturday Rob Handley training ride when I'm working in the Hunter. John Mcarthur gave me the bike when he left to live in Canada
I'll post some more pics in coming days,
Geoff

[Torana68]

too new for me to comment but Id go late 80's as a guess

[frailer5]

Sachs New Success are no slouches.

[L'iota]

G'day Geoff,
I have 2 McLachlan bikes both of which I ride weekly. One is a road bike which I have set up for road touring and to which John added some rack mounts shortly before he passed away. It has an unusual configuration where the back stays meet the seat tube. The other is a track bike with the distinctive five star 'Southern Cross' on the head tube, his trade mark on frames he built when he owned Stanmore Cycles in Sydney. It still has his 'Stanmore Cycles' sticker on the seat tube and is a really nice bike to ride.
Winston (L'iota)

[rokwiz]

Hi and thanks for the post,
frailer5, Yeh Sachs New Success made some great stuff three of my bikes (2 MTB Cannondales) use it, another a mix with Sachs Plasma. I was lucky enough to have bought up alot of New Old Stock from Velo Vita before SRAM's bought Sachs.
Even got Sach clutch plates in an ol KENWORTH truck I'm restoring, good gear! Winston, sound like a couple of nice bikes you have, we might have to look after these I'm thinking.
Thanks Torana did think a bit new for you, I get some pics up for you soon.
Geoff

[spirito]

Pics of McLachlan track frame that passed through my hands. Quite unique and built for road duties as well.
653 Reynolds. Very, very cool !!!

[marc2131]

Margaret still assists the new owners at Civic Bikes at the weekends.

Not sure if many of you are aware, but Margaret McLachlan (nee Miller) was/is a bit of a legend during her younger days in Sydney. Here is a newspaper story from 1966.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article ... C%7Csortby

[WyvernRH]

Margaret still assists the new owners at Civic Bikes at the weekends.

Not sure if many of you are aware, but Margaret McLachlan (nee Miller) was/is a bit of a legend during her younger days in Sydney. Here is a newspaper story from 1966.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article ... C%7Csortby

Yeah Margaret has a few stories about those times
Hard to believe really, especially for someone from the UK where Beryl Burton was slaying them all in the aisles (not that she didn't have some problems mind..)
Cheers
Richard

[marc2131]

Yeah Margaret has a few stories about those times
Hard to believe really, especially for someone from the UK where Beryl Burton was slaying them all in the aisles (not that she didn't have some problems mind..)
Cheers
Richard

Yeah, those were the days before anti-discrimination legislation. The racing governing body at the time, the 'NSW Amateur Cycling Union' could do anything they wanted knowing full well there was little she could do apart from bringing them to court - a very expensive option.

[lethoso]

Pics of McLachlan track frame that passed through my hands.

very nice! Interesting fork crown - looks really tight.

That Margarat McLachlan story is cool (in an uncool way) too Good on her for pushing the boundaries, and shame on those who tried to stop her.

[rokwiz]

Hi all,
Thats a nice frameset Spirito,
Yeh got a lot of respect for Margaret, she is a legend.
Sorry about the small pics, Still getting the hang of resizing them, they're either giants or theses.!
Heres a link to my pics website,
http://www.stonemasoncarver.com/bicycles
Geoff

[matthew woods]

John and Margret McLachlan are my grand parents. I never got to see john sadly.