There was always a bit of info on the story behind the Kenevans-Europa brand, but it was only mentioned on here in reference to this picture.
I went ahead and did some research finding out the full story. I have gotten word back from Bryan Hayes, as well as John Abeni, and another John who had worked for Europa back then. Ken Evans has not gotten back to me.oldsprinter wrote:First, the bicycles in the team pursuit picture with Ken Evans stickers on were not made by Ken Evans, he merely paid for the right to advertise. The frames were made by Bryan Hayes (the maker of Euro frames). Hayes also made Europa frames from the late 1970s to 1984 and put some Europa stickers on later models up to 1989.
That picture is not taken at the 1984 Olympics, it is from about 1988 and it's not from an Olympics. Lead rider looks like Brett Dutton, second is Scott McGrory, third is Dean Woods. I would hazard a guess that the final rider is Darren Winter.
From memory, the handlebars used on those bikes were 3T (or 'ttt' as they were marked back then).
Bryan Hayes now works with Sal Sansonetti on BT frames.
Deathhare, Australian track frames are fairly easy to get hold of because in Australia the road season grinds to a halt in mid-summer (except for the Tour Down Under) - which means if you want to race all year round you need a track bike.
This guy has some fine old Australian track bikes for sale - mostly South Australian brands - Super Elliot, Christophe and the entry-level Macini. http://www.collectablecycles.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Pics of my old but much loved (and raced) 1986 Euro here http://tvvas.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-bike.html#links" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; now used for riding to work in Tokyo. Gets a few couriers scratching their heads when they see the stickers.
John Abeni, who was still making Europa frames bought the Kenevans name, around the same period that he was supplying some frames to the AIS riders. John became a sponsor of the AIS program, and printed off the Kenevans-Europa decals, which can be seen further down on my frame. This was around when Ken began to work on Evolution frames with his son, Paul Evans in the early-mid 90s. The Kenevans production was then moved to the Gold Coast where Mal McPherson became the main frame builder, along with his staff.
Now, Bryan Hayes certainly did build a lot of AIS/Australian national team frames, mostly for the senior members. These frames were stickered as Kenevans-Europa, as John was a sponsor of the AIS program, even though Bryan built them. All of his funny bikes were built lugless and fillet brazed, exclusively with Columbus tubing as he/AIS had a deal with Columbus. A few of his distinct features include doing double bends in both chainstays, and he fixed the seat stays to the sides of the lug and never to the seat tube(fastback?), but most of his pursuit bikes did have a mono stay extension. From what I've seen, he does file the ends of the track ends into sharp points, which a small number of frame builders did, such as Geoff Scott, Ken Evans(not on all frames), Mal McPherson(not on all frames), and Brayn Hayes. Other than Geoff, the other 3 finish it in a very similar way, which is not surpsiing as Bryan learnt from Ken, and Mal did work with Ken for a period of time.
Now, onto my frame. This has been a frame with a missing fork for probably over 10 years now(pictured with a Bundy 650c fork).
This frame was made for Bernard Panton, an Aussie Junior World Champion at the 1992 Junior World Champions at Colorado Springs. He competed in the 1992 Points Race, where he placed first, lapping the field, and came 3rd in the team pursuit. I have gotten in touch with the second owner of the frame who actually still has the original forks, and hopefully soon enough the forks will be reunited with the frame.
1455g frame, so probably is Reynolds 653 as stickered. 52TT(which is around a 50cm effective TT) and 51ST c-c. Pictured mass is with my Bundy fork, not the original.
HT stickers
Professional. Lots of frame builders used this sticker for their top of the line models.
Aussie colours on the Kenevans DT logo.
Aussie colours on the Europa ST logo.
Notice how the drive side chainstay is curved(left side of the pic). I initially thought it was damaged, but the previous owner reckons it was built like that as it was still till spaced at 120mm, and the wheel sits in straight. I found out from P Ketelaar, a QLD based frame builder, that this was something that Mal McPherson regularly did. Rather than crimp the chainstay for chainring clerance, he curved the chainstay as to not create a stress concentrator. So this suggests that this frame was built by Mal, and that the sticker is correct.
BCM(Bocama) low profile pressed lugs. The seatpost binder is brazed on.
Built by Mal McPherson and staff
Clean brazing.
Australian Olympic Official Sponsors Cycling Team
The Columbus track ends are finished with the sharpened arrow. The stays are left hollow, rather than filled in with brazing, which is seen on a lot of Kenevans frames I've seen. Which means, there's no vent holes around.
No serial numbers present.
No solid plans as of yet. I am waiting on the front fork, and am planning on building it up as close to original as possible, with as little money as possible.
