MH Jones Bicycles Perth(?)

[WyvernRH]

Question for our Western Australian friends. I recently aquired a frame on E-Bay built by "MH Jones Cycles". The Canberra site points to Perth as the location of this shop. It is a VERY tidy built frame with nicely modified cast lugs and shot in rear stays. I suspect it is silver brazed. All Shimano dropouts and gear bosses. The gear bosses unfortunately use the old Shimano bolt size of 4.5 mm. Good old Shimano was always non-standard back in the 70's
Luckily I have a set of 600 arabesque levers with the right size bolts
This and the fact the rear end is spaced to 120mm tends me to think it comes from the late 70's/early 80's when cast lugs became more common, I don't really know when Shimano joined the real world and moved to 5mm bolts
Anyone got any better ideas on dates or details of the shop?

The frame is currently away being blasted and painted (Orange! Always wanted an orange bike...)





Cheers
Richard

[WyvernRH]

Well the MH Jones is finally back together after many trials and tribulations at the spray shop.


It came up quite well and these shots don't really do the builders skill justice, the lugwork is exquisite, even if my luglining isn't .

I refitted the alloy Shimano 600 headset and found a set of late 70's/ early 80's Deore gears to handle the Shimano triple chainset and Suntour 13-28 6-speed block. As they are from the same period I had hoped to use the Deore gear levers instead of the 600 arabesques that the bike was built for but guess what, although the left fitted the bosses (after removing a plastic adapter) the right hand lever used a totally different mounting system specific to the clamp-on band... good old Shimano so back to the Arabesques which work fine. Cinelli bars and stem, Weinmann wannabbe Campag brakes, Campag seatpost and Miche pedals (all from the early 80's cos I bought them then )
Wheels are a bit more recent in period, I built up a pair of 36h Campag rims onto some Suntour Supurbe Pro l/f road hubs (both NOS) that I've had hanging around for ages (well since the early 90's anyway)
Only had a very short ride to test the assembly so far (40+ deg heat...) but it feels good.

I still need transfers (see original photos) and would like to know more about the builder. In Perth according to the Canberra Museum site but that's the sum total of info I've found so far. Any of our West Coast members have any info?

By the by, the dropouts are all Shimano so they match the rear gear and so it shold be perfectly positioned but the quality of the change (tho not bad by any means) reminded me why I rode Suntour until their slant parallelogram patent ran out and everybody else took up the idea.

Cheers
Richard

[531db]

Ah, Weinmann 590SQ brake callipers.

I have some on my 1982 Apollo IV.

Not the most efficient 'stoppers" , actually "slowers' at best

Do your's squeal as badly as mine?

Must upgrade from the original brake pads before the Audax Alpine Classic.

[WyvernRH]

Ah, Weinmann 590SQ brake callipers.

I have some on my 1982 Apollo IV.

Not the most efficient 'stoppers" , actually "slowers' at best

Do your's squeal as badly as mine?

Must upgrade from the original brake pads before the Audax Alpine Classic.

Let you know after the first long ride to-morrow. They didn't squeal on the 'round the village' shakedown but that's not a real test.
I have replaced the pads with Kool Stop replacements which seem to stop trhe bike ok.
Cheers
Richard

[WyvernRH]

Ah, Weinmann 590SQ brake callipers.

I have some on my 1982 Apollo IV.

Not the most efficient 'stoppers" , actually "slowers' at best

Do your's squeal as badly as mine?

Must upgrade from the original brake pads before the Audax Alpine Classic.

Let you know after the first long ride to-morrow. They didn't squeal on the 'round the village' shakedown but that's not a real test.

Richard

Do they squeal? Oh yes! On the first stopping attempt with any real pressure they screamed, loudly! I was getting dogs barking two blocks away!

So, I dumped all the pads for good quality moulded modern pads and resurrected the ancient skill of shimming the angle of brake pads with bits of cut up Coke can.

Bingo! Quiet brakes that work!

Cheers
Richard

[HappyHumber]

Richard,

Only just noticed this thread. Have you sourced any more info about the Perth builder?

There might not be any connection, or might even be his son or something - but there is a framebuilder by the name of Jones in Perth that builds under the name Jonesman in more recent years. I think he's working out of a store (which name escapes me) in the suburb of Bayswater.

I understand Tallywhacker has got a custom track frame in the pipeline with him - so I'd PM him and ask if you can get some contact information to start with.

cheers

[edit - you might want to adjust the typo in the subject header, and spell out the "M H Jones" a bit more to catch eyes that might know ]

[ausdb]

Richard,

Only just noticed this thread. Have you sourced any more info about the Perth builder?

There might not be any connection, or might even be his son or something - but there is a framebuilder by the name of Jones in Perth that builds under the name Jonesman in more recent years. I think he's working out of a store (which name escapes me) in the suburb of Bayswater.

I understand Tallywhacker has got a custom track frame in the pipeline with him - so I'd PM him and ask if you can get some contact information to start with.

cheers

That's Chris Jones who used to be at riders choice and now has his own store www.cyclesbespoke.com

[WyvernRH]

Richard,

Only just noticed this thread. Have you sourced any more info about the Perth builder?

There might not be any connection, or might even be his son or something - but there is a framebuilder by the name of Jones in Perth that builds under the name Jonesman in more recent years. I think he's working out of a store (which name escapes me) in the suburb of Bayswater.

I understand Tallywhacker has got a custom track frame in the pipeline with him - so I'd PM him and ask if you can get some contact information to start with.

cheers

[edit - you might want to adjust the typo in the subject header, and spell out the "M H Jones" a bit more to catch eyes that might know ]

Yes, I did make a mess of the subject header, I can't seem to change it so I have asked one of the moderators how to do it.

The bike has the initials G J as cut outs in the bottom of the bottom bracket. Maybe the builders initials? Another of the Jones clan? Whoever the builder was, he was good and given the frame is so light and all silver brazed maybe he had a 753 licence?

Cheers
Richard

[Minority]

Was on the Perth "Freeway Bikehike" on sunday and I saw an absolutely stunning bike (among the 8000 plus that were there) in pristine condition.
It was one of the lonely steel frame bikes (as mine was) amidst the legions of carbon fibre and aluminium steeds and the owner was of the slightly older age group (as I am).

The bike was painted a beautiful deep metalic red/burgandy colour with gold highlighting on the lug cutouts and the rear triangle was fully chromed. It was running a complete Suntour Superbe groupset (the later one with the hidden springs in the brke calipers) that looked like it had just come out of the box, a rolls saddle and decals that just said "MJH" (or was it MHJ) and a tange tubing decal.

He told me the it was custom built over 20 years ago by a local Perth frame builder called Mike Jones and he had just got it out for the weekends special ride.

It was one of the occasions that I cursed not having a camera with me, it would have had you guys drooling!!

[redbike]

I have just found this forum looking for info on M H Jones. That was my bike!! I have now registered so that I can reply. It was built for me by 'Spike' Jones about 1986 but I'm not exactly sureof the date now. The bike is original except for new tyres and bar tapes, pedals and a few minor things. I want to add some pictures...how do I do that??

[HappyHumber]

Some pics on Andrew's behalf.

She's a beauty... All Superbe gruppo

[WyvernRH]

Some pics on Andrew's behalf.
She's a beauty... All Superbe gruppo

Whoa! That's exciting...another MH Jones! I was beginning to think I had the sole survivor.
So, Andrew, you are now officially the web expert on M.H.Jones bicycles as you have one that you bought from the shop.
Tell us,
- where was the shop?
- who ran it and built the frames?
- is he related to Chris Jones?

It looks like one of his 'things' was to cut the owner's initials into the bottom bracket. I wonder who 'GJ' was who had my bike built?
Also interesting is that Andrew's bike is Tange tubing. My bike is very light, well up there with 753 but I realise Tange and Ishawata had ultra-light tubing as well so maybe mine is also Japanese tubing?
It's definitely silver brazed (or maybe some bronze type rod I haven't seen before)
Any info gratefully received!
Cheers
Richard

[y3ntil]

I had a MH Jones frame come into work(bike shop in freo) a while back as the owner didn't have tools for it. Very nice looking frame and good weight too. I didn't think she knew how good it was (I think it was going to be fixified).

I asked my boss, who has had the shop since the 70's and I think Spike Jones worked in Bibra Like (don't quote me, not 100%).

Anyway, nice bikes, and you should be very happy with your bike

[HappyHumber]

Great.. now you guys have got me lusting after one of these... along with a decent sized Swansea I can ride comfortably

W.A. über alles!

[sandy]

Sorry, I cannot resist a reply to your question on "Does anyone know anything about a MH Jones bike?" (Yes I know it's been a while since you posted it).
I have still got a MH Jones bike, one of two "Spike" built for me back in the early eighties. I've still got one, the better one, red of course! Still goes like stink!
I can send you pics if you're still interested.

[HLC]

Milton Jones used to build frames here in Perth. He currently lives in Myaree IIRC and is retired. I think he still does little bits and pieces here and there.

He also branded his frames as 'Capo' and I have seen a few lovely examples of MHjones / Capo track and road frames around.

I would have left the paint with Patina. It's a piece of WA history and now lost under a sea of orange powder.

Anyway, MHJ/Capo frames have often had thinned out lugs with windows/cutouts in them as well - these cutouts were similar to a Colnago 'club' cut out.

[WyvernRH]

Milton Jones used to build frames here in Perth. He currently lives in Myaree IIRC and is retired. I think he still does little bits and pieces here and there.
He also branded his frames as 'Capo' and I have seen a few lovely examples of MHjones / Capo track and road frames around.
I would have left the paint with Patina. It's a piece of WA history and now lost under a sea of orange powder.
Anyway, MHJ/Capo frames have often had thinned out lugs with windows/cutouts in them as well - these cutouts were similar to a Colnago 'club' cut out.

Thanks for the info! That is very informative. All the MH Jones bikes I have seen in photos have been of a very high quality. Mr Jones is a very skilled man.
Sadly the original paint job did not match the quality of the frame, being of uneven coverage and in very poor condition (the photos flatter the remains of the finish and don't show the bad bits). It had a lot of surface rust, poor paint adhesion and peeling 'stick-on' transfers. If the bike was to be used in the real world as opposed to hanging on a wall it was definitely blast and re-spray time. Patina can only go so far before it becomes tatt. If the WA folk wanted it in a museum they should have bid on it.

And by the way, it is a 'sea' of very expensive orange 2-pack not crappy powdercoat thank you very much
I'm about to arrange for some M H J transfers RSN if anybody else would like some, which may help restore some of the lost 'originality'
Cheers
Richard

[dv]

My MH Jones - stored at the back of the shed for a project a bit later.....But since this discussion was going I fished it out and took a couple of pictures.
It has some good gear on it and the running gear is in reasonable nick. The frame has a fair amount of rust. The front fork - though reasonable (I thought) has one bad spot of rust which has gone right through. The steel on the forks is super thin! (If anyone has any forks of this vintage and quality I'd love to buy!. I am also missing the right hand gear lever......buckleys of finding one I think - so will stick some other campag ones on)
Anyhow here 'tis....warts - rust and all






Cheers
dv

[redbike]

Sorry to be a bit slow and infrequent with visiting this forum, but getting the email that there was a new post was great, clever people out there are keeping this web site running - thank you clever people. I want to answer Richard about the origins of my MH Jones bike.

Richard, there was no shop, I went to Spike's house and into the shed. There he sat me on a jig and took measurements and asked me what kind of riding I wanted to do, that determined the frame geometry and size, and there and then we picked out the frame lugs and the other components and decided on the finish. That was it, I went back some weeks later with the balance of the payment and took the finished product home. Sadly now, I regret I didn't keep a record of payment or date of purchase. At the time the process was a bit "sensitive" in terms of family budgets and priorities. My red bike was not top of the order!
It got a little bit of paint chipped off the cross bar some weeks ago (about 6 to 8 mm dia) which is a real shame, otherwise its in very nice original condition. I have no idea yet how this can be fixed. There is a clear laquer finish over the paint which will be hard to do. The "MH Jones" decals were peeling up at the corners so I took them off a long time ago (I think now I should have left them alone), the "MHJ" decal is still on the seat tube. If I could get the original style decals I would put them on, it would improve the overall finish and effect, and show respect for Spike's skill and craftsmanship. My priority is to see if I can find someone with the skill to fix the paint that got bumped off. Andrew.

[sandy]

Here's mine.
Yes it doesn't have the MH Jones stickers anymore, but it's what's underneath what counts!



[/img]

[dv]

I visited the Netherlands recently and orange is big over there.....it has grown on me Nice bike! It has a big frame, what is it 60cm +.
dv

[sandy]

It is actually red, though it may appear orange-ish on some monitors, the size is 63cm (24.75 inch).
It has a wheelbase of just 960mm, 9 kgs weight, not bad for that sized bike.
It was used for criterium racing mainly, the frame is not far off being a track-bike geometry.

[HappyHumber]

Here's mine.
Yes it doesn't have the MH Jones stickers anymore, but it's what's underneath what counts!

You betchya. Love the all chrome seat stays. They're a little bit different.

[brentono]

Milton Jones used to build frames here in Perth. He currently lives in Myaree IIRC and is retired. I think he still does little bits and pieces here and there.

He also branded his frames as 'Capo' and I have seen a few lovely examples of MHjones / Capo track and road frames around.

I would have left the paint with Patina. It's a piece of WA history and now lost under a sea of orange powder.

Anyway, MHJ/Capo frames have often had thinned out lugs with windows/cutouts in them as well - these cutouts were similar to a Colnago 'club' cut out.

A piece of art.

[MHJonesRegister]

I have just found this forum looking for info on M H Jones. That was my bike!! I have now registered so that I can reply. It was built for me by 'Spike' Jones about 1986 but I'm not exactly sureof the date now. The bike is original except for new tyres and bar tapes, pedals and a few minor things. I want to add some pictures...how do I do that??

Still got your MHJ? I have started a register and am researching and contacting more and more owners to share info and maybe do the occasional ride. I'm new to this forum so not sure how it all works but look around for stuff I've recently posted. I plan to issue acrylic tags for verifiable frames/bikes. Contact Frank West via mhjonesregister@gmail.com. Thank you!