Mystery frame buildup

[floody]

Hey folks,
I have a penchant for vintage track bikes and I recently picked this up to build.
Its a bit of a mystery frame, English BB, Italian fork, clover lug cutouts, Campagnolo ends and slotted BB. Under the purple paint its a pale gold metallic, with traces in the threads, inside headtube of the gold also, the ends appear to be chromed (will be soda blasting soon to see the extent of the plating).

The previous owner gave me some decent detail pics so I'll throw them up here:













Geometry is nice and tight, as the front end mockup pics show. Apologies for the following awful pics, my iPhail lens is scratched and dusty as heck.

23C Clearance (or lack thereof) at 60psi




20C Clearance is good (wasn't inflated couldn't be arsed wrangling a tube in)




Obligatory NJS-dork shot




I'm mixing new and old a little. It has a Thomson post (26.6) but that is temporary. 7500/7600 Dura-Ace parts mix, trying to keep things 80s/90s appropriate with the exception of the crankset.
I will mock it all up and give it a shakedown with the purple paint, then I'm stripping it and repainting in a horrendously bright fluoro colour, yet to be decided.


Spec is now...
-Unknown 53cm frame, English BB, Italian headset (?!), 26.6 post.
-Nitto 100mm stem, Nitto B125 bars (38cm I think)
-Tange Levin headset
-Yellow label hard-anodised Wolber TX Profil on Dura-Ace 7500 Hi-Flange hubs (100x9/120x10 2xfixed)
-Veloflex Carbon 20C (in transit)
-Dura-Ace 7600 167.5mm crankset, 50t hard ano Dura-Ace 'ring (in transit)
-Black Selle Italia Flite 1990 ti-rail (in transit)
-?? Chain (probably Izumi)
-?? BB
-?? Seatpost (Thomson isn't staying, want something more appropriate...might settle for Kalloy Ritchey-copy)
-?? black tape or grips (not keen on white, as much as I like Soyo long grips, they're for the bin in this case)


On my wish list at the moment
-A nice 80s aero post with some setback, like ax/600/Dura-Ace
-A 28h front 7200/7500 hub to match my spare rear, which will be built up on GL330s
-A nice loose ball BB like a Hatta or Dura-Ace item.

[vaeske]

where's your shop bro? btw nice frame! i've recently come across a frame myself, and old owner has told me it was a carl wilson built one.

[floody]

Avantiplus down here in Hobart, I just oddjob for them on weekends and scab workshop facilities/storage space, haha. I'm actually a schoolteacher by profession.
Carl Wilson? interesting, will look into it.

[cotterpin]

99.9% sure you've got a Petrus. Built by Peter Brotherton at his Chelsea workshop in Victoria. Peter often used 531 for the main frame with Columbus forks, seat and chain stay.
Going by the images the chain stay looks like Columbus 24mm reducing to 22mm at the BB port, and the BB shell is a Tange Champion (sand cast).
Both of these components were common to Petrus track frames.
There's more info out there if you Google "Peter Brotherton" or "Petrus".

Cheers

[floody]

Awesome! Thanks for the info. Chasing up what I can now. It certainly seems nicely built, appears to be both a lot lighter and stiffer than my similar sized McBain in the order of nearly a kilo for the frame and fork, bike is 7.9kg as it sits with a pretty workmanlike build (the Mcbain - told it was 531 tubed - was in the mid 9kg range without pedals, similar build though it had early 80s super mighty cranks and a steel railed saddle).




This is where I'm at, waiting for an Izumi chain and Dura-Ace cog/lockring to arrive.

Spec is now...
-Unknown 53cm frame (likely Petrus), English BB, Italian headset (?!), 26.6 post.
-Nitto 100mm stem, Nitto B125 bars (38cm I think)
-Tange Levin headset
-Yellow label hard-anodised Wolber TX Profil on Dura-Ace 7500 Hi-Flange hubs (100x9/120x10 2xfixed)
-Veloflex Carbon 20C
-Dura-Ace 7600 167.5mm crankset, 50t hard ano Dura-Ace 'ring
-Black Selle Italia Flite 1990 ti-rail
-Izumi chain (In Transit)
-Dura Ace cog and lockring (In Transit)
-Campagnolo Veloce 111mm ISO BB (close enough to 109, will go to Hatta R9400 soon).
-Thomson 26.6 post
-Black Energie cork tape.

[floody]

Had this together and riding for a week or so now, really like it. Great geometry, nice and sharp but still stable and toe overlap is liveable. Super stiff for a frame of this sort of age, dura-ace and Nitto stuff helps too. Overall I think its a keeper, for more regular street use I might have to track down a drilled fork so I can run a brake, and put some smaller gearing on it as backpedalling down the hill from my house demolished my quads.

Took some pics of it the derelict New Norfolk velodrome just out of Hobart. From what I can find they raced here until into the 80s, with major track carnivals held there until the late 70s. Unfortunately the track surface is heavily broken up, moss, weeds and glass pockmark the bitumen and tree roots have made some large ripples in turn 1. Light towers and the shell of the former New Norfolk Cycling Club rooms remain, but with development encroaching their time is running out.



Track is long past saving, thats^ at the top of the bank entering turn one.











As pictured

-Unknown-but-probably-Petrus 53cm frame
-Nitto 100mm stem, Nitto B125 bars
-Tange Levin headset
-Yellow label hard-anodised Wolber TX Profil on Dura-Ace 7500 Hi-Flange hubs (100x9/120x10 2xfixed)
-Veloflex Carbon 20C
-Dura-Ace 7600 167.5mm crankset, 50t hard ano Dura-Ace 'ring
-Black Selle Italia Flite 1990
-KMC chain whilst I acquire a HKK Vertex.
-Dura-Ace cog and lockring (temporary noname ones on for a few days)
-Campagnolo Veloce cartridge BB
-Kyokuto Sprint pedals, MKS clips, Soma straps.
-Thomson post
-Energie cork tape
~8.3kg without pedals.

[PeteV]

Damn nice bike, I really dig the colour, reminds me of a Valiant I use to own!

[floody]

The colour is growing on me!

Also its no longer a mystery. Have confirmed it is definitely a Petrus frame, pre-1979 as they used Cinelli BBs afterward.

[vaeske]

awesome work mark!! fantastic build too! great to find the origins of your steed.