eBay and Craigslist finds

to be honest i think there is nothing wrong with that frame, the angles look right, the forks angle is spot on. and have seen drop-outs like those on so called "proper" track bikes often enough.
i don't think it is a conversion.

and welcome paris.

Thanks for the welcome.

I'd like to put his one to bed now as well, so thanks for your input and opinion.

To someone's earlier angry point that if track ends were fitted to a road frame it would lower the BB height. Thanks. I KNOW!! Rear axle position would be different to how the frame was originally built, which would throw the geometry out completely.

BUT... if this was the case with this frame and track ends were retro-fitted to a road frame and the original forks were left in place, the top tube would cease to be level, head tube angle would look wrong and it would be screamingly obvious. It would look like some kind of frankenbike retro compact.

You could argue that this could be rectified by sourcing a set of 'track forks' to then replace the original road forks which would have bigger clearances and greater rake I suppose, but I think that would be a lot of effort to go to just to rectify converting a road frame.

So to set the record straight, here's what I do know about this frame:

• The rear spacing is 110mm.
  
• The rear bridge was not drilled for a brake.
  
• Lugs (particularly the 'ornates' up front) point to it being pre 80's.
  
• The fork crown is too heavy to have been a road crown and the blades are round section. From memory, there weren't many builders who would spec this type of build to the front end of road frame.
  
• Plus, the clearances are way too tight for a road frame of that era.
  
  

I will concede that the plate track ends aren't the most attractive, nor do they look particularly horizontal, but what I will say is that the bike looks right and balanced (and thanks to 31t®um for agreeing) and it rides really well.

I'd suggest that this is actually a Path frame that has possibly had new ends fitted during its life for some reason, but I'd stand by the fact that it was built as a single speed / fixie.

I won't bother going into the explanation of 'path' as I know that a lot of you guys will know what it is, but it is in essence 'track'.

I think if I advertised this on eBay as a Path racer, I would

a. open up another can of worms and

b. miss a lot of potential buyers.

I suspect that there might now be another debate as to whether Path is track and that they are different disciplines and that path dates much further back.

However, what I will say, is that my introduction to track in 1982 was on Path in Poole in Dorset and from there I graduated up to riding track proper, so for me that was track.

The ends and geometry of this frame are not dissimilar to a Gillott Path frame I have in my collection.

I'm sorry that this has caused so much discord at a time when we should all be getting merry and I'll amend the ad accordingly so that it doesn't imply anything or offend the elders.

But watch out with the assumptions... they are the mother of all fuck ups.