Tom Simpsons Bike

Secteur

My dad just told me an amazing story - if it's true. I can't verify any of the details for sure, but thought I'd mention it here. I'm telling it second hand.

He was outside doing some gardening this morning and an old friend he hadn't seen in years cycled past and they stopped to catch up. The friend mentioned that he had acquired (many many years ago) Tom Simpsons bike - the actual one he was riding when he died. No idea how.

For many years he rode the bike in our local area and all over the county.

Last year he decided it needed to go, but he couldn't bring himself to sell it, so he gave it - free of charge - to a local bike shop (he told them it's provenance).

Dont know what the bike shop did with it.

If true, I wonder where that piece of cycling history is now, and why didnt he give it to a museum somewhere?!

edhornby

not impossible....

Harry Hall's in Manchester would be a good place to do some research if you wanted, Harry himself was Tom's soigneur so may have an idea

Cleat Eastwood

edhornby wrote:

not impossible....

Harry Hall's in Manchester would be a good place to do some research if you wanted, Harry himself was Tom's soigneur so may have an idea

You may need a ouija board. Harry passed away not long ago.

edhornby

I didn't know that

although thinking about it - the provenance of 'this guy reckons he's got tommy simpsons bike' is probably the tough bit, seems a bit like the character from the fast show

'yeah, bike racing, hardest game in the world that, I used to do that thirty years man and boy.....'

geoff_ss

You could always ask Jimmy (Oscar) Saville and he'd fix it. He used to race bikes

There used to be a national cycle museum. I rode over to Lincoln in 1995 (I think) and visited it. I think it moved somewhere but I've no idea where. It had an interesting collection.

OffTheBackAdam

One of his bikes is displayed in the WMC at Harworth.
Now, whether it's the one he died riding, or another, I don't know.
Establishing the provenance of the bike could be quite hard. The one at Harworth has a dent on its top tube, righthandside, about 3/4 of the way back from the headtube.

dodgy

If you had such a bike, you wouldn't give it away to a shop. I find it difficult to believe.

OffTheBackAdam

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12788914
Photo of his bike on this thread.

Secteur

I will see if I can somehow chase my dads friend down and get any more info - I really dont knwo any more than I typed, but he may have worked for the Tour or the team or something - you never know. If it throws up anything of genuine interest, I will send him this way!

inkyfingers

You'd be a complete idiot if you had that and just gave that away. You'd either sell it via a sports memorabilia auction and make some serious money, or if you were a nice chap you'd donate it to a museum or maybe to his family.

Smells like your dads friend is telling tall stories to me.

rolf_f

Might be easy to work out if it is one of Tom Simpsons bikes at least - I think they were handbuilt and painted to look like Peugeots. So a convincingly aged period bike that looked like a Peugeot but wasn't and was built to whatever size Tom Simpson used would be much harder to find than a production Pug of the era.

As for giving it to a shop - that seems very unconvincing! If you can't bear to sell something historic, you give it to a museum.

Tom Butcher

He was riding for GB wasn't he - so I suppose the bike probably would have come back to the country - and then it's quite possible that it would be passed on to someone quietly seeing as it would be poor taste to sell it as the bike Tom died on - and there probably wasn't such a market in memorabilia back then either so it wouldn't have had a huge value other than as a quality racing bike.

That said it sounds like bullshit but you never know. You would think though that if a bike shop did own it now then word might have got out.

Secteur

It sounded suspect to me, or unlikely at the very least, but I will try and get more info. Having said that, the fact that he no longer has it sort of makes the story pointless, unless it turns out he was a cycling-insider!

durhamwasp

hmmm, im not sure i would believe him.

Dave Marsh would know the truth i think, he is a fountain of knowledge all things Simpson.

Those jerseys pictured in the thread linked above must have only recently been added to the Harworth Museum cabinet i think.

Smokin Joe

Sounds like the type of bloke who advertises a BSO on ebay claiming it was used in the Tour de France.

Large pinch of salt required.

ynyswen24

http://www.universalcyclecentre.co.uk/repairs.htm

I know Dave Marsh has restored at least two of Simpsons bikes, there is a photo of one on the link above and IIRC the bike in the tv documentary Death on the Mountain came from him as well. It's possible Harry Hall might have had Simpsons bike after the TdF as he was the GB team mechanic but as for him buying it off some bloke - sounds unlikely. It would surely have gone back to his trade team Peugot or someone connected with him, like Harry Hall or George Shaw. Dave Marsh would know..