Jerry Collier’s 1967 Jack Taylor

Jerry Collier’s 1967 Jack Taylor

There is a lot going on with this bike.

Jerry Collier, owner of Riverside Cycle Sport in California, had this unusual custom bike built in 1967.  It features some of the rarest and most unusual equipment collected from the preceding decades, all built into a showcase of English craftsmanship, bicycle history, and eccentricity.

Starting from the bottom and working our way up, we first have the Osgear derailleur system from the ’30’s, with custom tabs fillet brazed into the chainstay, bottom bracket shell and downtube, eliminating the original clamps that would normally have been used to bolt the system to the frame.

Pallandini cassette freewheel

First remove the wing-nut quick release…

Gnutti splined crank spindle

The bike has Pallandini hubs, which incorporate one of the first “cassette” systems for the rear cluster of cogs.

The Gnutti crankset, another groundbreaker from an earlier era, uses a splined crank spindle, much like modern ISIS bottom brackets,  which was much more reliable (and probably stiffer) than the cottered cranks of the day.

1930’s Osgear derailleur system

GB Coureur 66 levers with adjusters

GB Coureur 66 brakes

Check out the weird dropouts on the back of the bike, another holdover from the 1930’s when the vertical fins were used to help center a rear wheel with wingnuts holding things tight.

Up the curved Jack Taylor seat tube to the top half of the bike, look at the brakes.  Those odd looking things are GB Coureur 66’s, built with adjusters built into the levers, intricate cable hangers, and even reusable bolt-on wire crimps.

Ken Taylor of Jack Taylor bicycles

Ambrosio stem and engraved bars

Nitor saddle system

The saddle is a Nitor, and it uses a unique rail system that was ahead of it’s time in the 1950’s.  The Ambrosio engraved bars and adjustable stem were great choices, as unique and as busy as the rest of the bike.

Ken Taylor, one of the brothers at Jack Taylor Bicycles, visited the shop while in Seattle not too long ago, and autographed the top tube of this unusual and interesting time machine.