John Adkin’s Bantel Team Hugh Porter road bike

1975 Hugh Porter Bantel Team Bike

This is a Hugh Porter/Bantel team bike from 1975. Hugh Porter was the first British bike racer to win a professional world championship (in the 5000 meter pursuit, and he did it 5 times in the 1970’s), and Hugh later became the voice of bike racing for cycling fans in the UK as a commentator for the BBC.

Bantel was the team sponsor, a company which was based in the United Kingdom. For the life of me I have no idea what they did and/or do now.

John Adkins is the bike rider who owned this bike. John was an enthusiast who rode and raced along with his wife Mary in Yakima and the tri-cities area. In 1979 John was senior district (that’s Washington, Idaho and Oregon) road race champion.

Mary Adkins was kind enough to give us some background surrounding the bike and her husband John:

“In 1975 or 1976 John started racing with the Yakima Cycling Team. We started doing 10-mile time trials one night a week with other local members of the team. The guys trialed against each other. I went out with them and did my own time trial against myself and the clock. I wasn’t too speedy, but I loved it. The earliest races were mostly in Issaquah. That was when the traffic wasn’t a problem and the population was not that large. They would stage criteriums on the road that runs parallel on both sides of I-90. At that time they could go over I-90 at one overpass and under at another with no cars on the road.

John in action

Racing in Olympia, 1977

Road race in Olympia, 1977

Hugh Porter badge

John raced with the Yakima Cycling Team until late 1978 or early 1979. They raced in Yakima, Issaquah, Seattle, Portland, Olympia, Ellensburg, Tri-Cities and I am not sure where else. Most of them were criteriums but there were also a few road races.

In 1979, John started racing with Grab On – Davidson Cycles. On June 24, 1979 at the District Championship Road Races in Black Diamond, John won the Senior Race.

Sometime around 1980 or 1981 John and several teammates formed the original Chinook Racing team.”

Porter front end

Campy levers with covers

Nuovo Record crank

Granado’s Cyclery in Kennewick

Hugh rear end

About the bike: The Hugh Porter is a British bike, so of course it’s made out of Reynold’s 531 tubing and of course it has 27” wheels on it (the original tires were only 1” wide). John bought it from Granado’s Cyclery in Kennewick, Washington. Like most serious racing bikes purchased in the early ‘70’s, this one is equipped with Campagnolo Nuovo Record components, a Cinelli stem, bars and Unicanitor saddle. Some nice added touches include the red rubber covers for the downtube shifters and the red Bullseye derailleur pulleys.