John Perks

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Steve Malkin

Veteran
Location
Cheshire
Just thought I'd share a few pictures of my latest Ebay acquisition and see if anyone could shed any light on its origins.

The guy selling it didn't know anything about it apart from that it had belonged to his uncle and he believed it had been custom built for him and was 'very expensive' when new.

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Date stamps on the Maillard hubs indicate it's from 1981 which would seem to fit in well with all the other components, but there are no marks on any kind on the frame to indicate who manufactured it, just transfers stating "Supplied by John Perks Aldridge" on the frame and the wheels.

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It's a decent quality 531 frameset though and most of the components are shimano 600
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When I picked it up it looked in a fairly sorry state, the tubular tires were badly perished and all the components were covered in a thick layer of crud. I feared this might be hiding some nasty corrosion, but once everything was striped down and cleaned it turned out that the crud was in fact grease that had become so dried out and hardened over time it resembled varnish. Underneath the components all look in remarkably good condition with very little wear - result :wahhey:

The only thing I've replaced apart from the perished tires are the brake calipers, the originals were some pretty flimsy looking side pulls and I've replaced them with a more modern set of dual pivot calipers, brakes are one area where I prefer to err on the side of practicality over originality!

Does anyone know anything about the John Perks name?
A quick Google search revealed that there is (or used to be) a bike shop of this name in Aldridge - no surprises there, and that someone of the same name used to be a rider for the Falcon racing team in the early 60s, but I've no idea whether the bike shop owner was the same guy who raced for Falcon.

I'm assuming that "supplied by John Perks" means that he assembled the bike to the customers spec using 'off the shelf' 531 frames from some other manufacturer rather than actually building the frame from scratch himself - anyone have any idea where the frames might have originated from?

All I need now is to shake off the stinking cold that's laid me low for the past week xx( and I'll be able to get out on it and see if it rides as well as it looks - it certainly feels a lot lighter than my old carbolite Peugeot and I'm looking forward to putting in some miles on it this summer.
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
I'm not one for retro bikes, but damn it look's lovely.
 

Canrider

Guru
Ah, you've found my long-lost bike! Please send it along sharpish...

(Looks lovely, wish I could help but I think you're probably on the right track with your assumptions about the frame)

My quick google brought up this:
http://www.chasecycling.co.uk/cycle.shops.htm
Might be worth an email to the address-of-the-same-name? See if he 'remembers' the bike?

Also:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JOHN-PERK...0967716235?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item27ce78518b
(read the description)
And a possible picture and organisation that might be able to put you in touch:
http://www.cyclosport.org/18-May-2010/product-reviews/cyclosportorg-review-the-midland-monster.html
Also threads on www.retrobike.co.uk forums including people who seem to be related to Mr. Perks.

(That took 5 minutes ;) )
 
OP
OP
Steve Malkin

Steve Malkin

Veteran
Location
Cheshire
Ah, you've found my long-lost bike! Please send it along sharpish...

(Looks lovely, wish I could help but I think you're probably on the right track with your assumptions about the frame)

My quick google brought up this:
http://www.chasecycling.co.uk/cycle.shops.htm
Might be worth an email to the address-of-the-same-name? See if he 'remembers' the bike?

Also:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JOHN-PERK...0967716235?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item27ce78518b
(read the description)
And a possible picture and organisation that might be able to put you in touch:
http://www.cyclosport.org/18-May-2010/product-reviews/cyclosportorg-review-the-midland-monster.html
Also threads on www.retrobike.co.uk forums including people who seem to be related to Mr. Perks.

(That took 5 minutes ;) )
Thanks for that Canrider - your Googling skills are clearly better than mine!
I'll definitely send an email to that address and see if I get any response.
It's interesting that the example you found on ebay is clearly branded as a 'John Perks' frame whereas mine appears to be an unbranded one supplied by him, I wonder whether he built his own frames as well?
 
OP
OP
Steve Malkin

Steve Malkin

Veteran
Location
Cheshire
A quick update,
I tried emailing the address Canrider discovered, but it was a defunct address and the message was undeliverable :sad:
However a bit more digging on Google has revealed that John Perks the Falcon team racer was definitely the same man who ran the bike shop in Aldridge. I found a set of photos on Flickr (I think posted by his son) which has some great shots of him in his racing years and later at the shop.

The full album has 96 photos and can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jperks/sets/72157625247877080/with/5118626064/

Here's the man himself (middle)
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And here's one of him outside the shop with a bike of similar vintage to mine by the look of it.
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He seems a remarkable man, and carried on racing (and winning) as a veteran long after most would have hung up their cycling shoes.
It's great to know a bit about the history of the bike, it seems to give more of a 'connection' with it somehow if that makes sense.
 

Ian Heys

Regular
Don't know the man personally but I know many people that still have their bikes made by him.

Further he still rides (at a great lick, I'm told) and is in his early 80's.

Further he runs this club with many members in the Sutton Coldfield/Aldridge area. A great many of the members ride his bikes.

http://www.ccgiro.net/

No doubt enough contact data there if you need it.

Or you could turn up with your bike, for coffee at the Dog Inn, Whittington, Staffs any Friday morning at 11:00 and take pot luck. There's usually forty or fifty of us there (and at least half a dozen Perks's).
 

Spokesmann

Keeping the Carlton and Sun names alive...
Location
Plymouth, Devon
A qulaity looking machine, great lugs.
 
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