Soensport or Soens Brothers Name Transfer

[Rob Elliott]

Further to the above, I am not sure why the owner/photographer thinks the logo is hand-painted. Surely not?

 

[DonSchwann]

wouldn't think so. it'll be a decal surely. lovely frame!

 

[biggs682]

Another example of the head badge and other photos can be seen here.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/39323768@N04/sets/72157619549377737

same head badge as ours but different

 

[midlife]

Looks like a late 60's early 70's to me with the mix of brazings / band on and the full sloping crown and simple lugs to make it look italian Classy

Shaun

PS the saddle clip is on back to front.

 

[biggs682]

This tandem has a n other variety on it http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271632279106?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

[Campfire]

Found this in my Dad's old scrap book

View attachment 56079

Some good old names listed. Do we have any relatives on the forum?

- my dad Vic Ward, his fastest pre war ride. He was called up after this. Aged 20. Probably done on 86 fixed.
- Eddie Soens the subject of this thread.
- Alan Barker from the Warrington and a friend of my dads. Many years later (1968) Alan offered me a lift home after a 25 on the O2 course. I'd ridden out the previous day and stayed at the YHA. But I turned him down and rode home again!

- it was Alan's dad, Harry Barker that started the Warrington and my dad went onto start the Prescot RC after the war. Now called Prescot Eagle after merging with the Liverpool Eagle.


Cheers Keith

Hi Keith, just found this by accident. Alan Barker was my Dad. I was Anne Barker of Warrington Road Club. I also have a Soensport, which according to my Dad, belonged to Pete Matthews. It's no decals on or anything as I had it resprayed years ago without realising the importance of the name, even though I used to go in the Soens shops in my 20s with a girl called Pat, who lived at Huyton. Any idea what happened to her?

 

[biggs682]

@Campfire you cant tease people like that , we need a pic please please please

sound glorious , wish my parents still had the bikes they rode

 

[Campfire]

biggs682 - do you want one of me racing on it in the 70s? Otherwise it's in the back of my garage on a trainer, that I pretend to use sometimes, tucked behind my others.

Oh yes, in my Mum's garage there is a Carlton and a Harry Quinn, the Carlton is my Mum's and the Quinn my Dad's. He also had a Speedwell I think a Ti frame, which I sold at York rally the other year for about £200. His Dave Hinde was, to my annoyance, given away to my Mum's brother in law!

 

[biggs682]

biggs682 - do you want one of me racing on it in the 70s? Otherwise it's in the back of my garage on a trainer, that I pretend to use sometimes, tucked behind my others.

Oh yes, in my Mum's garage there is a Carlton and a Harry Quinn, the Carlton is my Mum's and the Quinn my Dad's. He also had a Speedwell I think a Ti frame, which I sold at York rally the other year for about £200. His Dave Hinde was, to my annoyance, given away to my Mum's brother in law!

@Campfire all or any and what a collection , many thanks

just dont let resident Quinn man @Tony Smith see this conversation

 

[Campfire]

Will try to take one of just the bike. That was taken on course around Chelford in - 1977!

 

[biggs682]

View attachment 59582 Will try to take one of just the bike. That was taken on course around Chelford in - 1977!

great action shot thanks

 

[Bill Soens]

Hi Billy,
I have only just spotted the above and thought you might be interested in somehistory.... perhaps your goodself Billy, whom I also knew, see below, might be amused.
I grew up (yrs 2-12) living at church house in the extensive grounds of Walton Hospital, Rice Lane, Liverpool, in the 1950's. Dad was the Hospital Secretary there at that time. Only a short distance from my home (100yds) were the carpenters/polishers/upholsterers workshops for the hospital.as well as patient's property stores etc. Eddie was the expert french polisher who worked there....a wonderful , but hard, guy whom I visited and pestered frequently, particularly during school holidays. Eddie was always a joy and interesting to be around and though not very tall he was mightily strong, I now understand that he was an ex boxer, and ex military, though I didn't know at the time. How to go from Sgt Major to racing bikes and french polishing I'll never know?
I learnt a lot about racing bikes from Eddie ( I remember the French polishing shop was also full of the old type sew together racing tyres which he would fix during his work breaks). I learnt that he and his family lived in Boaler St. Liverpool and that his son Billy built racing bikes....frames etc etc. So, cutting to the chase, I managed to persuade my Dad to take me to the shop and, after a 2-3wk wait, acquired a brand new small Soens racing bike specially built (gas welded frame and all) by Billy for me. It was my pride and joy. For many years it carred me the 8miles there and 8miles back to and from school in the Mossley Hill area of Liverpool.
Sadly my father died in 1959 (only 49yrs) and my mother (an assistant matron) and elder brother and I left Walton shortly after. Though I did see Eddie (& Billy) a couple of times after that, I went off to uni in the mid 60's, and lost track of them. Though I seem to recall that Eddie moved home to the Old Swan area of Liverpool around then.

Some years later, probably the very late 60's, my super Soens bike passed to another of the Soens brothers at their shop just outside Newsham General Hospital where my mother then worked.


Eddie was a wonderful and a quite remarkable guy!!!!!!


Philip Watkins (now only 67yrs), Saffron Walden, Essex.

Hello. In the past I used to receive notice from this site when someone posted something that involved me, directly or indirectly. this has, apparently, stopped and only today have I chosen to re-visit the site to see if anything has occurred. True enough, the above has been uploaded and I was truly ignorant of its existence.

Nice to read of people's memories - in particular this one which delves so far into the past that it involved my late father, Eddie Soens, working in Walton Hospital in the maintenance department. Your wonder regarding how one would generate from a Regimental Sergeant Major to a French polisher. Well, he served his time from the age of 14 as a french polisher.

regards. Bill Soens.

 

[Bill Soens]

As promised, here are some photos and history of my “Eddie Soens”. I have had it since 1972, having bought it second hand for £40 from Mr Bill Twiddle’s shop on Lawrence Road, Liverpool. I lived in Underley Street until 1971, about half a mile away, and remember him and his shop fondly. I think it’s a beautiful and elegant frame.

Note the wonderful decal on the head and down tubes. I am trying to source copies of this without success so far. www.hlloydcycles.com tell me they have an original and can recreate it, but they want to charge me over £70 for 2 including the set up costs. The name ”J Dorian” is sign-written on the left side of the top tube. I have failed to discover who this was – maybe a Liverpool club cyclist in the Sefton Park or Edge Hill area - Merseyside Wheelers perhaps? The original equipment (or rather, as I bought it) was as follows:

A badly worn Zeus Chainset and rings; Campagnolo Record gears and shifters (still working perfectly after all these years); an unnamed cassette; Fiamme sprint rims on FF Atom hubs, with Wolber Junior tyres; a Wienmann stem; no-name handlebars, heastock bearings and seat pin; an Evian seat bolt; a Brooks Professional saddle; and Universal Model 51 brakes with Wienmann levers.

After several years of neglect, in about 1990 I replaced the wheels with Mavic MA2 rims on Shimano 105 hubs, with a 105 chainset, cassette and headstock bearings. The original Campagnolo pulleys were also replaced with Shimano. I also replaced the saddle - an enormous mistake. Huge. I have regretted that since.

I have no idea when it was made, but if it is a proper Eddie Soens, given the frame number 331, I suspect it could be pre-1960. Any advice on what it is made of would be appreciated - is it likely to be 531? Also, what should be the diameter of the seat tube? The photo shows deformation in the lugs and the bolt is bent, so does that suggest the seat pin is slightly under size?

Its obviously time for another full renovation. If I can source the decals (and I want to use the same, rather than any other), I will have the paintwork done exactly as it is now. I have spoken to C&G Finishes in Liverpool and they will do the job for me - they almost certainly did the original. The name on the down tube is beautifully sign-written - a lost art, I think.

I hope all this is of interest. Its turned into a bit of an essay, but I thought I would try and get it all down in one place.

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This is a really interesting set of photographs and I can confirm that this is a frame that I built roughly 1960-65. The dearth of brazed on fittings was a fashion at that time when riders would come back from Belgium with stories of how steel frames would crack due to extra brazings - never happened to me but the fashion came and went quickly. This really is a touring frame in that the mudguard eyes are still on the front and rear drop-outs. Also the gap on the front forks is slightly wider to take guards. Racing machines had the eyes removed and were tighter in the gaps. Weight was much the same and was the geometry. You need to alter the saddle position and turn the clip the other way, putting you further behind the bottom bracket. This will be more comfortable. Lower the bars and it will then steer better and then roll them up very slightly so that the bottoms are not parallel with the floor. All this will improve the handling and comfort.

The seat pillar looks to be the wrong size. It should be a 27.2 mm pillar. By crushing the frame in this way, the seat tube would need to be reamed out properly.

Best wishes.

Bill Soens.

 

[cisamcgu]

Hi Bill (Soens), thanks for your comments about my nostalgic rumblings. You were right about the 52/12 gear. Now I think about it, the Stronglight chain set was 52/48, and it was the 48 that I rode with the 12 tooth sprocket. It was still hard work but fortunately my school journey was fairly flat - from Knowsley Road in Bootle to Marion Way in Netherton. The joy of having 10 speeds on my Eddie Soens when I finally got it was indescribable. You mentioned me having the dates wrong with regard to Pete Matthews shop. I'm sure you're right. I put the words "I think" before that section because it was the one thing I wasn't entirely sure about. Everything else seems crystal clear to me 50 years later. A later blogger talks about my reference to a shop on Rice Lane. I'm not getting it confused with Walvale. Both Harry Quinn and Walvale had shops on the East side of Walton Vale. The Quinn ship was at the junction where traffic came down from Orrell Park station. Walvale was further along opposite Woolworths or thereabouts. The Rice Lane shop that I was referring to was close to Spellow Lane library - on the same side of the road. I remember seeing Bob Jackson frames in the window on the way walking to Goodison Park for a place in the Boys' Pen. If nobody else remembers that shop I probably dreamt it!! Wouldn't be the first time that has happened. By the way, I did a bit of digging on Google and found a place where you can download a pdf version of the Bike Riders Aids catalogue - it makes for fascinating reading. I can remember most of the pictures in the 1964-5 version. You can find it at threespeedhub.com

Jack Stiles (Robin Hood) Cycles maybe ?

 

[Archie_tect]

@Bill Soens

Bill,
I once worked with a man, probably now in his late 70s, called Richard Roberts from Middlesbrough who told me he used to race professionally all over Britain and the continent. I've not had any more word about him, but did you come across him in your years in the shop?