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Doc Morton Frame
I would like to eventually make this Doc Morton frame into a finished bike, but I'm not sure about the best way to go about it. First, it was nickel plated originally. I'd like it to look as it was when new, but preparing the metal and replating the entire frame would be very expensive. Would it be worth it on this bike? If I were to get it painted, in which colour? Not being an expert on track bikes of the 20s and 30s I'm not sure what the norm was back then (other than the Flyer Saphire Blue).
Secondly, I'm not sure what components to use. From the very few Doc Morton bikes I've seen in person and in photos, it seems he used CCM Flyer parts. As we all know, these parts are very hard to come by and very expensive and I would need everything including a headset. Ideally, if someone had a Flyer for sale with a frame that was bent or otherwise unusable, I could buy it and transfer the parts over. There seems to be very little information on Doc Morton and the bikes he made - did he ONLY use Flyer parts? Was it up to the buyer? I'm wonderiing if an option could be to finish it using donor British parts similar to the ones on my Alex Kay road racer in my other recent post.
I'm guessing this bike is from the 1930s.
Any help, opinions, and parts for sale or trade would be most welcome.
photos:
Hi Brian,
This is a very nice looking frame and rare as hens teeth. The plating is not that bad but there are a few vrust spots and areas with missing plating. If it was mine, I would try and find a good metal polisher who could polish the bare steel to look like shiny plating and generally clean up what is there. I would not try to repaint it. After years of restoring old CCM bicycles (including Flyers), the ones that I really like are the original bikes that have a certain patina - this is part of the history of the bike.
Ted Harper, who wrote the book "Six Days of Madness", on six day bicycle racing was a big fan of Doc Morton bikes. He had several of them, but he always wanted to repaint them and fix them up to look like a new bike. I have pictures of some of Ted's Doc Morton bikes and might be able to find them and check on componenta. I do remember they had the usual wooden rims. Since Doc Morton actually worked for CCM at one time, I believe much of what he used on the bikes were standard CCM Flyer parts. The headset is the easiest of these since it was a standard CCM item. Handlebars, stem, seat post hubs, and crank may also have been Flyer parts. Your frame may have been a little more modern than the Doc Marton frames that I have seen. Flyer parts are difficult to find, but not impossible.
Good Luck!
John Williamson
Thanks John. I'm usually in favour of leaving frames and their paint in original condition, but sometimes they are too far gone. With this frame, the previous owner started a restoration by grinding off the nickel plating in places, but then did not finish the work. I'm tempted to at least get a quote for the work to have it nickel plated. With this bike being so rare and unique to Canada's cycling history, I'm hoping that it would be worth the investment. Between the frame work and the parts needed, I have no illusions of getting all my money back someday in the distant future, but getting back most of it would be nice.
If you could find those photos of Ted Harper's frames, that would be really great, thanks for the offer.
Does anyone have any Flyer parts to sell me for this bike please? A skip-tooth Flyer crankset (without the CCM letters) would really get this project started if anyone has one. Trades are possible too.
-Brian
Hi Brian,
Long ago I had an early Flyer fork that was nickel plated. I decided to get it replated. Before I took it to the platers I had a friend who was very experienced "Poish" it for me before plating. When he gave it back to me the whole fork looked great since he had polished the areas that were bare steel so much that they looked like they were freshly plated. When I took it to the platers that thought that it had just been replated - but they did replate it in nickel for me. Sadly, all of the platers in my area have shut down now. If you still have good platers in the Toronto area, you are lucky. My guess to polish and replate a frame might be $600 now. However, the plater has to know what they are doing I have had frames totally ruined by platers who did not know what were incompetent. Back in the early "70's I had a custom lightweight racing frame that I wanted to have stripped of paint and chrome plated. When I got the frame back I found that many of the parts, such as the headset and crank would not go back on the frame. I went back to the platers and they said that they would strip the chrome and redo it. After stripping the plating, I was left with a frame that had no solder in the joints and they had a bunch ofparts lying at the bottom of their tank. Nickel stripping is next to impossible to do and I am not sure that anyone would attempt it now. Before being replated, the Doc Morton frame would still have to be extensively polished. If it was painted, many of the early frames were just in midnight blue.
I will look for the pictures of Ted's Doc Morton bikes.
John
Hi Brian
There is a good plater in Cambridge Ontario ( Cambridge Custom Chrome ) I have had all my nickel plating done there over the years. Very satisfied with all there work. Just make sure your sitting down when they give you a price. Google Ted Harpers book six days of Maddness i think it is still available should be some good stuff in it that you might want. I had the book some years ago ,signed by Ted but not sure where it went.
Dave
Brian
You can get chrome work done right here in Toronto at Mayfair Plating at Eastern and Carlaw.
On Carlaw just south of Eastern. West side.
Cambridge Chrome is usually twice the price as anyone else.
Mayfair has been recommended to me before but I haven't been there yet. Do you know if they do nickel plating?
They do nickle Brian I’ve gotten it before from them.
Cambridge Custom Chrome. may be expsenive , and is, but they have never ruined a part or lossed it.
Thanks everyone. I hope to get a couple of quotes this summer but it will be a long term project so you may not see an update until next year. In the meantime I'll keep an eye out for Flyer parts, Major Taylor stem, Brooks racing saddle, etc.
Nickle and gold
.....