Saturday, April 4, 2015

73CM Witcomb USA we recently built / sold!

     This is the largest size frame we have ever built here at Via Bicycle! It has a 73CM CTC seat tube! A very tall customer came in looking for a bike, and we had one that fit the bill. It was made by the Witcomb USA shop in Connecticut. I estimate production to be in the mid to late 1970's as the company was finished by the 80's. Many current master builders worked there including Chris Chance, Richard Sachs, and J.P. Weigle. Here is a link about the marque via Classic Rendezvous Witcomb USA. I wonder if any of them recall this frame being built / maybe one of them built it?
     Usually on larger frames, mixte stays are added from the head tube to the rear drop outs to add reinforcement. Not the case with this bike, very unusual. We put it together as an upright bike to be ridden around the city. We used heavy duty wheels so that the customer will not have problems. We hope this bike suits our customers needs and he is pleased with the results! After it was built by our head mechanic Davis, he took it for the required  test ride, quite an adventure! Enjoy!
















2 comments:

david said...

Suspect this built out of thick-walled aircraft tubing, as the seat tube had a definite "stop" for the seatpost, as if it had been reamed to size. The steerer was internally reinforced with 7/8 tubing to about 5" below top of steerer.

z-man said...

Send to this email address, anything in the 66-68cm range that you come across.