Well, this bike has come a full 3/4 circle. I saw it on CL last year and missed it by a few minutes to someone willing to buy it sight unseen(it was a bargain for any lugged bike and a steal for a Melton of any size/condition IMO).
Remember my philosophy? I think I've shared it here. I think that the American builders of the 70s and 80s have been overlooked and are starting to see some well deserved attention from collectors. I think these will be the hot items in a few years. Brian Baylis, Bruce Gordon, Dave Moulton(Masi,Howard,Fuso), Dave Tesch, and Peter Weigle are a few that come to mind and that are now getting some much deserved recognition. They took the ideas of the classic builders of England, Italy, and Japan to a new level here in the states and the quality of their work would rival the best in the world IMO.
Anyway, I was really disappointed to miss the buy as e-mails from the original owner/seller revealed a really cool story. Oh well, I thought, maybe it will get a good home. Well I'm glad it was Todd that beat me to it. Small world. Todd is becoming a supplier of mine. First he turns up the '77 PX-10 in black(shown in a previous thread) and now this Melton. Todd bought the Melton and soon realized it was a duplicate project and, as it was a bit small for him, wasn't worth the space it would take. He listed it on CL this weekend. As a like-minded cycling fan, he has more bikes than any one person needs but knows what is worth preserving. Todd reinforced the provenance of the bike and said he hadn't really done anything to it. Easy sale. I hope he starts calling me with these rather than listing them publicly! ;)
I'll save the story as I found my old e-mails and sent one to the original owner requesting the story in detail. She was was quite nice last year and, though now relocated, I anticipate her response.
The bike was well used and saw multiple roles. It's rough to say the least but worth preserving. At some point the decals were "scraped" off and a brown paint applied. Even the cables clamps were painted over. The dropouts are Suntour - showing his Japanese influence. It was built up with the Shimano 600 "Arabesque" groupo at some point. 600 eventually became the Ultegra line and this version preceded that by a good decade. One crank arm is dated 6/78 and the other 7/78. The clamp on cable guide is dated 6/78. I questioned the date of the frame as being "80's" with the used of Nervex "fancy" pro lugs. I have seen pics of his bikes built in the 80's with the either DuBois or other simpler lugs more common in that era. The verdict is still out. Parts can come together under the most unique circumstances. I was under the impression that Melton built road frames as early as 1970 and moved from NC around 1980 and pursued Tandem builds with road frames built to order showing up here and there. Later of course he worked in the development of Huffy's Olypmic bikes for '84 and '88.
Here are a few more "before" pics.
Brown topcoat over everything.
Nervex lugs
Suntour dropouts.
I think that's a 600 under there.
It's not on the "front burner" right now but it is safe and sound and I wanted to get it posted for you all to see. Someday it will look and feel like it's old self again! With all the projects piled up, I will probably go on a painting frenzy this summer.
