Looking at the base of the poster adorned with Luis Ocana you will see that he is riding a Titalite Speedwell bicycle. I did not know this but Speedwell bicycles were made here in Birmingham and more specifically Witton, only paces from where I spent my early years.
Does anyone have more info on Speedwell? As the scale of this find is massive for me! I would love to find out more on this Birmingham based manufacturer but the trusty net does not yeild great information on this occasion.
The bicycle seen here is:
1977 Speedwell Titanium
Lightweight professional road bike (8.2kg). Titanium framework #67706 equipped with Campagnolo Record/Super Record plus some tuning parts. Early lightweight aero tubular rims from Assos, Switzerland, rear wheel with Campagnolo HiLo hub.
Spotted here.
Big up Joe for the heads.
Also kind of weird don’t you think – Speedwell / Spinwell both from Birmingham. Hmmmm.
Tags: birmingham, british, classic, lightweight, luis ocana, mountain stage, speedwell, tdf, ti, titanium, tour de france
January 5, 2010 at 11:57 am |
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/British_isles/speedwell/Speedwell_home.htm
January 5, 2010 at 1:09 pm |
Seen that one. anymore?
January 5, 2010 at 12:09 pm |
I couldn’t believe this at first, the winner of the 1973 TdF, Spaniard Luis Ocaña, riding (for team Bic) a titanium bike built in Birmingham. Fantastico! I think the bike he rode was racing green…
January 5, 2010 at 1:10 pm |
You are very right sir.
The gravity of this find is huge… thanks.
I had heard of and seen Speedwell before but never put the two together… silly me for thinking Bham didn’t have the nouse. Slap my wrists… how wrong was I?
January 5, 2010 at 12:11 pm |
Forgot to say as well: Nice to see the Spinwell block letters back in business.
January 5, 2010 at 2:14 pm |
spotted go on ebay go for about £500 a while back.
January 5, 2010 at 2:27 pm |
Hey Hardy!
Glad to see you back on here mate.
Happy new year to you and yours!
January 5, 2010 at 3:45 pm |
happy new years to you to mate! the spinwell beanie has been serving me well in the foul weather !
January 11, 2010 at 1:25 pm |
I seem to remember the Pinkertons (Doug, Dave and family) from Erdington had a Speedwell back in the mid/ late ’90s. I believe Doug used it for hill climb events. Great site by the way, all the best.
January 11, 2010 at 1:41 pm |
Thanks Martin,
I know of Doug and the Pinkertons… I bought a frame off him once!
Thanks for that info too, the next time I see Mr Pinkerton I will ask him of this.
Thanks again
May 7, 2010 at 8:12 pm |
I have a speedwell Titalite frame, trying to work out it’s history and worth. Any ideas??
May 9, 2010 at 8:18 pm |
Hi
I have been given a oldskool Speedwell parafin cycle lamp by my grandfather. If any one has more info on parts and accessories that where made by them that woulkd be great.
Del
May 15, 2010 at 7:31 am |
Very nice bikes! Currently restoring my Titalite, which is the 7th one every made (based off the serial number 17307, 7th bike produced in January of 1973)! Great ride!
November 7, 2012 at 2:21 am |
Just taken delivery of a NOS unbuilt Speedwell Ti frame/fork , paid £1000 on ebay, will be building it up with a NOS Zeus 2000 group set, a nod to Luis Ocana, and Mavic SSC blue rims, once built it will be showroom condition, and will have cost around £3000, PR27323 so second month of production . As you will know the quality of workmanship is first class and as they were never a mass production build, its fair to say, a true value would be upwards of £500 for a used undamaged frame, £1000 for a built model with used campag , and minter £3000 plus , just my opinion based on my experience, mac
November 16, 2012 at 5:20 pm
i’d like to see this NOS titalite? mac
November 25, 2012 at 1:08 am
Chas , will be happy to show my NOS once built with zeus 2000 NOS parts, it may take a while as i currently slowly putting together a speedwell with campagnolo Below, extraordinarily rare Campy 1010 long, horizontal dropouts with eyelets fashioned in Titanium for Pino Maroni and Cecil Behringer’s “Pinbehr” titanium bike c. 1973. These titanium frames were brazed and lugged. Pino and Cecil challenged all with it’s strength by riding it down a long series of stairs! It’s my understanding that Campagnolo made these eyeletted and non-eyeletted titanium dropouts for them (only 25 sets made) for this purpose.
May 15, 2010 at 7:35 am |
Andy, you can date your titalite by the serial number. After the PR letters, the dating is: month/year/bike number that month. As far as value goes, I have never been able to really get a value offline, as they are extremely rare and hardly ever up for sale. Completely restored value=???
July 2, 2010 at 2:29 pm |
Bird, thanks for the reply sorry posted on that many site trying to find information,
I will take a look tonight and post it on here.
Cheers
July 2, 2010 at 6:37 pm |
I had a look an it PR673007.
Is that any good to anyone.
Anyone want to buy it??
August 25, 2010 at 9:22 pm |
Do you still have this bike? If so, please can you tell me what size the frame is?
September 7, 2010 at 1:50 am |
Hi, i am very interested in your speedwell, if it is still for sale drop me an email, best wishes , mac
November 27, 2010 at 2:33 am |
drop me an email andy, lol bishop red kite friend
November 13, 2010 at 11:30 pm |
I have a Speedwell frame from ? It was given to my Dad by a friend when he gave up cycling and my mum has given it to me. There are a couple of dings on it and the Speedwell badge is a little damaged.
It’s too large for me – OTHERWISE I’D HAVE IT BUILT UP FOR ME!! Shame.
Any ideas where I can get approx value and where I can sell or whatever?
Thanks
November 27, 2010 at 2:31 am |
any further info and pics would be helpful
June 1, 2011 at 9:19 pm |
i inherited a speedwell from a man in malvern, did it up with campag retro; i was the seller mentioned above on ebay – the buyer already has one which he had rode end to end in four days on it…!
i wrote an article on speedwell history for a USA publication, and i have pix of Tame rd where the factory used to be. i estimate there are about 90 speedwells around the world, value difficult but its rarity makes it £600+
June 1, 2011 at 9:28 pm |
btw Ocana’s bike was not painted- it was a clean titanium frame, however there was a story that Motobecane who were Ocana’s team bikes which were bright orange and sponsored by BIC razors ‘allegedly’ painted his speedwell orange and put a motobecane badge on it. This of course is Tour de France apocryphal nonsense and/or French jealousy. Neither happened. Also it is difficult to establish which Stage of the TdeF the bike was used on, as there are conflicting stories and Photgraphic accounts.
June 6, 2011 at 12:20 pm |
anyone got a mint or VGC 22 OR 22 1/2 SPEEDWELL TITALITE for sale good price paid for nicely speced model or track frame, thanks
April 9, 2012 at 8:05 am |
Birmingham Provider…
[...]Speedwell Birmingham. « Spinwell Cycling Club[...]…
May 17, 2012 at 11:34 am |
I have a speedwell ti frame ( ~24″ ) I wish to sell. Any ideas how much it might be worth?
November 14, 2012 at 10:40 pm |
Very intersting thread.
I was very closley connected to Speedwell, and have build many speedwell titanium frames whilst they were in production. I have two speedwell bikes which have been used since they were made, and are still just as good as they were when they came out of the workshop 35 years ago. Not many frames of today can match the precison engineering that was applied to these frames, which are a work of art.
If any one would like further information about Speedwell or individual frames please get in touch.
November 24, 2012 at 8:21 pm |
yes please titalite i would like to hear from you, about the history of the company and what is was like at tame rd etc get in touch, have already published an article in USA, but there are still gaps in the info, cheers
December 10, 2012 at 10:59 pm
Hi Chales
pleased to help out, send me what you have allerady generated, and I will see if I can fill in some gaps, and add some more: speedwelltitalite@gmail.com
I am also planning to put togther a small Speedwell website containing a register of frames.
Cheers
December 11, 2012 at 7:34 am
Will do,will forward article