i have wanted a Higgins ultralight for years but they are very rare , then a week ago i spotted a 23" ultralight on Hilary Stones website, a very very pink one at that :-) ,
i had a Higgins ultralight when i was 16 , it was given to me by a customer at the shop i worked at the time , it was small and 26" wheeled so i grew out of it pretty quickly , Higgins was a rather talented engineer that ,from what i can glean from the net, primarily made frames for lightweight tricycles for adults that for one reason or another (post war vets with various injuries ) couldn't ride a standard bicycle but still wanted a lightweight , 'quick feeling' trike , he also made a few bicycle frames for road ,track and touring , i believe he used various types of tubing , the pink pig has a plain gauge seat tube with butted stays and top and down tube , the frame is very compliant and soft feeling on the rough but has great power transfer and acceleration and never rubs its tyres on the stays or brakes , for me its perfect for those long rides with the very occasional turn of speed ,
dated 8/7/50 , fully fillet brazed frame ( as were most Higgins ultralight's it would seem ) , i assume it is made from Reynolds tubing ,although it has 'higher pitch and more sustained tone' ,sound when gently tapped and has a slightly less damped ride feel compared to another frame ( the old vindec Speedwing special) which has exactly the same external gauge of tubes and is only one year older than the Higgins and is all 531 butted , it could be a different type such as Accles and Pollock Kromo front triangle with Reynolds rear end mix or just the fillet brazed vs lugged construction differences that i am feeling and hearing.
The drop outs are cyclo standard items without hanger , common back then for Sturmey Archer or 3/4/5 speed dérailleur gear use , the rear end is 120 mm but i have it pushed out a touch to 126 mm to allow the sachs 7 speed freewheel to be used .
yes, its pink , really really PINK !
Thats how i got it ,however the frame is nice and straight and apart from a slightly stretched bottom bracket shell on the non drive side (which i circumvented with the use of a un92 bb (the un 72 has the same deep thread cups ) which has very deep fitting cup that easily goes past the stretched section as vintage 3 piece cup and axle system had rather shallow cups so only a small section of the shell is stretched )
the wheels are NOS mavic MA rims i had laying around built onto large flange hubs with the usual ACI Alpina DB spokes (the best) , brakes are weinnman vanqeur 999 (original swiss made items !) 610 front 750 rear. gears are just sora 7 speed sti and tiagra rear ,alpine front, mechs , crankset is a seventies gran sport . the stem on the built bike is an 80mm zenith cinelli 1a copy and the bars are the absolutely fantastic RHM bend deda piega 26.0 mm clamp, 46cm (actually 44 C2C ) items , i love these bars , short reach shallow drop and perfectly formed for all day comfort , the saddle is an old b17n cut down to give a swallow shape but i have also added an imperial cut out , i plan on doing the same to a standard b17 in the same fashion soon ,
it also has Berthoud stainless mudguards and soon to have an ENE front rack and ironweed Orpington bag with velo orange decaleur
the pink pig rides beautifully and as the name suggests is ultralight , built up fixed wheel sans brakes etc it weighed in at under 19lb !! not bad for a 50s built machine .
sorry about the pics, just back from an evening ride and its raining , again!
as you can clearly see above , the box lining is very badly done ! , thats all me :-D , i have been trying my hand at using a lining wheel , the paint i use for practice is water based acrylic , once dry its pretty well fixed but a good wipe with a touch of thinner and it comes off cleanly , its a skill i would love to have and practice makes perfect
I ran into a few issues with the randonneur bag being too tight a fit with the zenith stem and the tektro rl720 crosstop levers and also the sti shifter cables , getting the bag on and off was a nightmare , first part of the solution was to use another Velo Orange classic quill stem , they are quite costly but are very high quality with great build quality and nice deep chrome plating ,not to mention the integrated bell mount brazed in boss,
it has a lot of height adjustment which gave me the clearance needed for the cross top levers and easy bag removal/fitting .
i also used a now rather old trick of utilising V brake noodles for the cable routing
another small issue i had was that when the bag was loaded with heavier items the ENE front rack would flex and cause it to rattle on the mudguard and even bottom out the mudguard on the tyre , the solution was simple enough , a ran a small m3 hole through the rack and bolted the mudguard and rack together , i then added another stay to the front of the mudguard , it is now rock solid with the added benefit that the front brake calliper has no flex
above you can clearly see the all the fittings , the brake ,mudguard,rack and fork are all connected at many points , i stuck a 25kg load on it to test it and it barely moved at all .
some folks might wonder why i didnt just get a bar bag with a click fix system ? , to be honest i hate them , they sit too high up ,bounce around ,look ugly and have limited load carrying unless you clamp them really tight which always damages the handlebar , by using an old style decaleur and front rack only the frame fork and wheel bare the load , not to mention how much better the chrome looks .
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i have also taken the opportunity to fit daruma to the rear mudguard for a completely rattle free set up with cleaner looks .
the spa cycles leather saddle , also available in many other names , they are brooks swallow copies or imitations , they use a reinforcing substrate made from some sort of fabric which is bonded to the under side , the leather is nice and thick but the chassis is a bit flatter across the rear than a brooks , the finish is rather odd , there must be some sort of coating as it was water proof , i didnt like it as it is far too slippery so i sanded it back with some fine steel wool , the higgins logo is carved into the leather then dyed prior to sanding , the next three images are of the three stages of medium, fine and final extra fine steel wools, the saddle is now more of a sued finish ,i think it looks and feels great ,
The Pig with brown 700 x 30 Spicer tyres ( even at 105 psi they are very supple and comfy tyres and a genuine bargain ) the first ones were faulty as the carcase gave up and tyres bulged but the replacements have been fine since !.The addition of a home made leather front mud flap to keep the front wheel spray off the drive system
a small update ,
i am becoming rapidly attached to this bike , just as i did with the first Higgins i had , it has that 'something special' that a really good quality hand made frame can have , all bikes have their own character but some have that wee something that makes them stand out , its as if some bikes want to be ridden ,not just look pretty or be ultra light , rather, it has a certain and most definite ability to make you smile when you ride it ,
a few mods , campag front mech , veloflex master23 tyres , sakae prestige stem , gb bars , mafac racer brake set with dia compe gran compe real rubber hoods , all in weight is 21lb 4oz without pedals 22lb 1 oz with pedals . I Love This Bike .
pics taken during a wee 10 minute rest by the river almond at cramond .
the veloflex master 25 tyres held up brilliantly , i was touch concerned they would puncture too easily due to their ultra lightweight construction . even though the rear could have done with another 20psi ,,on and off road they were great , highly recommended
more soon !
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