Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Ian Cammish puts classic record-breaking 1983 time trial bike up for sale

“Break my heart & make my wife happy” says British time trial legend

British time trial legend Ian Cammish has put his 1983 record-breaking time trial bike up for sale because, he says, his wife is fed up of looking at it above their fireplace.

In the days before aero bars and helmets with long tails, ‘funny bikes’ with sloping top tubes and upturned bars ruled the dual-carriageway drag strip battlegrounds of the UK time trial scene.

Right through the 1980s, Ian Cammish dominated time-trialling, winning the British Best All-rounder series nine times between 1980 and 1989 - only the 1987 title escaped him.

In 1983, Cammmish broke the competition records for out-and-back 100-mile and 50-mile distances, becoming the first rider to crack 30mph for 50 miles. He still holds the Road Records Association titles for straight-out 50- and 100-mile rides.

The bike he’s selling was built by Brian Rourke, and his description of the parts and the reason he’s selling it makes the eBay auction well worth a read, even if you're not in the market for a retro TT bike.

Cammish writes: “I've put a starting bid of £1500 ... which reflects the minimum value I put on it and the fact I don't really want to get rid of it ... but at least it'll keep the Mrs happy if I can say it's up on here for sale  1

“Own a piece of time trialling history by breaking my heart and making my wife happy.

“(DO please look after it if you buy it).”

Cammish used PMP L-shaped cranks back in the day but you don’t get those with this bike because “Unfortunately the PMP cranks cracked a long time ago and were replaced with Ron Kitching's superlight Tevano ones (still very nice and extremely rare).”

Other notable parts include a Mavic rear mech that was functionally a clone of the Campagnolo Super Record of the time and a “collector's piece in itself” and Modolo Kronos brakes that Cammish says “cost a bleedin' fortune ... just do a search on here and see for yourself”.

Surprisingly he doesn’t make mention of the Cinelli M71s. These clipless pedals preceded the Look design and were popular with time triallists in the ’70s and ’80s. Almost nobody else used them because they were practically impossible impossible to get out of in a hurry. 

The bike is a 59cm frame, but Cammish says: “Let's face it you're not going to want to ride this surely? It should be framed and hung above someone's fireplace. My Mrs is fed up looking at it above ours ... one of the reason she wants rid.”

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

Add new comment

11 comments

Avatar
Owen Rogers | 11 years ago
0 likes

Back in the days he used to race against my brother along the A604, better known now as the A14.

Avatar
cidermart | 11 years ago
0 likes

Sorry I'd have to sell the wife. +Me on the lottery idea.

Avatar
farrell | 11 years ago
0 likes

Turn it into a fixie and use it for Bike Polo.

*Do not do this*

Avatar
nod | 11 years ago
0 likes

^ his wife would still be unhappy.

Avatar
Bigfoz | 11 years ago
0 likes

What if we crowd sourced to buy it, then donated it to the previous owner...  1

Avatar
Nick T | 11 years ago
0 likes

Don't sell it, just let your local bike shop hang it on display. Sigma have a good few customers bikes in their windows!

Avatar
behemothprocycling | 11 years ago
0 likes

Ian, if I win the lottery this weekend, I'll buy it and let you have it back. Then you can buy the mrs something with the money and you'll both be happy.

Avatar
Roberj4 replied to behemothprocycling | 11 years ago
0 likes
behemothprocycling wrote:

Ian, if I win the lottery this weekend, I'll buy it and let you have it back. Then you can buy the mrs something with the money and you'll both be happy.

I second that or nobody bids at all then Ian can keep the bike. The money will be wasted on handbags & shoes!

Avatar
Ghedebrav | 11 years ago
0 likes

Fab bike. Cannot imagine the heartbreak involved in selling it.

If I were in Ian C's place I cannot imagine what amount of money could part me from this bicycle.

Maybe these chaps could scrpae the funds together? http://www.cyclemuseum.org.uk/index.php?page=2

Otherwise, perhaps now is the right time to start lobbying for a national museum of cycling to ensure that these kinds of historical artefacts don't end up in private hands - or worse, stripped for their valuable parts.

Warming to that theme, actually given Britain's role and heritage in the development of the bicycle and our on-off-on-again relationship with cyclesport a national bicycle museum - ideally in the somewhere in the Midlands, which forged the modern 'safety' bike as we now know it - would be a real draw. Who's with me!?

*googles quickly to check there isn't one already*

 39  39  39

Avatar
StuayEd | 11 years ago
0 likes

Grounds for divorce? It must be real love!

Avatar
mattsccm | 11 years ago
0 likes

Some body should buy this for histories sake. Wish I could.

Latest Comments