For lovers of an intricate lug, there are a few names that springs to mind. Add the term ‘curly stay’ or ‘vibrant stay’ and you can only end up with one name, that of Hetchins! The bike featured here has bucket loads of both.
Although looking very similar to its 1950s cousins, this beautiful machine actually hails from 1997, four years after production was restarted by the marque’s owner David Miller. In 1996, an article in Cycling Plus magazine alerted Chris, the owner of this bike, to the possibility of buying one of the new batch of frames being made. A phone call and a deposit later, an order had been made…
Some 12 months later the frame arrived, and Chris built it up with a Campagnolo Record 9-speed groupset. A chance email to Cycling Plus to thank them for the tip-off resulted in tech editor Paul Vincent calling Chris, and asking whether he could borrow it to do a bike comparison test with it.
The comparison would be against a 1954 Hetchins Magnum Opus. At this point, Chris hadn’t even ridden the freshly built bike himself, but kindly said yes to Paul’s idea. A van duly arrived, and took the Hetchins to the face-off.
In the resulting article, published in October 1998, Paul scored the new version a full 5/5, but the 1954 version a 3/5, and was very impressed with Chris’s bike.
Chris has a strong memory of first seeing a Hetchins outside a shop when he was five years old.
Chris said: “My dad took my hand, and we crossed the road to look at this beautiful bike. My dad said “This is the Rolls Royce of bikes, you cannot get better”.”
This always stayed with Chris and led, many years later, to this emotional purchase. Chris’s father, George Law, had been a keen amateur racer before the Second World War, and rode with the Don Road Club, but post-war focused on coaching.
Hymen Hetchins, known as Harry, had opened his shop in 1922 in Tottenham, North London. Here he sold household appliances including sheet music, gramophones, and shellac 78 rpm records. He then started selling bicycles from the likes of Rudge and Raleighs.
By the early 1930s, he partnered up with a local frame builder called Jack Denny, and in 1934 they patented an innovative design that used curved stays. At this point Harry stopped selling other makes of bike to concentrate on his own brand: ‘Hetchins Lightweight Cycle Specialists’.
1936 saw Olympic and world championship victories on Hetchins bikes, and the orders started to roll in. In 1938 over 600 frames were made, with 500 made in 1939. Such was Harry and Jack’s success, that post-war they had to employ a part-time lug cutter and two additional frame builders.
When Harry died in 1961, his son Alf took over the business. In 1993 David Miller bought the firm and shortened the name to ‘Hetchins Lightweight’. Production was restarted with the frame builder Paul Riley. It is from this era of production that this bike comes from.
Apart from the patented curly or vibrant seat and chain stays, Hetchins frames were famous for their ornate, and often hand-cut, lugwork. When Chris decided to respray the frame and fork a few years ago he wanted more of the lugwork to be chromed. He was advised against this finish for the upper rear seat area as chroming can make the metal brittle, and prone to fatigue. So instead the intricate design is picked out in gold, which shows up beautifully against the black paintwork. Also notice the area around the brake bridge, which has had the same treatment.
Chris has always deliberately chosen to build the bike using more modern components. He is currently using a mixed Campagnolo 10-speed Record and Chorus groupset from the mid-2000s, which also has a more usable compact chainset than before.
He said: “I like my bikes to be usable, reliable and function well. The combination of an older steel frame with more modern components suits me.”
Purists may disagree from an aesthetic point of view, but it would be difficult to argue against Chris’s take from a practical standpoint. The wheels were hand-built by Harry Rowland, and use Mavic Open Pro rims laced to Campagnolo hubs. Chris swears by hand-built wheels, and this pair hasn’t needed so much as a true since he bought them.
“Of all my bikes, this is the best of the lot”, Chris added.
“It’s a surprisingly good hill climbing bike. It just rides better than the others.”
But just as important, it reminds him of his beloved father, who got him into cycling and encouraged his amateur racing career. Sometimes the technical aspects of a bike can dominate a build, and sometimes nostalgia can rule or overrule practicality. With this Hetchins build, both aspects feel well judged and balanced. This leads to an ornate frame with a nod to the past, matched to modern functionality and reliability. All in all, a very usable and beautiful bike.
4 thoughts on “This Hetchins Magnum Opus De Luxe is a modern(ish) retro beauty”
That’s a superb bike!
The only change I’d make is remove the modern bike computer magnet and sensor on the fork, too modern for that bike!
@tomascjenkins A proper old school full length frame pump would look nice too instead of the mini pump attached to the bottle cage.
You’ve a keen eye! Yes totally agree, the mini pump is way too modern. Plus less effective than a frame pump!
Sweet dreams from Bike@bedtime!
Thank you for featuring this classic beaut.