While I have more than enough projects, frames stored about the place, I have been on the look out for a nice Flying Scot for a good few years now. Usually when one comes up I have no money or if I do ever have some spare cash then there are none about and, lets face it, with a family always on the go, there is always somewhere more needed for any cash than yet another frame :) . This time though my wife was fully supportive as it was a very good price and came from a gentleman named John who was helping with an estate sale. The gentleman that passed had an incredible amount of older bikes and frames of all sorts but he had a really nice collection of Scots and a couple of rare Andy McNeils in amongst about 150 pieces. There are two more lots to go as well. I had heard as on the Flying Scot Facebook page that I frequent, one of the members had been down to see them and had taken a few photos and then posted them.
Most were frames and needing painted as everything had been lying around and like John said 'he was a hoarder not a collector'. All were very reasonable, if not cheap prices relative to what they are now commanding, nearly all were too big for me but John did say the small blue one with chrome ends I was ringing about would suite me as it was a 20''. It looked straight and in decent condition and Johns description confirmed this, but, and there's always a but, I couldn't get down to him for at least a week as it was down in England with about 7 hours drive each way so would need to wait until we were spending the weekend about halfway helping family and I could drive down and pick it up. Not a problem as long as I left some sort of deposit because word was out and people were coming from everywhere to get these frames. I was hearing of a few people going down in vans and just buying up what they could. I spoke with John again at night and said I would sleep on it and ring in the morning as John said it wasn't going anywhere Sunday night. He also realised I was a good distance away but obviously really keen for it.
I ended up ringing back first thing and paying for it that day and while not the way I would normally buy a frame, off of one online photo, it was also very decently priced and I thought I don't want to miss out again as I have in the past through procrastinating. I also try never to just jump straight in, I always walk away and make sure but most importantly I am confident in what I am buying but this time I was taking a gentleman at his word, though I had heard nothing but good things said about him the last week or so, but it was still a bit of nervousness in the background until I opened the box and seen it for myself. In the end the weekend we were meant to be down south, we were, but with car trouble, that is still not resolved completely, and thankfully John just packed it into a box and shipped it up to me, which was one less thing to worry about.
Once out the box it was plain to see that it looked in a far better condition than the photo. John had said that it wouldn't need paint as the paint job was a good job and in very good condition, just a bit grubby. A quick wash and a bit of wax bought it back to shining with no effort at all, I was really pleased with how nicely it cleaned up.
It has a couple of later decals on the seat tube so suspect it has been repainted somewhere down the line or maybe just put on to replace the originals as they aren't under varnish, also the Reynolds decal is later as the 531c tubing wasn't around until about 1983. Much better condition than I expected it to be in which is always a bonus. The Campagnolo headset that came on it is in great condition, recently greased as well Needs either the Ventoux decal on the downtube or just a simple Flying Scot one I think. Really looking forward to riding this one.
I should say I have always looked at Flying Scots and held them in high regard as with my family all coming from Glasgow my dad used to tell me about 'The Scot' bikes from when he was younger and with me living not far from Glasgow for a long time when I came over here, and while I now live up north in Scotland, due to my family and always visiting and living nearby in the past this family history makes me feel like Glasgow is my Scottish hometown. Especially as we visit regularly, my wifes family are from just outside Glasgow at Loch Lomond, the majority of our friends are in Glasgow and most of all we love the city. So for me more than anywhere else in the UK where I feel like a visitor, in Glasgow I feel at home and so this Glasgow built Scot has a much more sentimental pull on me, not least because it makes me think of my dad. That alone makes it more than worth it :)
Jamie
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