Curtis pro, resto and build

[martin46]

Ok so over the last 18 months I've been restoring and building 3 Curtis pro's and at one point a freestyler which has now been moved on 
There's been a lot of work and swapping/changing of parts to get them to where they are now and I'm still not convinced they're finished  but they have come a long way and are looking pretty good.
Anyway this one is my favourite and it also required the most work as it needed some major repairs.
This is how I got it exactly 1 year ago today:



At some point in time the joint at the head tube and down tube had cracked. It had been repaired with a lot of braze, but it wasn't pretty. The forks were bent at the bottom of the stearer and the legs had a tiny bit of twist in them.
So, as I only live 5 minutes away from Brian Curtis, I went to see him about putting it right for me. 1 week later and he'd replaced the down tube with a nice new piece of OE T45 and his silky smooth brazed welds, plus he filled and smoothed any other little dints and dings he found with a bit of braze. As for the forks, he said he wasn't sure about bending them back into shape as it may weaken them. So he'd dug out a set of raw, unfinished and undrilled prototype forks that he'd made years ago and would I like those instead. Um let me think  Yeh I would 

 











It stayed in this state up until December last year, while I was concentrating on building another pro f&f that was in original chrome and using gold parts, the freestyler f&f which is now sold and a Complete survivor bike, also in original chrome, with lots of nice parts that needed restoring and refreshing.
My original plan was to have it stripped of what chrome was left, polish it and lacquer it, mainly because I didn't want to cover up Brian's beautiful brazing work. I also had a lot of blue parts that had come off a previous Haro build, but just didn't think it would look right. So in the end I dismantled the gold and chrome build and rebuilt with the blue parts. Leaving the gold parts for this build. I decided on gloss black paint for the frame and polished and lacquered the forks. Also, to top it all off. Just before Christmas, 3 sets of NOS Curtis pro bars became available, local to me. Thanks dannyrobo for the heads up 
Perfect timing or what 

The frame and forks and bars, ready for building. Thanks Del for the decals on this one

 



The finished bike 







And with the other 2

[Gashead]

So when I said, leave that one with me today, that's mine.............


I didn't actually realise, it was mine 

[bodamus]

Great bike nice resto job

Have you got a nice side view of the Chrome and blue one please

[nitrohopper]

loving theblack and gold martin nice job mate 

[martin46]

  yeh Nick it was the one I got from you this day last year. I'll swap for my old f&f that you had with you today yeh 

[crazycraig]

Love it and those bars are awesome !

[CustardLips]

Nice work, i like it. 

[stidds]

Saw this bike (and the other 2) in the flesh today and have to say it is fooking stunning.

Great build Martin.

[Chapperz]

The Black and Gold one is a thing of Beauty. Cracking Build.
Hope to see this at MK

[dinglem]

That is gorgeous.

Top job! 

[Skratchski]

good stuff mate, best bikes ever!! lol

[dannyrobo]

great job mart 

[Gizmo]

  nice builds .
Luvin those bars