unique frame that was tucked away somewhere in the far reaches of my memory bank, the hard drive of my mind, if you will. It recently came to the forefront when I discovered these old photos.
No, there is nothing wrong with your eyes, and those wheels are standard 27”. (700c) It is just a very large frame. I can’t remember exactly what size it is, but it was built for seven foot basket ball player Bill Walton.
It was the end of 1980 and I had just arrived at Ted Kirkbride’s frameshop in San Marcos, CA to build the Masi frames. Ted had just got this order for a custom built bike for the San Diego Clippers star player.
The frame was a joint effort, I did the main brazing, then handed it over to Ted Kirkbride to finish. The frame was painted by Masi’s painter Jim Allen. Bill Walton did not want any maker’s name on the frame, but instead had a custom “Grateful Dead” decoration painted directly on the head tube.
Bill Walton was, and still is an ardent “Dead Head.” San Diego artist Dan Thoner did the hand painting on the frame.
So what kind of frame is Bill Walton’s? It is a Ted Kirkbride as he took the order, designed the frame, did much of the work and sold the frame. However, as Ted never put a frame out with his own name on it, (As far as I know.) The nameless frame arrangement suited both buyer and seller on this occasion.
I don’t lay claim to the frame, but only write about it here because it is a part of my history, and probably the biggest frame I ever worked on.
Ted Kirkbride owned the frameshop were the Masi frames were produced in the early 1980s. He later bought the company. Most of the frames he built were custom and special order Masi frames.
I wonder if Bill Walton still has this bike, and if so does he still ride it? I would imagine the demand for used bikes to fit a seven-foot bike rider would be pretty small.
credit:
http://www.wellsphere.com/
Coolest thing about all of this is that the showcases in the picture above are now at hidden valley bicycle store were i have been employed for over 3 years now.
The Kirkbrides owned hidden valley and the infamous Skip carried on to own the buisness and later passed the shop down to Nathan and Sam who were previously employed by Skip. That was when the store moved to the new and current location 6 years ago.
Jim Allen, the painter of the bike is also a good friend of hidden valley and stops by from time to time. He has painted so many works of art and if you have one of his pieces then maybe this will help you appreciate it more then ever if you dont already.
Just for kicks here is a photo of my behind the same counters that the bike was pictured in front of.
Now if i hadn't gone on that drunken midnight bike ride last night, and if Kevins peg wouldn't have gone into Andy's spokes. Then i probably might have never made this awesome blog post.
So thanks andy for taking one for the team and bustin your face up and destroying my little brothers mountain bike wheels.
