John Patston
Mon, January 17, 2022 
The Internet and social media can be a wonderful thing when it works as it is supposed to, bringing old friends and acquaintances together decades after losing touch. One recent contact I made was with John Patston.
If I could pick one bike that launched my framebuilding career into overdrive, it would be the bike pictured above. The person who rode it was John Patston.
Without John owning and riding this bike, it would have meant nothing. It was the second of two frames I built for him in 1975. In the 1970s there were strict rules governing amateur status. The Olympics were still strictly amateur, and in every sport a manufacturer could not advertise the fact that a specific athlete was using their equipment. To do so would jeopardize their amateur status.
However, there were ways around it, displaying my name prominently on the frame so it appeared in photos printed in various magazines, was one way. This particular bike, I had managed to get “Cycling Weekly” magazine write an article on the bike as it was a specialist time-trial bike.
There could be no mention of John Patston owning the bike, but I had painted the bike black, with gold pinstriping on the lugs, and had painted the initials “JP” in gold on the seatstay top-eyes, or caps. The article drew attention to the initials and drew a parallel to the “John Player” (Tobacco Company.) Formula-one motor race car, that was also painted black and gold.
Of course, with John Patston being the leading Time-Trialist in the UK at that time, it did not take much effort to connect the dots. That year, JP won the prestigious “Campagnolo Trophy” which was a competition run by “Cycling Magazine.” Six separate 25 mile time-trials run throughout the year. John won five of the six TTs, beating such prestigious riders as Alf Engers, Derrick Cottingham, and Eddie Atkins.
I got to thinking back to how our paths crossed, or met, whatever way one looks at it. JP was the first international class rider to ride my bikes, and this lead directly to other riders, like Paul Carbutt, Pete Hall and Steve Jones, riding my frames.
John Patston,leads Paul Carbutt, and Pete Hall with 4th man Grant Thomas hidden behind JP. West Midlands Team, competing in the National TTT Championship.
The thing I remember about John Patston was the tremendous weekly milage he would do by way of training. Around 400 or 500 miles a week, while holding down a day job. By day he worked as a bank manager in Birmingham, he would leave work at 4pm. Then ride the 25 miles down to Worcester and back. So, 50 miles or more, four nights a week, with 100 plus miles on Saturdays and Sundays. He did this year-round and though the winter.
I was introduced to John by a local bike mechanic and wheel builder, Andy Thompson. JP was the worlds worst bike mechanic. Working in a bank, he had zero mechanical skills. And he brought his bike to Andy Thompson one time with most of the nuts on the brakes and gears, rounded off. “Have you been using pliers on these nuts?” Andy asked. “No, nut-crackers, actually.” Was John’s response.
After that, on weekday evenings, if I was working late, John would sometimes ride and extra five miles to my shop in Deblins Green, take a short break and have a cup of tea before riding back home. The timing of our meeting was perfect. My framebuilding business was about to take off, just a John was about to have one of the best years of his long cycling career.
Finally, in case you are wondering, why JP in on a Ken Bird bike on the “Cycling “magazine cover? (Above.) I have it directly from John that this is the same frame that I built, repainted, and decaled as a “Ken Bird.” John had accepted sponsorship from Ken Bird, because he could offer him race support, when there was no way I could do that as a one man business.
I was fine with it, my business had got the kick-start it needed, and I never looked back.
And as a bonus the original “JP” black and gold bike was featured in the “Penguin Book of the Bicycle,” a few years later, just before I moved to the USA.
John Patston and I remain friends to this day. It is good to be back in touch again. I will write more JP stories next week, in the meantime here is a recent article about JP’s cycling career.
The same photo at the top of the article, used as a title page image in "The Penguin Book of the Bicycle."
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Reader Comments (3)
A nut-cracker!
It is interesting the ways athletes in various sports have come up with their own training regimens and methods sans trainers, power meters etc and have been successful at it. The Fosbury flop in the high jump came completely from the athlete I understand. Golfers when I grew up seemed to have a lot more unique swing methods than now (Michael Wolf) excepted. What did you do in designing his bike that gave him an edge?
Thanks
R, Douglas,
All frames I built were designed to ride right and were built straight, There was nothing more that could be done to give anyone an "Edge."
A rider of the caliber of John Patston would win whatever bike he rode.
Dave