Have you ever seen the first one…

You know. Like the very first bottle of Stone beer. The first Chuck Taylor Allstar shoe. The first bike frame made by Steve Potts. I don’t know where, or even if, the first two exist, but the third one has been taking up residence in my shop for the past several weeks. Steve made this in 1981 or 1982 for a close family friend. It is the first frame he made after he returned from a mountain bike trip to New Zealand with Joe Breeze where he decided he wanted to convert his considerable metal working skills into making bike frames.

Looking at it from a technical standpoint, there’s nothing really special about it. It’s simply a nice fillet-brazed frame and fork. The paint is shot. There’s rust showing through the paint. The steel on the components are corroded. But it’s the first one of thousands of frames. And it’s still around and still going to be ridden by its octogenarian owner. Steve brought it to me to get it into rideable condition, which basically meant replacing cables and putting on some new tires.

Numero Uno (with one from the early 90s in the background)