Vintage Wizard bicycle
 

Have hung onto this one for a while after receiving it from a retired cyclist- a lovely red vintage touring bike. It provides an absolutely sublime ride! It's my only C&V bike.https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ad915c3b90.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...cfeb708cc6.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...367a98fd9b.jpg

Beautiful bike and an important piece of American framebuilding history. What makes you say it's a touring bike?

Just an assumption because of the fender mounts and pump mount-

And 2 sets of bottle bosses, clearance's, longish? wheelbase. ;)

Those are fairly typical features for road bikes, especially if you live in an area that has rain. The lack of rack mounts, narrow gearing, racing-bend handlebars, and steep angles say road bike to me.

Of course in the US in the 70s it was the trend to tour on road bikes ill-suited for the task. Young racers would not be caught without Campy, even when camping.

Awesome. Not many of those around

Thanks for sharing this rarity. The storyline of those two artist and the making of this U.S. make is quite interesting.

Little detail but dig the non-World Champion stripes on the seat tube.

Ha, I never noticed that- good humor on the painter's part.

Great looking bike. But, that bar tape has to go.

Beautiful!! Simple classic lines.

Awesome bike! That's a good friend you have. Brian Baylis's craftsmanship is about as good as it gets. Thanks for sharing. I've seen one Wizard in person. It was for sale, reasonably priced--sadly, just not my size. Yours is fairly minimalist compared to some of his other frames (not a criticism, just an observation). It looks to be in great shape overall. Estimate on year?

I couldnt guess on the year myself, the previous owner said he bought it directly from one of the guys that started wizard sometime around the late 70s early 80s- couldnt recall a specific date nor name.

Absolutely stunning. I’ve been looking for a larger one for years.

For those who aren't familiar with the Wizard bicycles, Jim Langley wrote up a nice little article in Bicycling many years ago....

https://live.staticflickr.com/912/41...c8b3b6_b_d.jpg


Steve in Peoria

That is one of the makes that I just can't expect to be lucky enough to find!

Correction to the Jim Langley article. John Howard raced bikes. Mike Howard built frames.

Beautiful bike and wonderful story.

What I find very interesting on the red bike is the seat tube waterbottle bosses, these were uncommon back then, Brian and or Mike set them interestingly low on the seat tube, pushes the downtube a bit higher but easier to reach.
Geometry looks in the Masi Gran Criterium ballpark.

That's a stunning bike in great condition! The headbadge decal looks very cool from what I can see. Like the name of the brand as well!

Sexy bike!

I was thinking the geo looked like a Gran Criterium too. Of course that is where they learned so it makes sense. I just stuck my 72 Italian Masi on my fixture to see check its geometry and it had a 72.5º seat tube with a 73º head. The top tube sloped about 1º up to the head tube. The water bottle bosses on the Wizard look like an even distance from the BB shell so the seat tube ones don't look low to me. I wouldn't be surprised that Brian repainted it sometime in its life and might have added a 2nd pair at that time.

I can always remember when Brian died because my framebuilding protege Herbie Helm was visiting his brother at the same time as the 2016 Olympic marathon trials in SoCal. I told Herbie he had to visit my buddy Brian while he was out there. It would be very educational. So he did and called me the next day. I asked how is Brian? Herbie said he looked terrible but we didn't understand how terrible until we heard about the end a day or so later. One time Brian told me he almost went into a monastery to live but unfortunately I never got to ask him more about that.

You are correct, when I initially looked at it, I thought the seat tube bosses were lower. Going to have to hold a seance to find out if the bike has been reworked. As Brian kind of criticized the typical Masi bottom bracket drop, not really "road" or not "criterium" in his view, it would be interesting to see what this frame has for Bottom Bracket drop. Brian obliquely praised Colnago frequently. I have a number of both, with the exception of a bike from 1968 that is longer, The Colnago is more entertaining and fun to ride for under 3 hours, The Masi I would give the nod to for a bike to ride all day. This is for bikes in that middle size range, 55-56 cm measured the old way, center to top.

Brian was tough, and like another friend, not a fan of Doctors. Sometimes one cannot do that. My other friend never saw 53.
Another classmate in school advised in the 80's, "there are no old Imron painters"

Possible answer on the paint, might be if it had a paint by R Brian Baylis on the chainstay, those did not show up till well after Wizard.

Just for reference my 1972 Italian twin plate Masi Gran Criterium has a 76mm BB drop.

I tried measuring drop using a bungee cord and tape measure and got a number slightly below 70mm, I will have to look around and see if I can source some string and a better ruler.
Also, I can find no paint by R Brian Baylis marked on the frame.

Interesting. Most of the bike I have been able to measure are in the 72-73 mm of drop from the Milano or Carlsbad era.
Two attributed to Dave Tesch look like they were out of the 101 series design, "Built for Speed".... I wonder if anyone was aware.