Islington Cycling Club close to raising £20k for Spinal Research after member paralysed in freak accident

Sale of lovingly restored vintage bike will achieve club’s target

Islington Cycling Club (ICC) is closing in on a target of raising £20,000 for the charity Spinal Research after a member was paralysed below the shoulders in a freak cycling accident.

Members have raised nearly £18,000 through a series of sponsored activities including a 2,400km solo ride from London to Lisbon, the London-Edinburgh-London audax, ICC’s annual sportive “The Great Escape,” club rides to Brighton and Cambridge, and a comedy evening with “Cycling Man” Kathy Maniura. Now they hope to close the gap by selling a lovingly restored vintage 1979 Alan Super Record road bike.

Jeremy Antscherl has built back the bike to the original top-of-the-range specification with Campagnolo Super Record components, which were the best available in their day and used by almost every pro rider. It meets the “heroic” criteria for road-racing bikes taking part in the famous Eroica events in Italy and around the world.

Alan made the first modern aluminium bike frames in the early 1970s out of Ergal, an aerospace grade alloy. Alan bikes were ridden to over 20 world championship titles in both road and cyclocross including by Mathieu van der Poel, World Junior CX champion in 2012.

In return for a donation of at least £2,000 to Spinal Research, the purchaser will receive the bike – which has a 54cm frame - and an additional set of road wheels with clincher tyres and a collection of Alan documentation, adverts and posters.

Jeremy, a consultant facial surgeon who restores bikes in his spare time, said: “Over my career I have treated many cyclists who have crashed or been knocked off their bikes and fully appreciate the lifechanging consequences of cycling injuries. This historic bike is a real piece of Italian sculpture and whoever buys it will know their money is going to a cause that should be close to every cyclist’s heart.”

Cycling is one of the sports associated with the risk of spinal injuries and, while accidents are rare, the consequences can be catastrophic. Spinal Research is the UK’s leading medical charity focused on the repair and restoration of the spinal cord. It works towards a world where paralysis can be cured.

James “Gino” Murphy was on a normal ride in February 2024 with two fellow ICC members when he came off his bike, hitting a kerb headfirst in an impact that seriously damaged his spinal cord. He was airlifted to the Royal London Hospital where he spent just over two months before being transferred to London Spinal Cord Injury Centre in Stanmore.

[Insert Image: James “Gino” Murphy with some of the ICC friends who have raised nearly £18,000 for Spinal Research]

“I don’t really have any memory of the accident,” he said. “How or why I then came off my bike I still don’t know to this day. The first thing I remember is waking up in hospital being informed that I had a head and spinal injury and giving consent with my wife for spinal surgery.

“When most of your body doesn’t function any more it’s incredibly tough to suddenly become that dependent and that vulnerable. It’s been hard for me but also so hard for my wife and children. It has felt at times like our future has been taken away and we’re living with a bereavement for the life we were going to have.

“But one of the things I am learning to do is to enjoy each moment that life presents with the amazing support of family and ICC friends. They have helped me make sense of and start to come to terms with where I am now. I’ve been completely overwhelmed by their friendship.”

Nick Finley, who donated the Super Record, said: “I remember the day I bought this bike almost 35 years ago. I wanted something a bit special and it was perfect. I rode it for many years including my daily commute along the Euston Road, weekends back home in Derbyshire, undulating Breton byways and several cols in the Pyrenees. It is both beautiful and a pleasure to ride. I cannot think of a better way to part company with it nor thank Jeremy enough for turning it into the machine it was always intended to be.”

Vintage bike enthusiasts can contact Jeremy using the email

chair@islington.cc, to ask questions, and arrange to try out the bike. They should make the donation to Spinal Research in person when they come to collect it.

ICC’s fundraising is made up of a series of linked campaigns which are combined on this page. Members of the public can donate to the Friends of Gino campaign here.

For more info and to arrange interviews please contact: Jeremy Antscherl -

chair@islington.cc

NOTES TO EDITORS

1979 Alan Super Record Specification

• 54 x 55 cm frame with age correct reproduction ALAN decals

• Campagnolo Super Record groupset

  • Front derailleur

  • Rear derailleur

  • Drilled brake levers

  • Cobalto brake calipers

  • Crankset 52 42

  • Bottom bracket

  • Pedals with toe caps (colour co-ordinated toe straps)

  • Headset

  • Seatpost

• Simplex SLJ retro friction downtube levers

• Cinelli Giro D’Italia 64 42 bars

• Cinelli 1A 120 mm stem

• Cinelli cork bar tape (colour co-ordinated)

• Selle Italia Berand Hinault Turbo saddle

• Mavic GP4 Tubular rims with Miche competition hubs

• Vittoria Strada Tubular tyres

• Maillard – Sachs 13-19 free wheel

We will also provide an additional set of Mavic open Pro / Campagnolo clincher wheels with Panaracer road tyres and 13-24 free wheel and a collection of Alan documentation, adverts and posters.