1946 Gillott Taper Tube

[2flit]

Here is a 1946 Gillott Taper Tube
26” Spear-Point frame with a custom Gillott stem
Blumfield double sided hubs with Dunlop 27” Special Lightweight rims
BSA Crank and pedals
Simplex Tour de France 2nd generation rear derailleur

The frame is made in the first ‘recorded’ year of production. So far no frames from 1945 have been found. But production is reported to have started in ’45. This is 141st frame built

The 531 Taper tubes are fairly unusual. Reynolds produced these before WWII and Gillott saved a bunch up before the Reynolds production shut down. They used them in frames thru the 1950’s. The tubes (both seat tube and down tube) increase in diameter as they slope towards the BB shell and required a special over size British BB shell be cast to accept the oversized end of the tube.

The stem is unusual for the time in that is upward sloping. The spearpoint luged stem matches the Oscar Egg lugs on the frame and are a very nice touch.

Ive replaced the seat and handlebars to make it ridable for me, but have saved all the take-offs for a future owner. The bicycle is a joy to ride.

 

[juvela]

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for readers unfamiliar with marque there is some information here -

Gillott, A S

Gillott - Classic Rendezvous

Formerly at:221 Camberwell Road, London Arthur Gillott set up shop at 179 Southampton Way in 1921. He sold general ironmongery and bicycles called ‘Hamptons’. These were bought in. Prior to owning the shop he was a stonemason. He employed Harry Carrington in 1929 who worked his way up to manager...

classicrendezvous.com

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headset appears it may be the Thomas D. Cross & Sons Ltd model "K
SUPER" -

bottom bracket spindle appears TDC as well...

pump pegs look to be Cyclo Ref. 25c

@dnc1

@Mercian


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[2flit]

… and also here: History by a collector.
and a link to his Flicker Page with many examples: M. Steven Flicker

 

[cyclingday]

Beautiful bike!
Love the unusual tube set.

It’s a common mistake to route the chain as you would on any other rear derailleur, but the Simplex TdF requires an atypical chain routing.

 

[2flit]

Yes, mine arrived from England routed incorrectly from Hillary Stone, then went thru the hands of two collectors without being put right (the Way Mr. Juy at Simplex intended). I was the 3rd North American owner. I eventually re-routed it last week. I volunteer as a mechanic at a community bicycle shop in Calgary and I have never encountered a more difficult to set up derailleur in my life ! Just one link either way from the ideal length and is shifts horribly.

The first few pictures (above) have the chain routed the way the bicycle came to me…. latter pictures routed correctly. It is quite happy this way. However… many-many mechanics routed it incorrectly back in the day, a few even profess that is handles a large 24-tooth cog better this way.
Having run mine both ways… I don’t agree and it works a bit better on my 14-18-24 freewheel the way Juy designed it.

 

[PfishB]

Very nice. I have a '54 Gillott Alpine Tourist frame set that needs a lot of work. I keep telling myself I'll get to it...

 

[2flit]

Pfish… you can’t get away with that without posting at least a picture of the ’54….. Jeesh, hehe

Very nice. I have a '54 Gillott Alpine Tourist frame set that needs a lot of work. I keep telling myself I'll get to it...

 

[bulgie]

Dream bike!
I was getting ready to correct the chain path through the derailer until I saw the last pics with it set right. Real emotional roller-coaster there.
I can't believe they stamped numbers into the steerer threads. Couldn't think of a better place? Still a dream bike though!

 

[PfishB]

Pfish… you can’t get away with that without posting at least a picture of the ’54….. Jeesh, hehe

Whoops - well okay then. This is after I got it in '24 - it had slapped on paint and a lot of the original braze-ons taken off - I've stripped it since these photos but haven't progressed since then. My aim is to restore the missing parts to use period correct derailleurs, etc., maybe I can get to it this year but between work and some other frames in the pipe I'm juggling as usual.

 

[2flit]

…..I can’t believe they stamped numbers into the steerer threads. Couldn't think of a better place? Still a dream bike though!

There are serial numbers on the drop-outs, but the repaint over the original yellow is so thick at the drop-outs that it is impossible to see anything there.
The bike was sold to me as a 1952 but Mark Stevans wrote to say he thought it was much earlier that a 1950 (I would guess Mark owns well over a dozen Gillotts)… so I repacked the headset to be able to check the serial number on the fork…. I actually couldn’t find it for a good long spell !!
I agree that is a crazy place , but it’s on the flat cut into the threads and originally had some kind of epoxy-like coating over the stampings (You can still see it on the #94..)The serial numbers on these frames moved from the dropouts to the BB shell around 1952 .