When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Can anyone help identify this bike? Also, how should I go about gently cleaning it?

-
Although a lot of those forks are the same on these old bikes, the ones with fork crowns all seem to have the slot, or some shape as a window cut into the side. Although some are similar, each company had its own shape. Even if just a rectangular cut-out, there are different lengths and heights of cutouts.
This one seems to be an oval or pill looking shape.
I think that somehow that will be a makers mark.
Also you have rear dropouts without a "rear fork" rear facing. Not a strict rule but that is generally a pre and post WW2 thing. Rear facing before and dropouts after. Of course track bikes continued to have rear facing...

Also... H.Lloyd in London, who have the exclusive rights to Reynolds transfer decals starting from day one, Shows this version as the second version and the last before the 531 Alloy.
I imagine that the 531 and previous types were available at the same time though. No telling how long was the overlap or if it even stopped. The frame below only weighs 4.8 lbs and visually is obviously a high tensile frame. But it did not originally come with a Reynolds decal. Just an Armstrong "British Steel" decal.

Here is a couple pics of a 30's Armstrong Bare frame and the fork with crown slot for reference.

1508102


1508101


1508103
 
Last edited:
I tried my very limited list of early English Bicycle brands. But if someone knows a lot of old UK makers names, they could go to H. Lloyd and use the search function for decals.
I tried BSA, Hercules, Sunbeam, Armstrong, Peerless, Flying Scott and a couple others I can't even remember now.
I think there is enough of the head badge there to make a comparison if one is finally found.
 
There is at least one other version of the 'Reynolds' tubing transfer between the one on this mystery bike and the Reynolds 531 version.
The one that mentions 'High Manganese' steel, seen here.....
Screenshot_20211107-133054_Chrome.jpg



As to the rear dropouts, I'm not sure what you mean by "rear dropouts without a rear fork". This type of dropout was a common feature on British made bicycles from the late 1920's/early 1930's to the 1980's at least.
Typically they were common on 3-speed hub geared machines pre, and post WW2, but also on singlespeed machines.
I have a 1960's 'Vindec' so equipped.

As to searching for the name via 'H. Lloyd's' wonderful website @Schwinny that could help, but they have a relatively small percentage of the total of British makers that existed, and mostly classic lightweights at that.

People underestimate just how many manufacturers existed back then, and as in the USA you also had large manufacturers producing frames for small manufacturers on a contract basis, who would then add a decal or headbadge of their own.

The fork crown could be just a cover, not the actual fork crown.

I feel the most distinctive feature of the frame in question on this thread is the seat stay end cap treatment where they join the seat tube/top tube lug. That looks pretty distinctive to me.
They join at a relatively low position in relation to the main lug.
Also the position of the rear mudguard mounts on those rear dropouts is quite distinctive.
 
As to the rear dropouts, I'm not sure what you mean by "rear dropouts without a rear fork". This type of dropout was a common feature on British made bicycles from the late 1920's/early 1930's to the 1980's at least.
Typically they were common on 3-speed hub geared machines pre, and post WW2, but also on singlespeed machines.
I have a 1960's 'Vindec' so equipped.

The fork crown could be just a cover, not the actual fork crown.

I feel the most distinctive feature of the frame in question on this thread is the seat stay end cap treatment where they join the seat tube/top tube lug. That looks pretty distinctive to me.
They join at a relatively low position in relation to the main lug.
Also the position of the rear mudguard mounts on those rear dropouts is quite distinctive.
In the US, the transition between rear facing dropouts and forward facing happened during WW2. Eventually all but the racing and esoteric were forward facing. As Ive looked through so many bikes and articles in search of information on my own bike, I have noticed this as a similar transition on European bikes, of the grade in which I've been looking of course and we all know all things ar subjective. After all, it's a safety issue, the general public need their wheel to stay on in all circumstance, and the bike companies need to not be sued for people leaving their rear wheel behind.
The thought of that is kind of funny. :)
I think semantics are at play here. Because of-course I'm talking of the fork crown cover and the shapes stamped into them. The shape is not whimsy, its a tell-tale somehow. I'm beginning to think this is an industry fork used by many bike builders with a distinctive cap cutout. Just casually looking through 20's/30's bikes of similar build, I've seen this similar fork on many with different cap cut-outs on the sides. I've seen it referred to as "D taper round." Mine is one of those and it looks to me like my fork and his are very similar aside from the crown cover shape stamping. Notice the same fork on the mystery bike I posted last week and it has yet another shape stamped into its cover.

It really is amazing how similar all these bikes were and its fun to see what they considered "setting themselves apart" from one another. It's kind of how I feel about diamond frame road and racing bikes, after a while, they all are really the same bike with detail and ever so slight geometry differences to set them apart.
My Armstrong is going back together slowly and I'll soon see how these old pioneers rode/ride. (sans decent tires)
 
You are right of course re. the fact that many manufacturers used the same fork components to build up their own fork designs. There were only a few manufacturers of frame parts and lugs; this is why you see so many early frames mistaken for BSA built bikes, when in fact they were merely built up using BSA fittings readily purchased from their 'Parts and Fittings" catalogues.

The only time I've heard of "D taper round" is in relation to forks but doesn't refer to the fork crown or any cut out design on the sides thereof.
It refers to the profile of the fork blades when viewed in cross-section; ie. they start out as a 'D' section and as they taper down to the point where the front dropouts are brazed in they become gradually round or 'O' section.
This was pretty much standard on many forks, the only other option was a ' round taper' design where they are 'O' section along the whole length of the fork blade, from crown to dropout.
This didn't really change until 'aero' (ovaloid) tubing was introduced in the 1970's, think Reynolds 753.

One of the main reasons for the different shapes of cut-outs on fork crowns, and lugs, and also different/contrasting (often lighter) colours painted on head tubes (in order to make them stand out) is to make them instantly recognisable in cycling magazine photos of the period.
I'll try to explain the main reason below why this was so.

Cycles in the UK were still marketed as adult transport from the 1920's up until the early 1960's.As has been said before, cheap cars didn't become widely available until this time.
Cycle racing was very popular, but unlike the rest of Europe we were pretty much restricted to 'time-trialliing' on public roads (massed start racing was banned for many decades).
We have hundreds of sporting cycling clubs over here that have been organising such races for decades and decades; there were tens of thousands of clubman racers at the peak.
Cycle touring was also hugely popular pre and post WW2.
Obviously, in time-trials, riders set off individually and raced against the clock. It was, and still is, the most popular cycle participation sport in Britain. Races are still run all over the UK every week, throughout the year.
Cycling magazines, were full of photos of riders (and their rides) participating.
But for many decades, any form of 'professionalism' (advertising) was outlawed by the governing bodies. This meant that riders machines often had manufacturers logos 'edited' out of the photos.
Therefore distinctive frame features, whether they be unusual frame designs (such as those used by 'Thanet' or 'Bates' etc.), fancy cut lugwork, or frame colours used as a high contrast to headbadges, became important in making bikes instantly recognisable in photos.
Riders wore plain (often black) unadorned jerseys, although this was also done to avoid arousing the suspicions of the local constabulary in the early years.
So when reading the race reports you could tell what someone was riding, without being told what they were riding.

These became distinguishing features that filtered down through product ranges. Whether you were a kid, or an old-age pensioner you wanted to ride what the best riders were using.

And, as you say, these bikes were all practically identical, diamond-framed machines, hard to distinguish otherwise in the largely black and white photography used at the time.
 
Last edited:
I agree with it being English and definitely had a collision with something after seeing all the photo angles and bottom bearing race peaking out .
Also agree with cleaning with wd 40 and 0000 steel wool as those pinstripes are not original .
Take your time with a little tweaking could be a nice rider .
 
Back
Top