1980's Ernie Clements

[Oldbikefan]

The story so far. Last year I bought a 1981 Dawes Galaxy which I restored. Unfortunately it became clear at 23.25 inches it was way too big for me.
I had two options sell it and look for a 21 inch Galaxy, which seemed to be virtually impossible, or look for another Reynolds 531 frame in my size.
This popped up on Farcebook market place for the princely sum of £30. I didn't know anything about Ernie Clements so had to do some online research. Turns out he was a successful road cyclist and Olympian from the 1940's who went on to design and build frames. He eventually designed frames for Falcon and was MD at Coventry Eagle and set up a factory in Wales. He later owned an bike shop in Ledbury which his son still owns.
It looks like my frame was built in the Wales factory and the decal design was a prototype and only used on a small amount of frames. Unfortunately I only found this out after sending the frame off to the powder coaters!
The plan is to swap the parts over from the Dawes and possibly do a few upgrades. I got the frame back today as you can see I've gone with a new colour. I'm not a fan of white bikes.

 

[Cycleops]

Nice find.

 

[biggs682]

Enjoy

 

[Illaveago]

It's a shame that you have destroyed the old transfers, but it is too late now . You might be able to get some replicas made up as you have a photographic record of them .
It would be interesting to see how it looks when it's finished .

 

[Oldbikefan]

It's a shame that you have destroyed the old transfers, but it is too late now . You might be able to get some replicas made up as you have a photographic record of them .
It would be interesting to see how it looks when it's finished .

Luckily I took plenty of photos. I was a Graphic Designer and still have the software so I was able to reproduce the logos. I might look into getting them printed.

 

[Cycleops]

You might find H.Lloyd useful. They have some Ernie Clements and Falcon stuff or could print your images:

https://hlloydcycles.com/

 

[Illaveago]

I was looking on Retro bike at a post from 2010 .There were a couple of picture of Ernie Clements Super Pros from the same period as yours . One of the bikes had similar graphics on the frame tubes .

 

[Illaveago]

I found another thread on the Retro bike site which shows a brochure containing . Dominion, Classique, Majestic and Super Pro bikes .

 

[Oldbikefan]

You might find H.Lloyd useful. They have some Ernie Clements and Falcon stuff or could print your images:

https://hlloydcycles.com/

They do have some Ernie Clements decals but they are only from the 1940's and 60's. I did consider them but it felt wrong putting them on a 1980's bike. They did supply the correct Reynolds decals.
I'm leaning towards not having decals on the downtube and seatpost. To be honest I think the original decals looked a bit tacky.

 

[Illaveago]

They do look a bit naf. I see they have incorporated the colours of the Olympic rings into the design .
How are the ends to the brake bridge finished? Are they flared or do they blend in with finely brazed ends ?
I like the windows in the lugs?

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Coincidently I'm purchasing a new bike from Edward - Ernie's son

 

[midlife]

This thread has a bike with more modern Clements decals.

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/390237/

 

[Oldbikefan]

They do look a bit naf. I see they have incorporated the colours of the Olympic rings into the design .
How are the ends to the brake bridge finished? Are they flared or do they blend in with finely brazed ends ?
I like the windows in the lugs?

I do like a nice lugged frame. Here's the rear brake bridge.

 

[Illaveago]

I do like a nice lugged frame. Here's the rear brake bridge.

Nicely done fillet brazed rather than cheap swaged ends .

 

[Oldbikefan]

Bit of me time this morning so I stripped the Galaxy. I couldn't resist loosely putting some parts onto the Clements frame to get an idea of how it would look.