Can anyone identify this frame?

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oypolloy

Well-Known Member
Location
Coventry
OK, I can tell you're serious, so here's a couple of tasks to help narrow it down.
How much do the frame and fork weigh?
What diameter seat post / internal diameter of seat tube? Expect 27.0 mm or even better 27.2 mm for 531db or similar quality.
I think my Olympic was 26.8 mm, for 531 plain gauge: yours looks better! :okay:
Weighed it including forks - 3.315 kg. Also remembered there is a metal lining tube inside it. It has closed off the down & seat tube to stop debris, there is a gap so that the rear stays can breathe.
 

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raleighnut

Legendary Member
Weighed it including forks - 3.315 kg. Also remembered there is a metal lining tube inside it. It has closed off the down & seat tube to stop debris, there is a gap so that the rear stays can breathe.
Another mark of quality that points to something other than a standard 'run of the mill' frame,

BTW good luck getting a bottom bracket into the shell now unless you have a 'tap set' to clean those threads out.
 
OP
OP
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oypolloy

Well-Known Member
Location
Coventry
Another mark of quality that points to something other than a standard 'run of the mill' frame,

BTW good luck getting a bottom bracket into the shell now unless you have a 'tap set' to clean those threads out.
It was only a thin coat of etch primer. Will come off with a wire brush or thinners. Will be masked before colour & lacquer. So far the frame remains unidentified.
 
I just found a picture of a pre 63 Freddie Grubb which has the same make of bottom bracket . I also found another which had the same type of lugs . The only problem I can see is that they used 5 digits and not 6 and I'm also not sure how the early style head badge compares with hole placing . The early style badge looks like a close approximation , I will have to do some rough calculations. The later head badge looks too long .
Might need a Grubb expert to look at the frame .
 
I did a quick calculation using a picture of an early style Freddie Grubb head tube and badge . By measuring the width of the head tube and the distance between the hole centres of the badge and by using the head tube width with my Raleigh Record Ace I came up with a distance between hole centres for the badge as 47.26 mm.
Holdsworth bought Freddie Grubb in 1952 . The early style badge was used from that period up to 1963. The numbering system was numerical without letters. Whether they went into 6 digits I don't know .
 

Pumpman

Senior Member
Although it could be a French frame, it is more likely to be a British-made one, as it appears to have been made for the UK market. One of the photos with the original post shows a lamp bracket on the right-hand fork - the UK side.
 
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