i picked up this frame from a friend who found it on the side of the road during rubbish collections in Nedlands, WA. it was originally coated in house paint and another friend stripped it down to what you see here:
trying to find out any information about it. what i know is that it is GB/UK British made, as indicated by the stem, which looking at the lugs, seem to be stock along with the frame
as you can see, the frame features arrow shaped lugs at almost every instance
i’ve been told that this hole is a grease hole, so maybe it indicates it age somehow?
the only markings on the bike are the key i think, however i’m not sure where to start looking.
they read: “50 - 937” on the ND side and a tiny 5 on the D side. there is also a B R at the back of the BB shell that you cannot see in this photo
it would’ve originally taken 27’s i think, as they fit nice and tight. the fork dropouts are 9mm, as modern wheels don’t fit it and the old 27’s i have fit it. also, the rear spacing is 110mm. the frame is quite light, so i’m going to go out on a limb and say its Reynolds 531 (it is so much lighter than the lightest cro-mo frames i have).
and that’s all i know, hopefully someone out there has more information?
GB were an English maker of bike bits- had one of their stem and bars once, and maybe some brakes. GB Components, main
They were not cheap crap either, so it may not be such a bad get, for the cost anyway!!!
Agree try for the british bottom bracket, and also measure the seat tube diameter, it’ll give an idea of the tubing, maybe check out the classic rendevous site for the arrow lugs they are not going to be common,
Another place to try may be the velobase forum?
this forum seems to be attracting the most hits so i’m going to add a little more info.
HLC and i have decided that this gash in the frame is not due to a crash but for the more obvious reason where the forks and the frame are just damn tight. mayyybe this suggests track frame over utility or path racer? i’m not sure, that’s why i’m asking haha.
From my limited knowledge of path racers most came with mudguard eyelets as they were intended for road use, English roads are filthy and often wet and back in the day peeps weren’t too hipster or Fred like to run guards. This may well be a track frame. Any idea what tubing this is made from? 531 has been around for a very long time.
Epic find, and another amazing piece of cycling history saved from sims metal.
Frame looks bent to me- would never have clearance like that. IMHO
Roads in the UK are still filthy, it is incredibel the salt and gavel they put on the roads, act like a grease and oil magnet- even today, home from a ride on the weekend and it is dirtier than a mtb ride through mud over here. !
looking again at the previous picture before it was stripped, it doesn’t look right, the forks should be further out forwards, they just don’t look right.
