In Britspeak, "path" equals track and bikes intended for road and track use were road-path or road/path or road path. A road/path bike would typically have drillings for brakes and often also have mudguard (fender) attaching eyes. Such a bike would be used for track racing, time trials and probably training and general club riding too.
I don't know when the idea of adding a derailleur hanger arose. I would imagine sometime before rear dropout widths escalated with the advent of more gears. The typical road/path bike didn't have them -- they generally had normal track ends. Such a bike could easily be used with a hub gear for time trials, like the Raleigh ridden to 100 miles in less than 4 hours by Ray Booty in the '50s
Hugh Thornton
In a message dated 22/01/01 00:10:20 GMT Standard Time, nelsmiller@msn.com writes:
> A lot of the British bikes were sold as "path racers" -- they had track
> dropouts, and were drilled for brakes-- I assume that the next available
> alternative was to put a derailleur hanger on it, also-- the theory being
> that you would ride your bike to the track, make a few changes, and race
> it. My son-in-law just gave me his 50's Freddie Grubb that was so equipped
> without the derailleur hanger. Perhaps one of our UK members could clear
> this up better than I? Cheers-- Nelson Somewhat Damp In Seattle Miller