Carpenter was a very well respected London framebuilder who was in business from the 1920s to I think the 1960s. I can get more details about frame numbers etc if more information can be provided about this Alpine track frame. I have several Carpenter catalogues in at least photocopy form.
Hilary Stone, Bristol, England
Rick Chasteen wrote:
>
> Here is some information from a friend who owns an Alpine track bike.
>
>
>> I have an Alpine track bike. I bought it in 1982 from the original owner
>> who had apparently raced on the track in the thirties and thought that it
>> would be nice to have a fixed gear. The owner said that he was told by
>> GC&S that it was built by someone named Carpenter in the UK. The bike is
>> labeled 531, uses a 27.2 seat post, and shows very clean workmanship. The
>> paint is a nice enamel with contrasting panels and quite nice pinstriping.
>> It was built up by GC&S with low end French components. It certainly
>> looks very British but I've never heard of a framebuilder by that name. I
>> contacted Fred Kelly and he emailed back that they had had some frames
>> sourced from France but that they were of mediocre quality and a low grade
>> tubing. I don't know if I was able to get accoss to Fred that this frame
>> certainly did'nt seem to of French origin. I would love to know more
> about
>> this bike but Fred didn't seem overly eager for a dialogue.
>>
>> Greg Williams