Rotrax frames have always enjoyed an enviable reputation in the UK, often being compared with the best frames from the Gillott workshop.
Like Gillotts they are readily recognisable..for some reason or other. "Old-timers" who are still riding the same "Shirley " frame that their father bought them for their sixteenth birthday...and there are still plenty of these fellows about...talk about the frame's "Get-up-and-go", referring to the ease with which the frame rode, its response etc.
The "Shirley" name derives from the small suburb of Southampton where the small Rotrax shop was..and still is ..situated. The lugs on Peter Brown's "Shirley"..to answer Craig Montgomery's query, are Super Champion "Oscar Egg" ones, possibly model SA 1 or 2. Rotrax seemed to favour this brand of lug in the late 40s early 50s, but then turned to Nervex later on. Perhaps it was just a question of availability. Perhaps not though, as the "Oscar Egg" range had about five different designs in it...and the Nervex Serie Legere range was difficult to come by. I recall that in the early 50s when I started learning to frame-build, we worked either with Bramptons, Chater Lea, Aerts, Ekla..or Oscar Egg. I can't remember the date of my first set of Nervex, but I do recall how difficult they were to clean up, when compared with the "Eggs"
Norris Lockley..."Is memory all that is left when all else is gone..." Settle UK