Many thanks Mike, for getting to grips with ensuring a supply of decals for our precious Reyhand frames!
It seems ,as you say, that my most original Reyhand - the complete bike in its brown paint and orange lining,- is something of an oddity among the ranks of other Reyhands. I haven't had much time to really check it out so far but in the light of your remarks, the pictures in Jan's latest book, and the article that I found in a 70's French magazine, I have, today, spent some time looking more closely at the machine, and reflecting on a number of anomalies.
First of all there is the single transfer on the upper face of the D/T, much in the style of early 30s Alcyons and Automotos that I have collected; secondly there is the fact that the frame has no headbadge. just a flattened diamond decal with the words "REYHAND" centrally placed across the W-E axis, with "constructeur" and "lyon" placed above and below, respectively, the main name. I surmise that the metal badge follows this same simple design.
My frame, like one of those illustrated in Jan's book, is built from Durifort tubing, with a very faded transfer that looks unlike any other Durifort transfer I have ever seen. The actual construction of the frame is a combination of features of both the frames in the book. It is a randonneur with the integral tubular steel rack built in the structure of the frame. It has only one gear boss, and this is brazed in the usual place on the D/T. The rear brake cable passes through a brass tube in the top-tube. The chainstays differ in shape from those in the book in that they are not "cranked", but straight ones with a slight bend pulled into them around the area where the 650B tyre would run. The front forks are the long-raked ones with the two-plate crown. Rear drop-outs are small vertical ones with "windows".
The equipment is original...a Cyclo 4-sp rear Cyclo gear, the JEAC cantilevers, CAR s/f hubs, some brand of alloy rims. and a 5-pin steel chainset. I forgot to check the bracket to see if that too was a CAR.
just as I was ruminating over writing this email I suddenly remembered that the bike still carries the original engraved name-tag, giving the owner's name and...much more importantly..it still has one of those fiscal metal tags made out of thin brass sheet, and pressed into a classic repousse "art nouveau" design, the numbers on which indicated the fiscal year for which "road tax" had been paid.
The name tag is secured under the expander bolt head on the handle-bar stem, but the fiscal tag is clipped around the top-tube just about 1cm in front of the point where Reiss wrapped over the hellenic-style seat-stay caps. The bold Bing-style numbers spell out "1935".
I have assumed from this information that the bike is older than any in Jan's book, and that it dates from no later than 1935, and just possibly earlier. It is on this basis that I have explained the use of a head transfer rather than a headbadge, as builders rarely go to the expense - well I didn't - of ordering a batch of costly badges until they know there is a market for their frames.
I still have the name and address of the chap from whom I bought this "barn-find" and intend to contact him to search out more info.
Well...there you are! I would be very pleased to receive any comments and ideas.
Norris Lockley...now curious about my other "original" Reyhand...Settle UK