As I mentioned earlier this week I recall Speedstream coming on the market in the early 80s, possibly 82. It was never a very popular tube set, possib ly because the tubes are more of a flat oval than a teardrop shape ( as far as I can recall). Columbus, Vitus and Ishiwata all made more attractive lo oking tubes with aero sections..and some of them, Vitus certainly had match ing lug sets...as did Tange, but I remember Tange being quite heavy. I stil l have a number of these sets of lugs if anyone has a matching set of tubes . AMR of France did a very interesting tube set using CAMUS tubing, that co uld be lugged or bronze-welded. It was plain gauge..and extremely good valu e for money AND almost as light as any of the others, with the exception of the Vitus...but it was stiffer.
I still reckon that your frame is early 80s, no doubt about it. Briggs were spraying some my frames from about 1978 onwards and I don't recall a ny aero-tubed frames in the shop at that time, in fact yours is the first l ugless Briggs that I have ever seen. Briggs, as builders were held in high repute by Reynolds whowould often supply the company with sets of new tubin g before the official release date, but Speedstream wasn't even in the desi gn stage in the mid-70s. Briggs were one of the first builders to be provid ed with the 531SL tube-set. I remember Jack losing his sang-froid at the th ought of having to use expensive silver-solder instead of silicon-bro nze. Although not essential as with 753, nevertheless Reynolds did suggest that silver rods be used. However Jack had been building for a long time an d had been used to brazing up the very fine gauge 531 tubes that were avail able in the 50s..so he stuck with the bronze rods.
Th FAVORI brand was very popular with some of the road racing lads, but I h ave never heard of Briggs buying frames in, so if the frame No proves that the frame came from the St Ives works, it would probably have been made by Andrew, who would have no alternative but to build it by bronze-welding. MK M were in full swing about 15 miles up the road at Harrogate in the mid-70s and their foreman builder Steve Elsworth was probably the best builder of lugless frames in the UK at the time. This isn't one of his though as he us ed larger filler rods and produced a very "organic" flowing look to his fra mes.
The style of building of your frame doesn't bring any other builders of lug less frames to mind. The flam ruby is a very typical Ellis-Briggs favorite colour..but was also widely used by MKM. I remember taking a very beaten up old Hetchins in for respray one day, and it was Jack Briggs who dealt with me. I was unsure what colour to choose, so Jack chose the ruby for me, say ing that in his opinion it was the best colour for reviving the appearance of an old frame..particularly if you lined the lugs in gold..and had at lea st one gold frame panel. I reckon that the frame has been resprayed and tha t the owner just asked for FAVORI transfers,
The shop assistant whose name Doug is trying to remember if Paul Raynor, wh o is/was Jack's son-in-law. His son was Dave Raynor, the Yorkshire Pro who went off to ride in Europe for the Buckler team (think it was Buckler). Dav e met a very untimely end when he came home one Christmas and visited a nig ht-club with some cycling mates from Bradford. For whatever reason one of t he "bouncers" took a dislike to him and beat him up, resulting in his death . It was a quite staggering affair that rocked the cycling fraternity aroud the north of England because Dave was such a mild-mannered easy-going guy.
However Dave's memory is still very much alive. His favorite training run s tarted at the Dalesman cafe in Gargrave about twelve miles from where I liv e, and circled around the narrow undulating roads of the Dales. Each Septem ber, as near to his birthday as possible, a memorial ride has been held, wi th hundreds of his friends riding. All money raised has been put into the D ave Raynor Fund which is used to help aspiring riders spend some time abroa d in Holland and Belgium.. One of the earliest riders to receive the fundin g was Dave Millar who rode so well on the Continent and became either World or Olympic T-T champion..before he turned to drugs. However he is back in the peloton with Saunier-Duval. Most of the UK riders currently based with continental teams have come up via the Dave Raynor Fund.
The club of which I am a member, Settle WWW. (Settle World.Wide.Wheelers) i s involved with the organisation of the Memorial Ride. Last year we organis ed the first ever "L'Etape du Dales"..I wonder where we got the idea..with around 700 riders taking part. We are currently active with the 2007 one - the route having just been described by one cycling magazine as thre most a rduopus one-day ride in the UK.
Each November since Dave's death, his Bradford club mates and the Fund have organised a large pre_christmas dinner that is attended by hundreds of gue sts. It attracts top pros from around the world, including Merckx, Indurain , Kellyyear that old-timer Jimmy Saville, now into his 80s, turned up. All the Pros give some of their old bikes, jerseys etc to the fund for the auct ion which usually raises many thousands of pounds.
When Dave left home to become a Pro, his father Paulleft Briggs to set up a cycle shop Dave Raynor Cycles, not very far away in the village of Idle. T he shop is still trading.
Almost forgot about the Speedstream...it's an elegant bike, as most lugless ones are...so I find it a real pity that the builder used a standard, poss ibly BOCAMA external crown, rather than an aero one. That would have given a much neater line altogether.
Norris Lockley, Settle UK
---- Msg sent via TalkTalk WebMail - http://www.talktalk.net/