Ray Green wrote:
The Falcon piece says<Mr. Clements moved to Ledbury and ran his own
cycling shop from 1989 until his death in 2006, although it is unclear
if he continued to make frames.>
I am fairly sure that Mr Clements didn't make frames at Ledbury. His
adverts in Cycling Weekly always featured Simoncini frames (I think he
was the importer) and although I have never seen one when very
occasionally reviewed in mags they got a good report. Incidentally I believe it was Ernie Clements's brother Frank who
acquired Harry Quinn's premises in Walton, Liverpool. He shut it down
overnight because, so I was told, there was more stock going out of the
back door than the front door. Not that I could possibly believe that of
Scousers!
Ray is quite correct to say that Ernie didn't make any frames after 1989 - and he didn't make any before that either. He was a master self publicist not a master frame builder and never built a frame in his life. The facts are, according to a former listee, that Ernie went bust in c1992 and then went to work with (for) his son Edward at Ledbury. Edward is indeed a Simonici importer and I understand, a very nice guy. It is believed that Falcon bought Quinn for the accessory business and then closed the shop and frame building business.
Peter Brown, Lincolnshire, England