As soon as I checked out Matt Smith's photos of his unknowm British lightwe ight frame, I thought that I had instant recognition of the brand. A couple of seconds later I realised that I hadn't...
The lugs on the head tube resemble Nervex Serie Leger, but aren't, as these models never had the classic shape on the pipes as Matt's lugs. There agai n those top and down tube pipes look very French, but aren't.
The Raleigh/Falcon type tubular wrap-over of the seat-stays appears to be m uch neater than either of those marques..and clearly this frame pre-dates R aleigh's use of that style, as well as Falcon's.
I have certaintly seen this lug set before and even thought that I had it o n an early Merlin fron Goswell Road, but Merlin never used, as far as I kno w that seat cluster.
It's a pity that Matt has not shown a photo of the V-D punched into the for k as this would have a been as good a clue as anything. Were the letters on the steering column or the crown itself...the latter being most unlikel y on a 40s/50s frame. The frame number might well indicate the origin of th e frame..particularly the V stamped in there.
For my 10-Euro cents worth of guess I think it is a VINDEC...a popular and widely sold brand in the UK right through to the 80s. I've no idea of the o rigin of the name, but presume that it is some form of abbreviation, but th e frames and bikes were sold through a nation-wide chain of cycle and motor cycle parts wholesalers throughout the UK.
The chain was a major supplier of bike parts to manufacturers and accessori es and bikes to retailers. Towards the end of the brand's life the company was owned by another large firm called Brown Brothers...and just dealt in t he run-of-the-mill type of cycle parts, the bikes being a small range of us eful models such as a small-wheeled shopper much like the Raleigh Twenty, a nd a couple of "sports" models. I don't think that Vindec actually manufact ured any bikes themselves but sourced them from companies such as the Comra de Cycle Co, who were sub-contractors for very many companies - even Dawes.
However in the 50-s VINDEC were major suppliers of frame parts such as lug sets, brackets, fork-ends etc etc to the lightweight trade, and also lead ing stockists of Reynolds tubing..and probably Accles and Pollock as wel l. My take on this frame, therefore is that it is a VINDEC..probably top of their range..and that it was built for them by someone such as Comrade. In the 50s most leading bicycle companies had a few lightweight sports and club touring type models in their catalogues.
As for tubing I think that the frame is probably built from Reynolds 531 pl ain gauge - hence the 26.8 internal seat tube measurement.
In those days VINDEC used to have full-page adverts in "CYCLING" magazine a longside the likes of SUN, WEARWELL, BSA, NORMAN, ELSWICK-HOPPER.
Norris Lockley, Settle UK