So much for the surmising and the history, now for the frame, particularly as the friend I wanted to speak to about the possible history of the E-B Flyer model, is out of contavt somewhere sunning himself in Spain.
Had Simon's frame not been of the Sun Manx TT design I would have taken it for the double of a very similar, at first glance, late 40s Ossie Jackson bike that I have lurking somewhere in a dark corner of one of my stores.
Everything about this frame shouts late 1940s /early 50s, but it has a number, given on the eBay advert. and Briggs' records should be able to place it..so it might well be a 1957. However a couple of years ago I spoke to Peter (Briggs?) one of the remaining directors of the firm about some oldish E-B frames that I have, and also about the rare double-curved seat tube SWB frame. Apparently that was news to him..and he admitted that his memory did not go back far and did not know much about the firm's activities in the 40s and 50s.
It is a pity that Simon has not given us some dimensions to go by, although thathe eBay advert stated the size to be a 23". However the top-tube looks too long for the frame, mainly because the seat tube angle is very slack.One of the advantages in building this design of frame, as with the Baines "gate" design, is that the builder is not restricted steepening his seat angle or of shortening the length of the top-tube...it can be shortened quite a way without in any way interfering with the length of the rear triangle.
The question of why Briggs chose this design has to be asked because neither the wheel nor the mudguard appaer to tuck under the angled seat tube. I reckon that the frame could have accepted a standard seat-tube and still managed the 39" wheelbase. Even with the rear wheel at the leading edge of the drop-outs, all that might have been needed is a simple flute in the rear of the tube, like Hetchins and many others have done.
However the bike does look very interesting and obviously it rides well.
The round fork blades really are 1940s style with that hockey-stick sharp bend at the bottom. The lugs are an English brand, might have been Davis or Vaughn..but they were seldom seen outside the Hopper factory in Lincolnshire where they were used on the special Lincoln Imp model, although the Nervex Pro-type pipe on theD/T-to-head-tube lug is not of the Hopper design.
The bottom-bracket cluster is well contrived and constructed along the lines of a bilaminate lug. The bottom bracket shell was bought with the two chainstay pipes formed into it. The bottom end of the down tube has had a decorative sleeve, possibly the pipe cut off a standard bracket shell, brazed on to it to strengthen the joint with the seat tube, and the bottom end of the seat tube too has received a decorative sleeve...all nicely crafted. The D/T is simply bronze-welded onto the bracket shell. The really neat and thoughtful part of the cluster is the addition of the two bracing steel fins either side of the down tube..added just to provide more lateral strength to the bracket in the absence of the seat-tube joint. Routens in France also used a similar idea made up of off-cuts of tubing.
The short strutts that brace the chainstays and the seat tube are 100% Sun Manx TT. I once tried that design on a heavy laden touring bike but dont know whether it conferred greater rigidity on the frame or reduced bracket flex...but I suppose there's more chance of it doing more good than harm.
The chainstays appear to be the very popular rapid round-to-round taper, with the larger diameter end at the bracket having been cut away to provide the shorter rear triangle. As was evident from recent discussion of such chainstays on the List, supplies of these were available for some years into the 60s. I still have three pairs. The rear drop-outs look to be Stallard standard road models...a type which seemed to have petered out long before 1957...but who knows what is left in the cardboard boxes.
The aspect of the frame that is difficult to explain fully, if at all, is the D/T transfer. This really is a rarity..a never-seen-before. For anyone to go to the lengths of producing a specific transfer such as this one, at considerable expense, they must have had a long production run in mind. Or perhaps they thought that they would push the boat out for this special model...by lashing out on an expensive and distinctive transfer. My own reading of this situation, is that these transfers were probably produced for the earlier twin curved seat tube frames. and were put into use on the new model. But I admit I could be very wide of the mark on this one.
I reckon that Simon has bought himself a very very rare bird with this one.. possibly the only one in captivity!...but I am not even going to attempt a guess at the one of the down-tube.
If you want to see how this Shortwin-cum-Manx TT model has evolved into the Ultimate, then check out the CR's Brtish Isles section and look up Matt Gorski's MKM Ultimate. I took the design two stages further in its development...pictures can be seen at:
http://www.flickr.com/
Norris Lockley,
Settle UK