[CR] Twin tube frame --- Brixton Paramount?

(Example: Framebuilders:Jack Taylor)

Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 14:58:18 -0800 (PST)
From: "Peter Jourdain" <pjourdain@yahoo.com>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Cc: peterg.brown@ntlworld.com, crumpy6204@aol.com
Subject: [CR] Twin tube frame --- Brixton Paramount?


Greetings----

Johnny Crump kindly forwarded to me the image of the British racer Charles Holland and his twin-tube machine, and, based on the looks of it, it is most definitely NOT a Moorson. Without benefit of the Holland photo I thought Holland's frame might be a Moorson. But a Moorson has twin down and top tubes which run the entire length of the tubes, and Holland's frame most definitely does not, at least not to the extent of a Moorson.

The other possibility I had raised was a Brixton Paramount, also an innovative British frame with twin down tubes. And, after some digging, I was able to find the photos of the white Paramount to which I had earlier alluded. The images are from two separate ebay auctions for the same machine, both of which took place a few years ago. http://s840.photobucket.com/albums/zz325/RetroCyclist/CHARLES%20HOLLAND%20and%20TWIN%20TUBE%20bike/

The Brixton Paramount is a much closer match to Charles Holland's machine than is the Moorson, but, for the following reasons, I still think we've not hit it:

1) The head tube transfer on Holland's machine seems different than that on the Brixton Paramount. It seems as if Holland's machine has a kind of Maltese or St. George's cross, or possibly a bird with wings extended----I just can't tell. 

2) The top and down tubes of Holland's mount have very interesting wraps around the head tube, also not present on the Brixton Paramount.

3) While at a quick glance it seems as if Holland's top tube is one piece, if you follow it all the way to the seat cluster you will see that at the last possible point of intersection it splits into two tubes. This is not the case with the top tube on the Brixton Paramount---it stays as one unit throughout.

While it is possible that Holland's machine could be a Brixton Paramount, it would certainly have to be a different model or a variation of the model from another year.

Well, I'm all out of guesses on this one. Anyone else have any ideas?

By the way, Crumpy is modest about such things, but he got to ride with Charles Holland and his brothers back in the late '40s.

And here for further review is the Moorson which I had earlier pointed out:

http://www.theracingbicycle.com/Moorson.html

Cheerio,

Peter Jourdain Whitewater, Wisconsin USA

http://www.bicyclingbackwards.com

"For here is entertainment in excelsis, the sight, the sound and the scent of things....Why cycling for joy is not the most popular passtime on earth is still a mystery to me." ---Frank J. Urry, "SALUTE TO CYCLING"