Identifying a bike with no numbers or decals

[velomanmike]

Good Evening Everyone,

I've recently been given a bike with no evidence of makers frame numbers or decal names.
It belonged to my late uncle who lived on the Wirral.
His relatives inform me that he had this custom built but they cannot remember by what company.
The nearest I can find to the bike is a Briton currently being sold on Ebay.
This seems very similar but is not a bang on same bike...some lug work appears different.
There is not much information regarding 'The Briton' out there either.
If anyone has any thoughts I'd be happy to know.

[gaz]

The paintwork seems in remarkably good order which gives two possibilities.

1. It's been resprayed, in which case there might be a photograph of it in a family album where it still has brand/makers transfers.

2. It was supplied to your uncle as you find it and has been very well looked after, if that is the case you've a challenge to be sure.

In the absence of close up pics the lug work doesn't strike me as distinctive. Frame numbers are occasionally hidden on the steerer tube.

[velomanmike]

Thanks for the prompt reply gaz.
My uncle used to race in the 1950s.
He had a massive triple heart bypass later in life and used the bike on his road to recovery.
It has been in storage for at least 25 years until now.
I'll see if I can find more from his two sons and repost some closer pics of the lugs.
Cheers Mike

[Brucey]

FWIW most the components on the bike (which often have a date mark BTW) appear to be from about 1990. The frame looks to be from the (probably late) 1980s. Custom built can mean different things; that the frame was built to a specific geometry etc or (more likely in this case I think) the bike was built up from a bare frameset using parts of choice.

To me the bike looks to have seen relatively little use; a few month's hard riding would normally see all the black finish removed from the rims where the brake blocks bear against them.

At the time it wasn't unusual for unbranded framesets (from various sources) to be sold through shops, either unbranded or with the shop's decals on them. If the frame has a plastic underbracket cable guide there may be a frame number beneath that.

cheers

[velomanmike]

Thanks Brucey,
It does have plastic cable guides under bottom bracket.
I'll let you know if I find anything.
All the best,
Mike

[Spinners]

Circa 1995 I had an 'off the peg' Graham Weigh (mail order from Deeside Cycles) that looked similar including the same style of brake cable stops on the top tube.

[GranvilleThomas]

bary_hoban.jpeg (17.84 KiB) Viewed 478 times

It looks very much like the British Eagle - Barry Hoban bike I had in the mid 80's. It had a 531cs frame set and 531 forks, it was a very nice bike to ride and I regret selling it.

The one I had was more of a blue fade and mine had Campagnolo Triomphe gears and shifters and black brakes who's make I cannot remember.

I have found a (poor) photo of one like I had and to me it is very similar as you can see above. I am pretty sure that I payed about £350 for it in Reg Braddicks cycle shop in Cardiff.

If it is the same then I thought very highly of it at the time.

[Jamesh]

I would suspect Graham Weigh, Ribble or a smaller local builder as back then people tended shop locally before the new fangled internet came along.....

Cheers James

[peetee]

I think this is a Surrius bike. They were run by Tom Bromwich, based in the West Midlands in the late 80's and sold three off-the-peg frames; mountain, Audax and race, all in 531. This is the race frame. You could select from a range of single colour options or two colour for additional cost. This bike has the same blue colour, lug work, cable guides and stay tops as my Audax frame ordered in 1988.