Allin of croydon information needed

[chrisbro77]

Hi,

i've been given an ALLIN road bike by a retiring family member and I wanted to try and find out more information about it.

The number stamped on the left chainstay is 2804, which by what i've found goes waaaaay beyond what some websites say allin made. The headtube badge is the later one of Glenn's 3, I think puts it manufactured in the mid eightes. Other than that i've no idea.

My goal as it's never been repainted is to leave it as a survivor and leave as much of the original equipment on there, maybe advertise it when its all working.

chris

 

[VeloFellow54]

Hi Chris
I have 2 Allin machines - one from ca.1949 (frame 672) and the other from late 79/early 80 (frame 2303 - picture below)
Are you certain of the frame number ? The location is correct but the number seems high as I understood that the last recorded Allin frame number was 2401 (from 1981 when the frame builder - Peter Cobb - died). There is scant information on the net about Allin but the machines are highly regarded and quite collectable. Most info is available on the Classic Lightweights website. Maybe you could post a picture or two of your machine ?
Steve, Suffolk

 

[VeloFellow54]

Sorry, Left the image off !
Herewith image of Allin SBS - frame number 2303 in 'as found' condition
Steve

 

[chrisbro77]

Hi, hopefully this works with photobucket

http://s66.photobucket.com/user/chrisbr ... lin%20Bike

Did Allin make double chainring bikes aswell ?

chris

 

[OldTel]

Re:

Hi,
Allin's are up there with best as far as I concerned, I have two and half Allin frames, fairly plain by Peter Cobb's best efforts, but lovely and comfortable to ride. My youngest is number 2122 ( but sadly it is the half frame as it needs a tube repair, don't ask ), and it has had a hard life, but I do keep an eye on Allins when they come available, and I do have a picture of serial number 2448, I'm not sure when the shop closed ( mid 80's ) but frames were still coming out of the shop up to then, I guess they may of used the same serial number sequence for custom order frames in the years after Peter Cobb, they always sold off the shelf frames along with the custom ones. Lookin forward to a piccie. Terry

 

[chrisbro77]

Re:

D'oh just realised when looking at the picture it's 2408

 

[OldTel]

Re:

Hi Chris, looks nice, do the 'wrapover' stays not quite touch, see below, thats a Peter Cobb touch. Terry

 

[chrisbro77]

Re:

It looks as though the stays fully wrap round the seat post.

 

[VeloFellow54]

I assume that the downtube reads 'Special Stan Butler Model' ? 2408 makes sense - it may well have been made by Cliff Shrubb but since it is so close to 2401 I could well be one of Cobbs. I suspect that you could have more or less what you wanted on the machine. Yours has Campy dropouts and hubs etc - mine has Simplex dropouts and Sakae cranks / Shimano gears / Normandy hubs - so the buyer wanted to keep the cost down for mine I suspect. The chap I bought it from had it from new. He ordered 2 bikes from Allins and specified what he wanted. Initially I could not understand why it had a cheap Simplex shifter on the frame until I tried a Shimano one on there - and it would'nt fit ! (Simplex braze ons) Easy to adapt a Shimano to fit though.
The earlier frame (1949 - pictures on here on another thread) has Ekla lugs and Stallard drop outs and a waterslide for a head badge (not the 'refurbished by' type) and only last weekend I found an article in 'Cycling' (December 194 announcing the launch of the Stan Butler Allin models (which specified lug / dropout types and frame angles) and this now will enable to go ahead and refurbish the frame after about a year of trying to sort out exactly what I had !!). So these machines were in continuous production for about 35 years. Considering that it is estimated that frame 500 was around 45/46 (my older frame is 672) then the total number of frames from Allins over almost 40 years can only be 2000 maximum. About one per week on average - which may explain why they seldom come up for sale. Steve

 

[VeloFellow54]

I was told that frame 672 could not be a Stan Butler Special some time ago as they ALL had wrap over seat stays - which is why the frame had me baffled since the build quality and the decals indicated otherwise. Then I came across another 'Special' which I would date to 1951/2 with original enamel / decals (see pictures) This has Nervex lugs (they only became available in 1950 ?) but they are still very similar to mine and the frame also does not have wrap over seat stays ! As far as I know this machine (with some period parts - but some later) remains unsold at about 1400- quid !!!