Any "Allin of Croydon" specialists out there??

[SNight]

I now believe the the frame I have recently acquired to be an Allin. Frame number 1402. Is there anybody on the forum, or out there, that has a good knowledge of these bikes? I could get to have a look at the pictures to try and see if they could confirm this.

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... p;t=288497


Let me know,

Thanks

 

[Excel]

Norman Richardson researched the Allin marque according to << http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/bu ... allin.html >> you may through the VCC get hold of him if he is not affiliated here.....
Griff

 

[roadking]

I now believe the the frame I have recently acquired to be an Allin. Frame number 1402. Is there anybody on the forum, or out there, that has a good knowledge of these bikes? I could get to have a look at the pictures to try and see if they could confirm this. Thanks

I am fairly confident the frame depicted on the thread is not an Allin, I have three and have an old timer friend who worked for Allin for over 20 years: I have another friend who is related to the family and has extensive knowledge of Allin.

Allin were my LBS.

Jon.

P.S why do you believe it is an Allin? Whatever it is it is not original.

 

[SNight]

I now believe the the frame I have recently acquired to be an Allin. Frame number 1402. Is there anybody on the forum, or out there, that has a good knowledge of these bikes? I could get to have a look at the pictures to try and see if they could confirm this. Thanks

I am fairly confident the frame depicted on the thread is not an Allin, I have three and have an old timer friend who worked for Allin for over 20 years: I have another friend who is related to the family and has extensive knowledge of Allin.

Allin were my LBS.

Jon.

P.S why do you believe it is an Allin? Whatever it is it is not original.

The frame number on the dropout, and also the seatstays looked the same as some fillet brazed allin frames I've seen online.

What would discount it from being allin? Do you have any idea what it could be if it's not? What do you mean by, "whatever it is it is not original"?

 

[OldTel]

Re:

Hi, as with my previous entry, the stamping on the dropout is in an Allin style, a lot of digging is required to prove 100% what the frame is, I must say I've never seen an Allin with that style rear brake cable bridge, below is a picture of my early 70's Allins seat lug and a price list from the early sixties for reference. Don't be put off, just keep digging, I like to be 100% sure before commiting to paint and transfers, it takes months sometimes to place a frame, I had a frame for a year once and gave up, sold it cheaply, and then discovered some months later, when reading an article in the VCC mag, it was probably an Evelyn Hamilton, frustrating but that's life. Terry

 

[roadking]

Re:

The braze on bridge on the rear stays is far too crude...I've seen many Allins and have never seen a bridge like that on an Allin.

With regard to the seat cluster, the full wrapover was a feature of the SBS (Stan Butler Special)...see mine below (lugless models were not SBSs). Firstly the cutting is from the January 1964 edition of Cycling introducing the Belgique (see image and comment below).

The green frame is a late 1960s one, the black frame is one of Peter Cobbs last, built in 1980. The lime/yellow frame is a super rare Belgique built in 1964 (this is very special in that it was built to commemorate Keith Butler's wins on the continent), the pale blue frame is a late 1959 frame, all four of my frames have the SBS wrapover feature.

My family knew the Allin shop from the 1940s (my Father bought a secondhand GA and an F.W Evans tandem from them during the war) until the shop closed in 1980 or 81 (it still traded after that date but ownership changed and Peter Cobb had retired).

Incidentally a frame builder chum of mine in conversation with Bill Hurlow, related a comment of Bill's about Allin saying that if he did not ride one of his (a Hurlow), his first choice would be an Allin.

Jon.

 

[SNight]

Re:

This is what drew my attention to allin as well as the frame number

This was an allin for sale recently.

All the bikes you speak about seem to be from the 60's. If it was an allin the frame number would place it early fifties, could it have been an earlier model, or a special request?

 

[OldTel]

Re:

Hi, from what I can gauge from what is available on the web and collected knowledge, not actual experience of the shop, which is worth its weight in gold. I believe the top range Allins were done in house by Peter Cobb, who was one of the top frame builders of the era, and it appears he had certain trademarks which appeared on his frames from WW2. Below is a real early one, 1951/2 and a number in the low 1000's, as you see its very nice, and has same style top of the stay. As it was a busy shop, the lower range frames must of been bought in, for instance your example without seeing the whole frame looks like a Claud, I'm sure Holdsworth was probably used as well, so at a guess there were the two levels, hand built and bought in. So back to your frame, it has no trademark Peter Cobb touches, but its not a stock frame either, so if I was you I would park the Allin thoughts for the time being, and keep digging, you may come back and prove it is an Allin, who knows. The serial number, if an Allin places around 1958, but the twin crown fork places it late 40's early 50's, therefore if the Allin shop was involved it may of been just adding some of the later extra frame fittings, just a thought. Terry

 

[SNight]

Re:

Thanks for the info. More searching required then!

 

[SNight]

Re:

Still had no luck with this up to now. Somebody must of seen something similar to compare it to surely??