Vintage Falcon...anyone help with age / or model?
- Thread starter Hillbelly
- Start date
Hillbelly
Dirt Disciple
OK, cheers Keith. Would you concur with the late 70s / early 80s estimate on the frame? Point taken on the il primo stem. Never had it off the the bike but it looks heavy!!!! (If that is indeed possible). I take it that the people asking for silly money on eBay for these currently are having a "giraffe". Anyhow I'll watch the auction one out of interest.
Midlife
Retro Wizard
It has portacatena dropouts which didn't really get going until 1978-9 yet it has nutted brakes which started to die out in the early-mid 80's so between those dates.
The Cinelli cast full sloping fork crown is a bit odd as by that time things had moved on to the semi-sloping jobbies (Cinelli MC)
Shaun
The Cinelli cast full sloping fork crown is a bit odd as by that time things had moved on to the semi-sloping jobbies (Cinelli MC)
Shaun
Re:
The TA adaptor and 49D cranks were standard equipment from 1955, before Campagnolo made a crank set. The TA rings were always tougher and better than Campagnolo, both having milled teeth, when the Stronglight rings were pressed. Also the offset (teeth were on one side of the ring not central) meant the chainrings could be closer together. You cant drop the chain between the rings. A difference of 4 teeth was a lot then, because we used 10 evenly spaced gears.
Il Primo was a name invented by Holdsworthy just to sound Italian. The forward extension part of the stem is not quite solid, has about 10mm hole through it. The chrome was better though.
Keith
The TA adaptor and 49D cranks were standard equipment from 1955, before Campagnolo made a crank set. The TA rings were always tougher and better than Campagnolo, both having milled teeth, when the Stronglight rings were pressed. Also the offset (teeth were on one side of the ring not central) meant the chainrings could be closer together. You cant drop the chain between the rings. A difference of 4 teeth was a lot then, because we used 10 evenly spaced gears.
Il Primo was a name invented by Holdsworthy just to sound Italian. The forward extension part of the stem is not quite solid, has about 10mm hole through it. The chrome was better though.
Keith
Featch
Devout Dirtbag
A bit of inside history.
During my brief period (1982) at Falcon Cycles running the frame shop I also had to oversee the closing of the Barton on Humber Elswick factory. Buried deep in the debris I came across 50 or so rather nice, new, Columbus tubed, Italian built, frames that had been abandoned, unpainted and unloved. Fortunately they were in a part of the factory without the leaking roof so I rescued them, got them all painted and they sold in days.
This is without doubt one of these frames
Andy
During my brief period (1982) at Falcon Cycles running the frame shop I also had to oversee the closing of the Barton on Humber Elswick factory. Buried deep in the debris I came across 50 or so rather nice, new, Columbus tubed, Italian built, frames that had been abandoned, unpainted and unloved. Fortunately they were in a part of the factory without the leaking roof so I rescued them, got them all painted and they sold in days.
This is without doubt one of these frames
Andy
Featch
Devout Dirtbag
Re:
They were all sold to retailers and if I remember correctly they were not cheap as we offered a custom paint job on each one. Several went to a shop in Huddersfield (I don't recall the name) as that's where I was living at the time.
The story goes that they were ordered from a trade show (I'm guessing Milan) by the infamous Ernie Clements when he was running Falcon, but they arrived after he departed and nobody knew what to do with them so they were abandoned. If they weren't in the catalogue the reps didn't want to know.
They were all sold to retailers and if I remember correctly they were not cheap as we offered a custom paint job on each one. Several went to a shop in Huddersfield (I don't recall the name) as that's where I was living at the time.
The story goes that they were ordered from a trade show (I'm guessing Milan) by the infamous Ernie Clements when he was running Falcon, but they arrived after he departed and nobody knew what to do with them so they were abandoned. If they weren't in the catalogue the reps didn't want to know.
Midlife
Retro Wizard
Hi Andy
Thanks for the info. I worked for Cliff Pratt Cycles in Hull and Billy Holmes was our friendly Falcon rep. He got me my Falcon San Remo Equipe road frame which I still have and also the team track frame which I sadly don't
Billy used to bring all sorts of things to the shop but I never remember any Columbus frames, mind you 1982 was just after my time so even Billy might never have seen them.
When you were in charge where there still a bunch of ladies making the higher end frames
Cheers
Shaun
Thanks for the info. I worked for Cliff Pratt Cycles in Hull and Billy Holmes was our friendly Falcon rep. He got me my Falcon San Remo Equipe road frame which I still have and also the team track frame which I sadly don't
Billy used to bring all sorts of things to the shop but I never remember any Columbus frames, mind you 1982 was just after my time so even Billy might never have seen them.
When you were in charge where there still a bunch of ladies making the higher end frames
Cheers
Shaun
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