What brand could this Clements made frame be? Merckx?

[Erskine]

Hi, I'm new on here but not new to cycles!
I picked up a scruffy frame from evilbay for £50 as a winter project.
From the bb frame number I'm sure it is from the Clements stable.
It's a well made plain Jane frame, which I would describe as a winter bike. It's unusual as it's 20 1/2" C to T.
Drop outs are forged but not named or threaded for stops.
Lugs are plain, braze ons limited to gear lever band stop, over bb guide and divers helmet cable stop above chainstay, and cable stop on down tube for front derailleur.
The forks are chromed and very well made, stamped Tange O/D on steerer. The main tubes are plain gauge and not seamed. Seat tube is 28.6 and a 26.6 post fits perfectly. Overall it's just a good solid, straight hand built frame. I think the tubing might be Tange as 501 takes a smaller seat post and 531 plain gauge takes 26.8. Oh, and it's 700c with mudguard clearance.
I want to know what to badge it ...... Clements, Falcon, Quinn, Hoban, Merckx .....
Under the half job respray I've been uncovering remenants of original lilac with a white undercoat/primer. Of the brands made by Clements the only one that appears to use that exact colour is Merckx. I know Clements badged some gas pipe stuff as Merckx, but did he badge anything better quality?
My default position is to have it sprayed pearl white and Clements decals.

 

[Erskine]

Re: What brand could this Clements made frame be?

Here is a Real Merckx in a lilac livery and a gas pipe replica.
Can anyone remember mid range replicas?

 

[Southcoast]

Falcon Majorca maybe?

https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/falc ... 1255709848

 

[Erskine]

Falcon Majorca maybe?

https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/falc ... 1255709848

Thanks for that pointer .... opened up a new line of delving ....
There seem to be low end falcon majorcas and elswick mistrals in this colour, so it defo was in the falcon paint cupboard.
However the forged drop outs, cast seat lug and quality forks put this frame a league above those, closer to the elswick stag, in fact, just like an elswick stag, which is a full tange frame set.
I'm guessing these were some of the frames built in Japan to Clements spec and badged how ever the wind happened to be blowing that day.
So it could even be a 'Holdsworth' along with others previously listed.
Suffice to say it's clear it was not fluxed and brazen between the thighs of the Black Countries finest virgins, yet all reports have them riding very nicely and are pretty much the geometry the hipsters are currently re-inventing as gravel bikes.
And I'm now uncovering fecks of turquoise too ...

 

[Midlife]

Don't let the Tange forks fool you, Falcon etc imported them, sorted the head race as it was JIS and used them on their UK frames.

 

[Southcoast]

Later models of the Majorca and the elswick stag seem very similar. The later Majorca models were badged as Tange champion no 5 I believe. So yes your bike might be one of those. Other members of this forum have owned some of these bikes See link. Perhaps adding to their threads might get a response?

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=382657
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=385336

 

[Erskine]

Thank you Southcoast, I think you have nailed it.
I've got a good idea of where the frame sits in the hierarchy now.
In the last stages of my paintstripping today I was seeing turquoise over spray in the head and seat tubes too, so the frame has been refinished at least twice, lord knows what it started life as!
I have an Exage 400ex group set desperate to have something to cling on to along with a pair of 126mm miche hubs carrying MA2s which I think would be nicely understated.

 

[Southcoast]

I have two Falcon bikes about the same age and both have a five digit serial numbers on the bottom bracket. As midlife says Falcon where still making frames over here and often using Tange forks during this period. Your fame number is slightly different in having M9M then five digits. Not sure what that means, maybe from a different factory?
Falcons spec could vary a lot and often seemed to use whatever they had to hand. So perhaps the colour of the paint is a bit of a red herring?
Good luck with the rebuild, don’t forget to post some pictures as it progresses.

 

[MartinB123]

I have a blue falcon Merckx in my garage. From memory the serial number is stamped onto a dropout. Will take a look when i'm next out there.

 

[Erskine]

I've seen quite a few Falcon and derivatives with this pattern of serial number ....
M / digit / letter / 5 digits
Could they be from the Welsh era? Everything points to mid 80's ?
I shall be adding braze on gear lugs and cable quides if I'm going to put money into refinishing the frame. So far my investment is £50 and a cup of paint stripper.
And lots of internet pixies.
Other than an appropriate 26.6 seat post I have all the parts to make a good retro winter ride that isn't a pig wearing pearls. I will do a build thread.