Classic & Vintage - falcon information needed

Does anyone know where I can find information about Falcon bikes? I have a 1970ish Falcon that I wanted to learn more about.

I moved this out of the Links thread, it will get more response
as a thread on its own.

The ones I have seen were mostly 80's but were nice Reynolds tubing with Shimano components and decent lugwork, and I believe English made. The one I particularly remember was pretty lightweight for its size and componentry level, so I imagine they were pretty high-grade frames.

That is what I understand too. They were popular in the US from the late 70's early 80's. They are well made bikes too.

I have been looking for a website that may tell me the year of my bike. Any ideas?

They made a lot of bog standard sports bikes as well as the high class Reynolds 531 frames.
I have a 1979 model made from unbutted chromoly, it rides quite well but is nothing special.

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/British_isles/Falcon.htm

Here's mine on the CR site. Like many British builders, they made utilitarian, basic bikes all the to very nice professional models, comparable to any other production bikes of the day. I think I got this one as is for 40 bucks, new paint job from CyclArt and a cleaning of the parts and reassembly.

As far as what year yours might be, if the original components are there, that will tell you, as well as the quality level.

I have a 1962 Falcon that I got new as a kid. Nice above average pre-bike boom bike. Back then they could be found at odd places such as Western Auto stores, and in the late 60's/early 70's in Sears, with campy parts and 531 frames. My parents actually got mine using Blue Chip stamps! (remember the stamps they used to give out at grocery stores back in the 50's and 60,s, fill up a bunch of books with stamps and trade them for something in the stamp catalogue!). I remember Falcon frames being advertised in the BikeMor catalogue back in the late 80's. (BikeMor morphed into CampMor, and now mostly sells camping related equipment). I remember reading at one time back in the 80's that Bill Walton, the famous basketball player, had a really large frame Falcon (a 62cm or something like that). The company has been, at least until very recently, still in business, and had also acquired the Claude Butler name. They were nice enough back in the late 90's to send me a set of decals for my old bike when I wrote them. As for websites, not many mention falcons. See classic rendezvous (http://www.classicrendezvous.com) for their Falcon site. Good luck! ew

Thanks for the info. My frame (it is a project bike) looks very similar to dbakl's except for the down tube. Mine has braze-ons for a pump.

I've currently got 3 - a Westminster 531 tourer that I use as my lockup bike for trips to the station, and two gas pipe sports frames (you can find both of those by searching Falcon in the original Catch of the Day thread). The Westminster deserves better than it has at the moment (unmatched wheels, one of them steel, platform pedals, only one mudguard), but I don't want it to look stealable. The other two are very much bog-standard. I'm thinking both of them will end up as single speeds for eBay consumption.

If you have some pics we could help you identify the model of your bike. I have three Falcons and a catalog from the 70's that can be used as a guide. Describe the components, rims, hubs, handlebars and stem. Also describe the shape of the headlugs, fork crown, how the seat stays meet the seat tube, and the dropouts. And describe the various decals and labels on the top tube, downtube, seat tube and especially chainstay. Sometimes the model name is on the chainstay, but not always. And some names are used for a range of models.

Overheard circa 1970:

["C. Harding's For Bikes" customer]: "What about Falcon?"
[Charlie Harding, proprietor]: "A Falcon is a good English bike."

I rode my first Century on a 70's era Falcon. I have always been fond of them for sentimental reasons and for being a British bike. Pictured is I'm guessing a 70's era Falcon womens bike that was on CL awhile ago.