Classic and Vintage Bicycles: What's it Worth? Appraisals and Inquiries - Serial Number 59o3084o0222-f38-anyone help?

I originally posted this in found at the dump - because that's where I found it. It seemed too nice to be melted down for scrap. Wiser heads said it was worth a new thread to try and identify it. I've posted close ups on Picasa

http://picasaweb.google.com/kenf300/FoundAtTheDump#5353155576905652114

It has Nervex lugs and bottom bracket and the serial number 59o3084o0222-f38

I think it's in it's second reincarnation, it had a Camapagnolo bar end shifter with a Shimano 600 rear mech; Weinemann levers and a Mafac rear brake, the photos show it as found. There are braze on cable guides on both sides of the down tube, but was a five speed before the wheels came off! I put a wheel on and it shifted well once I got the lever moving. The chainstays seem to have been filed in a 'decorative way'. I stripped some of the paint off to see what was underneath but no clues there. The bands on the as found pic were done with paint and masking tape.

I think it is probably a mid range from one of the big uk builders (e.g Dawes Viking) but don't have much idea.

Nearly all the components will have to be refurbished/replaced and I'm really looking for a steer as to how far to go with restoration. My road bike is a planet x so for now this is my brand x:)

I already have a fixed wheel bike with a nice 80's Columbus frame and I'm thinking whether or not to restore that one back to a ten speed and really go to town with this one but I don't want to start grinding bits off a 'classic'

Any help appreciated

Thanks
Ken

What size seat post?

I had great expectations until I saw the first glimpse of the rear drops, but maybe the 59 means 1959, and it's all good.

Hi Bob and thanks for your interest.

The seat post is 2.4mm internal diameter (I only have a metric gauge) but that works out at 1&1/16 inches (or 1" ?). The frame is 23" from the seat post to the bottom bracket, and the top tube is 22", the headtube is 6" and the down tube 23". The first time I saw the frame it had a very old leather saddle but that and the seat post had gone when I picked it up.

As paint stripping continues I've discovered CHATERLEA stamped on the inside of the left chainstay. I'm disappointed not to have found anything under the paint although a nice job there are little signs it was a repaint like the run on the fork and the lack of any transfers at all.

I think 1959 is a good bet, according to the Classic Lightweights site the Nervex lugs on the headset are from around that period. The same site indicates Gillot frame numbering started with the year, so it may have been a common practice. The bottom bracket and axle were made by T.D.C. which also dates it to the 50s/60s, as does the Campagnolo bar end shifter. (There are no fittings on the downtube for shift levers). The way the front brake cable was routed through the stem also seems a fashion at that time.

The frame was found on the South Coast so I guess it's more likely to be either a big national company or a London or South East builder rather than a Northern one.

I'm thinking 59 for 1959 then 3084 as a sequential number i.e. the three thousand and eighty four frame built that year. Don't know about the 222 but maybe F-38 was the catalogue number?
So all I have to do is find who numbered their frames this way!

Does anyone know of a database of bicycle numbers on the web?

Thanks again
Ken

Found this stamp on the BB does it mean anything to anyone?
Did I post this thread in the right place? Ken

i have no idea, but:
http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/builders.html
Have you looked at this site?
And you may want to post to the mailing list of this site:
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/