Anybody heard of these?
I found this bike stashed in the bushes of an apartment building while I was walking my dogs. It has first-generation Dura-Ace components. Unfortunately the wheels were cheap steel junk, probably not original!
The 57cm frame itself is fairly light and has French-style lugs but are relativly thick and has Shimano SF (?) dropouts and fork tips. The headbadge is real nice looking - it looks like HM the Queen's coat of arms with the Sutton name under it.
A bike collector friend of mine looked at it and thinks it was probably built by National/Panasonic and that Sutton might be a "house" brand. It also has SR h/bars and stem - typical Japanese stuff from that era. I think it's from the early '70's - no waterbottle cage bolts and some Shimano clamp-on cable guides.
I think I'll sell it on Ebay and say it was Lord Sutton's (The Queen's third cousin twice removed, ya know!) personal bike and it's very rare and have a $2,000 reserve. Will I get to be the Numbskull of the day?