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?

I may be totally wrong but I believe that Sutton was a sub-brand from Royce-Union bicycles out of NYC/Long Island. It was their upper end line of bikes, which is saying alot . RU sold a full line of kids to road to ATB bikes on the East Coast. Their quality was just a cut above department store bikes, but they fit the low end for independent bike shops. I am sure someone else will put in their 2 cents, but I am pretty sure that this was the fact. The Sutton was made in Japan and had nice parts and quality. Never saw many around , though. And, as you noted, the head badge was very ornate.

Thanks for the info, jacksbike.

I started stripping the paint and I noticed that the headtube and lugs are chrome plated along with the bottom bracket faces and where the wheels mate with the frame so I don't think it's a cheapie. I'm planning on building it up as a three-speed (S-A hub) road bike.

Sounds like it will rise from the ashes like a phoenix into another life form ! The chroming sure is nice though.