robbied196

Very helpfully I have no photo's

I've got a chance to buy a bike which basically has no ID but its frame is stamped "DAVIS COMPONENTS 60 62", under the BB, no frame number.

From what I can find the numbers are the lug angles. Also, Davies Components seems to relate to Reynolds 531 frames. I think I've come across some Dawes stamped in this way?

Does anyone know what Davies Components is, or means?

mudboy

Any chance that the "vi" in "Davies" is actually the "w" in "Dawes"?

robbied196

I like your thinking but its definitely Davies. Like I said I've come across it before I think on a Galaxy, a bit of googling has brought up the 531 & Dawes connections as well. I'm just waiting for a genius to explain who or what it means

mr_stephen_lane

Ok, so I have the same thing... Attaching pics. So what it is, is that the shops back then actually made a lot of their own bikes... They then they stored lugs like that BB and they would just cut tubes to size and build the bike.... They would all use the same brand lugs and so on... Pretty cool really.

Davis Components was a Birmingham based company who manufactured lugs and frame fittings such as your bottom bracket. The numbers "62 .. 63" typically refer to the angles and were also cast in place by the manufacturer so they could easily be referenced by the builder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by robbied196

Very helpfully I have no photo's

I've got a chance to buy a bike which basically has no ID but its frame is stamped "DAVIS COMPONENTS 60 62", under the BB, no frame number.

From what I can find the numbers are the lug angles. Also, Davies Components seems to relate to Reynolds 531 frames. I think I've come across some Dawes stamped in this way?

Does anyone know what Davies Components is, or means?

unworthy1

the reported connection to Raleigh is that the Raleigh Pro full-sloping fork crowns (AKA Cinelli style) were made (sand-cast) by Davis. Also the same crowns were reportedly used by Holdsworth, Bob Jackson and (especially) Witcomb (who also used the sand-cast BB shells).
Many of the shells had the cast-in name "Davis" obliterated by the builders, so there may be quite a few more out there than we know about...very popular in '60s era British frames, so maybe went out of business in the '70s...I don't know, not much history of the firm on the internets.

Edit: did a little more digging and found that the early true "Cinelli forkcrowns" were sand-cast by Fischer in Switzerland, and used by various Italian builders but most associated with Cinelli (who popularized that style).
There's some indication that Masi (who was known to build with Reynolds 531 on occasion) used the Davis crown on some of his forks, I'd guess probably the ones with Reynolds blades (logical).
Add to the list of British bikes that used the Davis BB shell: Lambert.

Miyata110

Well, with such a fine name like Davis I'm sure whatever they produced was of superior quality!

j1corange

I have an 1970's Lightweight purchased from a Lightweight Specialist bike shop in Reading which has DC on one side of the bottom bracket and the Angles ?? 63 on the opposite side. The name Davis Components appears "ghosted" where the final builder appears to have tried to obliterate it. My frame number from BB & fork tube is 3807 so it seems likely a fair volume builder was using these components. I can recall when it was new it had Reynolds 531 decals and Champion stripes but cannot recall the Branding. I hope to strip it down and paint it properly this time. Any one have any ideas on UK builders using DC?

robertyjohn

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, i’m currently restoring an old Viscount, it’s called an International Sebring. It’s a 5 speed, lugged frame, barely any braze-on parts, has Lambert brake levers. It has a Davis Components BB shell.