non-fixie 

I've been lusting after a fully chromed frame for a while but they're pretty scarce in this neck of the woods, so when this came up for sale within my size range I emptied my piggy bank and bought it.

However, I don't know what it is, and I'm hoping you can help me find out. The wrap-around seat stays pointed me towards Falcon, as does the sloppy build quality, but I haven't been able to match it with any particular model so far.

I'd appreciate any insights. Thanks for looking!



The fork looks like a generic replacement, and is probably not original:



It takes a 26.2 seat post, and there's some blue paint inside the seat tube:






The holes for the head badge are 57 mms apart:



Stop for the shifter band:



Did I say sloppy?







Geometry:

juvela

good looking mount Chuckk!

interesting puzzle non-fixie. suspect fork not original.

are dropouts pretend forged? recall seeing some 531 plain gauge falcons with these. had one such come through about forty some year back.

have a falcon hanging in the rack but cannot measure headplate holes for you as am ~700 km distant from it at present.

no doubt, the forum's falcon experts will be along momentarily to enlighten us...

looking forward to reading their observations.

rhm

Judging by T he photo of the wrap over seat stays as seen from the back, if say yes, very Falconian. Falcon seems to have used a lug that had the fully wrapped stay caps pressed into it, so the back has a very distinctive solid look. I can't check the head badge rivet spacing on mine now (i'm out of town) but I can say mine has cyclo dropouts (so marked) and take a 26.2mm post. It's straight gauge 531 and rides just fine. Mine has different lugs.

eschlwc

my falcon's a '73 531 with campy drops and is beautifully constructed -- about the nicest bike i've built up or ridden. its badge holes are roughly 57mm apart.

non-fixie 

Thanks for the replies, guys. Much appreciated. Not much room for any other conclusion than Falcon, by the looks of it. Here's another shot of the seat cluster. I'll post a better pic of the dropouts later today.

non-fixie 

Thanks Chuck! The family resemblance seems obvious. As I've not been able to match it with a specific Falcon model, this may also be an indication that it is a bike Falcon built for another brand.

BTW, this is my circa 1980 "Halfords Sport" I've always suspected of being Falcon-built too:

rhm

Yep, that is exactly the seat stay attachment my Falcon has. Looks like the same lugs as well.

non-fixie 

As promised:

Bicycle Addict

I had/have Carlton Corsa 5's with the same seat area arrangement. I have seen Raleigh's the same too, mass produced frame for the masses?

non-fixie 

I have a Carlton Continental myself - with the same wrap-over seat stays, but other details on this bike, like how the cabling is arranged, points very much towards Falcon.

I'm currently looking into other brands that may have had Falcon-built frames. So far, I've got Eddy Merckx and Halford's. Anybody know any other brands?

juvela

according to this wiki entry the current falcon cycles is producing machines under quite a variety of badges. scroll down to the "present" heading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_Cycles

the frameset under discussion may have looked much like this ex-works. colour may match that of the paint inside seat tube. it not only has the same lugs, seatstay cap and dropouts but the distinctive no-slide pib as well:

https://tinyurl.com/lf2b2he

wrt halfords - is that a sakae ringyo apex chainset she is wearing? had not previously seen this crown on a falcon product; she is a bit later than the examples am familiar with.

eschlwc

love this color!

non-fixie 

Thanks, I've seen the wiki, but that would be way too late for this frame, wouldn't it?

That could very well be the colour. Blue with a greenish hue. But why chrome the entire frame if you're going to paint it blue?

Here's the crank set of the Halford's. Pretty, no?




And the rest of the bike:

non-fixie 

In my original post I didn't think to show the bike the way I got it, as that build didn't seem .. um .. very original. But now that I see the Halford's some parts may have been original after all. It came with the same Shimano 60/600 derailer set:




The hubs are Shimano HF with straight QR blades and "RR" date codes. Pre-1976?



Oh, and there's serial number on the BB shell, which has been widened from 68 mm to 72 mm, presumably to host an Italian-sized spindle:

juvela

[QUOTE=non-fixie;16868538]Thanks, I've seen the wiki, but that would be way too late for this frame, wouldn't it?

yes indeed, no argument. you simply asked for other badges which may have been made by falcon.

That could very well be the colour. Blue with a greenish hue. But why chrome the entire frame if you're going to paint it blue?


if the plating were after market one would not have expected the blue paint inside the seat tube to have survived the etching process, let alone be on top of the plating. but it clearly is there... so this would imply that plating was done at factory. perhaps the bicycle originally had a chrom-o-luxe/cromovelato type of finish.

QUOTE]

juvela

wrt "italian sized spindle" -

stronglight and t.a. did not offer spindles for 70mm shells at this time. they accommodated italian threaded shells by making the walls of their italian threaded cups one mm thicker than their french/swiss/british threaded ones.

so if there is a spindle in there intended for a 70mm shell it must be a non stronglight or t.a. one.

interesting that the bicycle came to you fitted with a stronglight 93 chainset. in about 1973 i purchased a used falcon 531 plain gauge frameset which was fitted with the same chainset. the frame appeared to date from the 1960's.

non-fixie 

I haven't taken the BB apart yet, so I can't say what make the spindle is, but both cups are marked "Sakae":



And the headset while we're at it:

juvela

the crank fixing bolt and washer look like they could be stronglight. does the fixing bolt have a sixteen mm head? that is a size that was employed by stronglight and zeus. bb appears someone cobbled to get it operable with the fittings to hand.