My Super Rare 1964 Allin"Belgique".

I'm down in Kent at the moment and would rather forget(!)why I'm here and show you this rarity.

Designed to celebrate the victories (see the attached ad) of the son of one of the directors of Allin Cycles in 1964.

This super rare frame, I doubt if there's another, came from the original owner who worked for Allin's for over 20 years. Costing just over £25.00 with all the optional chrome seen here. It was only available in this colour scheme, with Nervex Professional lugs, the only option was no chrome, or some but less chrome than this one!

£25.00 in 1964 would be circa £415.00 today, it was a similiar price to a Hetchins, and built from an early version of 531SL (specially made by Reynolds for this frame) it is very light.

Hope you find it of interest.

Roadking.

Wow

Wow! That is really lovely.
Even without its wonderful history its visually stunning.
Even my wife walked past and stopped and said thats a lovely looking frame :shock: What can I say, she has style.
Tell us more please RK

Jamie

Re: Wow

Jamiedyer":3u3g47k7 said:

Wow! That is really lovely.
Even without its wonderful history its visually stunning.
Even my wife walked past and stopped and said thats a lovely looking frame :shock: What can I say, she has style.
Tell us more please RK

Jamie

Click to expand...

Thanks Jamie, your wife clearly has taste.

Here's picture of Keith on the cover of Sporting Cyclist.

What else would you like to know?

Cheers, Rk.

At first sight that looks like a track frame of the era with road rear dropouts and braze ons........Certainly in the era I started any rear brake bridge that had a curve to it belonged to a track frame....

Shaun

Midlife":pm8fffo0 said:

At first sight that looks like a track frame of the era with road rear dropouts and braze ons........Certainly in the era I started any rear brake bridge that had a curve to it belonged to a track frame....

Shaun

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Hi Shaun.

The Belgique was never available as a track frame, I have other Allins with the same style of brake bridge - Peter Cobb, Allin's framebuilder, was meticulous, one of the unsung heroes of the art.

Roadking.

That's unusual RK

Most frame builders would have a "track" version of their signature road frame.......

Shaun

Midlife":2gvzjpsp said:

That's unusual RK

Most frame builders would have a "track" version of their signature road frame.......

Shaun

Click to expand...

I agree.

I did research this frame quite thoroughly after I acquired it (from a member of the Davey family - look up Charles Davey, see link below, he's v.interesting and competed in the 1912 Olympic road race in Sweden!).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Davey_(cyclist)

After speaking in some detail to the Allin staff member previously mentioned, I'm confident in my knowledge about the frame and the maker over a 20+ year period.

We (the old-timer contacts mentioned) think the frame may be the only one in existence. My intention is to restore (I have transfers and an NoS headbadge) it as it has some damage that should be repaired and the vivid colour has faded. The unfaded colour under the BB makes your eyes bleed!

I also have the full spec that Keith Butler would have used BITD. Keith is still around but I have been given the impression he's not a friendly chap!

Thanks for the interest.

Rk.

Keith Butler went on to set up the Surrey League road racing scene in my old stomping ground IIRC. I can't remember him having a reputation for being particularly unfriendly or anything, just a typical down-to-earth no-nonsense sort of guy.

You say the 531 is a custom version like Special Lightweight, did it have the same reduced wall thickness or some other weight saving features? The chainstays look very slender for instance. I like the Belgian flag colours although they seem to clash a bit with the main colour - I'm guessing they won't once the full strength of the original is re-created. When you look at the prices charged for steel frames these days £25 back then is very reasonable.

I hope you'll keep us up to date with the restoration - I assume a full respray is on the cards at some point.

Mark.

PS: I was born in the same year as this frame, it's a shame I can't be restored to my former glory!

I knew Keith had set up and runs the Surrey League, I now have his contact details so I'll speak to him soon. Almost certainly because of Keith's successes in the 60s Reynolds did make this special tubeset - equivalent to SL - though SL was a few years away from being properly embedded in the Reynolds catalogue.
The original colour is most vivid still under the BB, and the Belgian colours (as you suggest) will not clash as much when repainted.
Everything I know about this frame is from people who were around at the time and either worked for Allins or knew Peter Cobb and Keith, although my family were customers of Allins from the 1930s to the 1970s, my Father having bought a tandem from them for a touring holiday of the south west with a friend in 1945.
A restoration is on the cards...but it is in a queue, and I might have to dispose of a few framesets to fund the outstanding restos, including a Cliff Shrubb built Geoffrey Butler!
Cheers, Rk.

Beautiful colours and beautiful patina IMO a shame to repaint it.