Steel frame ID - help needed

I recently acquired an early to mid 90s (best guess) TIG-welded steel frame via eBay. It claimed in the listing to be 531 although enquiries to Reynolds have suggested otherwise (prob. 631) as the building method and use of a teardrop down tube don't tally with that tubeset. Also, they have no record of the builder involved (frame was badged as McLay, apparently a small-volume Scottish frame producer) and the paint on inside of the headtube is cherry-red rather than the gunmetal of the exterior of the frame, leading me to suspect that it's a respray. Other details - STI/Ergo cable tensioners on head tube (no down tube bosses), braze-on front mech boss, 2 x bottle mounts, 2 x brake cable stops slightly to non-drive side of top tube, horizontal rear ends tapped for screw adjust, no mudguard eyes, 1" head tube and 27.2mm seatpost diameter. I'm wondering if it might be a repainted Graham Weigh, Ribble or Paul Donohue? Frame number is 4533599 if that is any clue. No holes on the head tube for fitting a maker's badge so probably not a Raleigh Special Products job either.

Photo here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/60525/5043307965/

Thanks in advance for any help,
David

No idea on the frame - but nice CX photos

I would've thought mid-to-late nineties. I don't remember seeing those threaded cable stops on the head tube before about 1997. Likewise for the oversized, shaped downtube. All your suggestions for the manufacturer seem plausible, but I couldn't suggest which it might be.

Do you know why the bottom bracket area is painted black?

I agree with the date being mid-90s onwards - particularly if carbon forks are original. If headset is 1.125", then suggest it's more recent e.g 2000 onwards. Is it tig welded or fillet brazed? Somebody can probably confirm that only Reynolds tubeset likely to have aero DT is 853? Black paint around BB suggests it's been repaired at some point.

monty dog":1g4aqsff said:

If headset is 1.125", then suggest it's more recent e.g 2000 onwards.

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I think it's safe to say it's 1".

Is it tig welded or fillet brazed?

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It's TIG. There's no fillet in evidence.

Somebody can probably confirm that only Reynolds tubeset likely to have aero DT is 853?

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There were shaped down tubes available in other sets - 631 was common, as David notes. I was considering a bike in about 1999-2000 that had a teardrop 631 downtube.

It looks like one of the Timet Titanium framed Raleighs....

Thanks to all for follow-ups. In response to some of the comments, it's definitely steel not Ti, and the head tube is 1". Although the weld lines don't show in the pics, the joints are indeed TIG not fillet-brazed.

Monty: it has indeed been repaired, but the seller did make this clear in his listing.

David

Update: got all the stuff (cables, transfers, etc., etc.) to commence the build now. Frame currently at the powder-coaters having its new finish, went for a dark metallic grey (a tad darker than the original scheme) in the end. Photos to follow, erm, at some point whenever I get round to it.

David