What brand could this Clements made frame be? Merckx?

[Erskine]

So armed with this insight I disappeared down another internet rabbit hole.
Seems that in the US these Japanese frames from this era are held in high esteem.
Late 70's to mid 80's before the yen crashed and production was moved to Taiwan The first generation frames were not strong enough or proportioned properly for the taller and heavier westerners, but once the makers took this on board they started banging out very good quality stuff.
They were certainly exported to the US, UK and Holland.
On one thread regarding serial numbers it was suggested that the second letter in the serial number referred to the month of production rather than the fortnight A - M but missing out the letter i.
This would make mine December 1979.

 

[non-fixie]

Thanks for that non-fixie, very enlightening, I'dd always assumed these frames were made by just for Falcon brands so I'll be checking both my Tange Falcon frame numbers this weekend as I expect my Pro and Majorca are from the same lineage.

I'm glad to be able to share some of the tiny bits of knowledge I've gathered over the years, wrt who built what bike. Not easy, but at least the Asians put nice and clear - and often semi-significant - serial numbers on their frames.

Looking forward to seeing what your Falcons turn out to be.

 

[non-fixie]

So armed with this insight I disappeared down another internet rabbit hole.
Seems that in the US these Japanese frames from this era are held in high esteem.
Late 70's to mid 80's before the yen crashed and production was moved to Taiwan The first generation frames were not strong enough or proportioned properly for the taller and heavier westerners, but once the makers took this on board they started banging out very good quality stuff.
They were certainly exported to the US, UK and Holland.
On one thread regarding serial numbers it was suggested that the second letter in the serial number referred to the month of production rather than the fortnight A - M but missing out the letter i.
This would make mine December 1979.

I'm sure you found some of my footprints in that rabbit hole.

Regarding the second letter in the serial number: that *should* be easy to find out. The Japanese were way ahead of the rest of the world at the time when it came to manufacturing process and quality control (which is probably why their bikes and parts were not only of consistent build quality, but also why they could adapt so quickly to changing requirements), so I'm sure it's documented somewhere. Probably in Japanese, though.

 

[legrandefromage]

My Eslwick Stag is a very capable bike. I like it a lot. Tange Champion tubing is good stuff with the high end on a par with SL and SLX

 

[non-fixie]

Nice bike, skip monkey! A real "rider" if ever I saw one. Love that colour! And my size too.

What is the serial number? (you knew I was going to ask that question )

 

[Erskine]

Non-fixie,

Yes I'm quite sure your footprints must have been down there too!

 

[Erskine]

My Eslwick Stag is a very capable bike. I like it a lot. Tange Champion tubing is good stuff with the high end on a par with SL and SLX

Thanks for that chart, the 0.9 thickness of plain gauge x 2 subtracted from 28.6 O.D. plus .2 reamed distortion gives my seatpost size 26.6

Nice bike btw!

 

[Erskine]

Thanks for everyone's help with this, I'm now starting a build thread in readers road bikes, see you there!

 

[Erskine]

Stop the press. I had braze-on gear bosses attached and on cleaning up seem to have discovered a hairline fracture. I am assuming this is game over?
Please advise me peops!

 

[Midlife]

Blimey that's a lot of brass! Give the area a rub with some emery and see if it dissappears?