Bill Hannington Lightweight

[Midlife]

Smart is there any dropout adjusters to set the rear wheel a bit more forward in the dropout? Saddle clip is usually set the other way round.

 

[Toecutter]

Thanks. There are eyes for them on the dropouts; just need to hunt some out from one of the spares bits boxes. So far it's just been a couple of runs up and down the road to see how it handles.

 

[Toecutter]

...well spotted re seat pin - moved around!

 

[sludgegulper]

Never seen any forks quite like those. The frame is most likely 1950's given the lugs and I wondered if Bill Hannington might have built it though the frame number is 5592 - a high number and possibly built 1955. Someone at Berkshire Cycles remembered the shop at Cemetery Junction having a workshop at the back so it could have been built in house. With your frame the number could be a casting number on the BB, might be worth a look on the rear dropouts and of course, the steerer tube.

Those are forks from a mass-produced Norman Invader. The ribbing was a Norman patent. The fork crown is standard Invader style also found with the normal fork blades.

 

[Toecutter]

Those are forks from a mass-produced Norman Invader. The ribbing was a Norman patent. The fork crown is standard Invader style also found with the normal fork blades.

Thanks very much for that - might suggest then, that Norman Cycles supplied frames for the Howell shop - here's a reminder of the Howell frame...
Cheers, Shaun

 

[sludgegulper]

Thanks very much for that - might suggest then, that Norman Cycles supplied frames for the Howell shop - here's a reminder of the Howell frame...

The rear end is definitely not Norman. Probably just the forks. Looks OK though!

 

[Toecutter]

That then, explains why the forks were a different colour - on the top layer anyway. Worst of all was that someone had cut down the steerer tube so I had to splice in an extension piece to make it fit into the frame. The last owner proper had a hoard of older frames and passed them onto Laura's Vintage Cycles who listed this, and others on Ebay. Amongst the others was a Gamages of Holborn plus oddities like Triumphs. I'd never seen forks quite like those before but have heard of Norman Cycles. There were a couple or so listed on Ebay not too long ago. The Howell transfers are like works of art.

 

[Toecutter]

A few weeks or so on having bought the Bill Hannington featured on this post by Jiveman60 to whom I am grateful for doing the deal. Now back up and running with a new paint job and chromed forks it had its first outing today, 28 pleasant miles with just some small adjustments needed. A photo is attached showing it together with the previously featured example purchased from dttlincs. For someone who was a one man band building frames it would appear that Bill Hannington used a varied selection of transfers / badges for his frames. Where necessary I was able to get these recreated to a high standard by a friend in the Veteran Cycle Club.