Just dredged up this old thread and can throw some light on the frame identity. It is a very interesting frame!
This is a CB Avant Coureur Special and quite likely the last 'genuine Claud' built at the Clapham works before the name was taken over by Holdsworth and the machinery auctioned off.
The Avant Coureur Special was the top model and would have been built by Claud's top frame builder. Can't recall the name but I think it was Lou or Lew something-or-other. The Avant Coureur Special was not lugged but of bilaminated construction, often built with an over-sized top tube. They are excellent frames. I had one myself and regret selling it.
Significantly, the number 573 under the bottom bracket denotes a build date of March 1957 and the frame number of 100 indicates the 100th frame built that year, but that seems unlikely since only a very few frames would have built after CB went into receivership late in 1956.
The Clapham factory assets were auctioned in March 1957, the same month that this frame was built!
This is a CB Avant Coureur Special and quite likely the last 'genuine Claud' built at the Clapham works before the name was taken over by Holdsworth and the machinery auctioned off.
The Avant Coureur Special was the top model and would have been built by Claud's top frame builder. Can't recall the name but I think it was Lou or Lew something-or-other. The Avant Coureur Special was not lugged but of bilaminated construction, often built with an over-sized top tube. They are excellent frames. I had one myself and regret selling it.
Significantly, the number 573 under the bottom bracket denotes a build date of March 1957 and the frame number of 100 indicates the 100th frame built that year, but that seems unlikely since only a very few frames would have built after CB went into receivership late in 1956.
The Clapham factory assets were auctioned in March 1957, the same month that this frame was built!
