“MN 68111, still in the original paint. The Major had got this frame hanging up, it was new. Somebody had ordered it but never collected, so he let me have it for £10. A bargain. The forks were originally red as well, but I got them chromed sometime in the 70’s. A chap that was in the Halesowen at the time had them done for me.”

This is a frame intended for the track. The lugs are the Prugnat long spearpoint pattern. The crown, a strong cast semi-sloping design, whose maker is not known, holds round fork blades. The seatstay bridge is curved and not drilled and the chainstay bridge is also curved, typical of his custom frames.

There is often a puzzle with Major’s builds and 68111 is no exception. The rear triangle has the mystery as the track ends have braze on eyes for mudguards. The chain stays seem a little long for sprinting.  Perhaps it is intended for pursuits. We will never know! The head tube and seat tube transfers are the 5 Reform Street knights head and flags with black edged white Gothic  script down tube capitals and the smaller version on the chainstays. The full wrapover seatstay tops have the longer topeye panels with the double fishtail motif in black with white, gold and black lug lining.

It is without doubt a Major frame that catches the eye in his favourite pillar box red. The frame number appears to be one that is a duplicated number in the shop record which shows it as a 24” with chrome lugs which obviously is not this frame. MN 681110 is also a track frame but the description does not match exactly on size.

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