Is My Bike A Greeves?

[Ollie Dent]

hi everyone, i have a frame that i was given by a friend, he bought the frame as a bike because it had leading link fork and the villiers twin engine that he would use for his project, he was told it was a greeves and believes this to be true.
I am not so sure as it does not have a cast front end to the frame as all greeves appear to have.
did they ever make frames without the cast part? i have seen some from the 70's are all steel tube framed but my frame looks older 60's
the frame number is 61c131.

can anyone help shed some light on the situation?

Ollie

[John Wakefield]

Is my bike a Greeves.

The cast alloy beam frames always had the leading link forks on the 2T engined bikes which also had the alloy beam, you say yours has a 2T engine which was mainly used in road bikes, but a few were made as trials & scramblers, in any case they would have an alloy beam. Frame number does not align with a Greeves model, maybe Cotton or Norman both of whom used leading ling forks (by Armstrong) on 2T engined roadsters. Can you post a pic, you can do so via the insert image facility (5th from right above) using the html of the pic

[johnrunnacles]

It's unlikely to be a Greeves if it has a tubular frame with leading link forks, Ollie, but sight of a photo would confirm the make/model.

If you're a GRA member, send me a Private Message, and I'll give you my email address to which you may email a photo or two.

Regards,

John R

[Brian Catt]

Sorry to pick holes in the argument John, but the "R" models of 54 to 57 had tubular frames, not cast beams. Judging by the frame number, it's not a Greeves, but could be a Cotton or Ambassador, or even something else.

[John Wakefield]

Quite correct Brian, I have now ammended wording to 2T engined bikes, the earlier road models did not have the 2T fitted. Dont think Ambassador fitted LL forks!
Could be a Cotton Continental

or a Norman B4 Sports

[riflegreen]

61c131 is a Greeves Griffon frame number .

Chris

[Colin Sparrow]

A Griffon with a leading link fork! The things people do!

[John Wakefield]

But Griffins did have LL forks, all be it banana ones

[Brian Catt]

Until we get a pic of this frame and forks, we are shooting in the dark. Sorry about the Ambassador bit, but DMW, DOT,Norman, Panther, Sun and probably others may have made 2T models.

[Colin Sparrow]

"But Griffins did have LL forks, all be it banana ones"

Good point. I think I'll go and zap some spammers...

[John Wakefield]

Brian it's a Griffon see riflegreen's posting, he has identified the frame number

[Ollie Dent]

wow you guys are amazing! didnt expect a result. i will try and post a pic just so you can see what we are talking about.

[IMG][/IMG]

so what can you tell me about my bike? i am now more interested in putting it back together original.

the only engine i have is an amc villiers 25T 250.

[John Wakefield]

Mystery frame

Not a Griffin, looks like a cut & shut job. Rear end looks similar to an alloy beam Greeves frame, maybe someone has taken out the alloy beam & welded in some tubes.

[Ollie Dent]

it hasn't been cut now its sandblasted you can tell its 100% original and so light it must have reynolds tubing. griffons stooped having cast bit in 1969 from what i have read and if thats what the number checks out to be then it must be griffon must it???

[riflegreen]

Don't know what it is , 100% not a Greeves . possibly a Sprite .

Have a look at the Griffon pic .

Why it has a Griffon frame number I expect we'll know .

Chris