Major Brothers touring - 1959
Owned by: Steve Griffith
Major Bros were a small shop/builder based in Thornton Heath SE London , popular with local CTC riders the half dozen or so Major's I have seen have all been touring.clubman machines, this one features some unique engineering solutions. The brothers Frank and Arthur ended up falling out and setting up rival shops. The orginal shop finally closed in 1969 although no frames were built after about 1962.
| Frame |
Major Brothers 'Touring' 531 Nervex lugs. Built for 26 x 1¼ which continued to be popular with tourists who enjoyed rough stuff due to the far greater mudguard clearance and giving a slightly stronger wheel. Braze-on for dynamo on rear seat stay, concealed dynamo cabling. Lamp bracket on left-hand fork for continental touring. Braze-on for a rear mech. as the cycle was designed orginally for hybrid gearing. |
| Wheels |
Conloy Boa (the heavier solid
version) on Sturmey FM rear and front small flange FB (the
worlds finest hub according to Arthur Major). One advantage of this
combination is that you can have the same spoke length if rear built 4x
and front 3x |
| Chainset | Williams C34 with 44t ring |
| Pedals | Lyotard 460D wide double sided so can
be used with walking type shoes and without clips (useful when
pushing the bike on a rough track) |
| Gears | Sturmey-Archer FM |
| Brakes | Weinmann Cantilevers (originally Mafac
driver which had become badly corroded) with Mafac
Guidonnet levers which allow braking from the top of the bars |
| Stem/Bars | GB Maes bars on GB alloy spearpoint stem,Steel Campag record headset |
| Saddle | Brooks B17 |
| Extra details | Special
features the front brake has no outer cable, it runs around
a pulley after exiting the lever straight down to the brake. The
rear straddle cable starts under the top tube and pulleys placed
either side allow it to run to the brake. Pulleys are fitted on an
adapted Huret bottom bracket cable guide. See images below. |
It is interesting to compare this to a clubman /racing frame of the time. Tourists recognised the advantages of cantillever brakes - tremenduous stopping power and less mechanism to get clogged up with mud. Sturmeys were viewed as less prone to damage and the FM (four-speed medium) was the favoured gear. Alloy cranks were expensive and viewed as not as durable as steel, the 26" wheels gave better mudguard clearance, nevertheless there are some things in common with more sportier machines eg the Brooks B17, FB front hub and the Campag headset.
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Steve would like to get hold of
some Major Brothers transfers - if you are able to help contact via the
webmaster, email address on home page.