Fred Dean
Author Steve Griffith
I
had been vaguely aware of this South London marque for some years,
having seen the odd bike on a VCC ride and adverts in Sporting
Cyclist. Real interest was kindled when early in
2008 I
obtained as a job lot four frames one of which included a Fred Dean. No
paint was left on it and the only transfer was a red and gold head with
a racing cyclist, an address in York Road, Wandsworth, and SW18.Right: Fred Dean advert. 'Sporting
Cyclist' July 1962
Closer examination revealed a quality lugless frame with Campagnolo ends and brazes on for barcons. There were a few other nice touches especially around the braze-ons which indicated a frame upon which care had been taken. There was a frame number 6704 on the steerer tube on which I consulted Bryan Clarke (the fount of all knowledge on London builders). His suggestion was that it was the fourth frame built in 1967. Fred worked for Claud Butler and was manager of the Clapham Manor Road branch. For two years from 1955 one of our members Eric Hall worked for Fred on Saturdays. He paid a good wage of 30 shillings and Eric remembers him as being extremely knowledgeable and a good employer.
After Claud Butler went bankrupt Fred set up on his own, the shop opening in 1958. He had a number of addresses in York Road: 365 and 535 then finally appropriately 531. It is thought that frames were built by Bill Gray or another frame builder who had worked for Claud. Sporting Cyclist suggested Fred was also a frame builder but this is unconfirmed. It has also been suggested that his lugless frames were built by Ray Cooke who built for Allins.
Fred sponsored a racing team in the early 60’s for which Dave Bedwell and Tony Robinson rode. The first rider to be associated with Fred was Jock Andrews who won 5 French Road races in 1958, competed in the Tour de France and came 13th in the Worlds that year. In his first advertisement in December 1958 Sporting Cyclist prominence is given to a'‘Jock Andrews' frame priced at £16 16s. At the end of the 60’s Fred seems to have got in trouble with the Inland Revenue and decamped to Europe (possibly Germany as his wife was German) leaving a sign that allegedly hung in the shop window for many years "out to lunch back in one hour" or words to that effect.
Left:
Fred Dean advert.
'Sporting Cyclist' October 1963Leafing through a pile of Sporting Cyclist I was recently given I came across in the May 1964 issue a three page article about Fred himself. Entitled "One of the First" it told the fascinating story of how in the 1930’s, bored with English time trialling he rode a number of races in France including Paris-Chartres and the Tour de Paris. His first foray across the channel was in 1931 to ride the Paris-Verneuil a 180 mile day race. Unfortunately, he was prevented from competing by the organisers on the grounds he was not French. His first race was later that year the Paris-Dieppe over roads surfaces still not fully repaired after WW1. His bike with its deep Highgate bars and medium ratio Sturmey attracted at lot of interest. In fact most continental racers never having seen a hub gear assumed it was a brake!
Unfortunately, there is nothing about the business beyond a picture of the shop, presumably at the time this would have been viewed as tacit advertising. The article also contains some illustrations of Fred’s own touring bike with a number of interesting features including:
1. Two synchronised Mafac cantilever brakes on the rear working from a single lever
2. Seat pin bolt forward facing to reduce wear on the saddlebag
3. Gear lever mounted at the front of the handlebar stem together with a bell
Fred is also shown in the article riding a racing frame with a Paris Roubaix gear which would support the contention he was an experimenter.
During the ten years the shop was opened he offered a complete range of frames and towards the end offered stock below the recommended retail price. Clearly Fred was an innovative designer, even his own pre war machine looks ahead of its time with its upright angles and close clearances. In 1963 he advertised a frame with a reinforced bottom bracket lug, the Rigidex . He seems to have combined Continental design with British craftsmanship, eg the 1962 Super Italia model. My own frame has had the respray it deserves, courtesy of Mario Vaz, and rides as only a quality frame can; that hard to achieve balance between responsiveness and comfort.
Any further information on Fred Dean would be most welcome, especially sight of a catalogue, information on frame builders, details of other frame numbers, and more information about Fred himself.
References:
Thanks to Bryan Clarke and Eric Hall for information
Fred Dean advertised in Sporting Cyclist from December 1958 until the end of 1966 (usually alternate issues)
May 1964 Sporting Cyclist contains a three page article about Fred Dean
John Spooner shows
us the Fred Dean he rode in the early 60's:
I
bought my Fred Dean in 1959.
It was the "Campione" model, 531DB, Prugnat short point
Italia lugs, Agrati forkends. Cost me £13 13s.
Fred's adverts said his frames followed the Italian style with 72 head, 73 seat, with 1 7/8" forkrake. It was a super frame, so much better than the usual 73/71 with yards of rake most frames had then. The transfers were always on the top tube, FRED DEAN in about ¾" block capitals. and headbadge transfer.
They were very popular in the south London bunches, Thames Velo, Morden CRC etc. The late Ken Warren and his team all rode Deans.
It's a shame I haven't still got it but I gave it to a Brighton Velo clubmate for cyclo cross. Needless to say it got wrecked! That was in 1964 and I had just bought a Merlin, which luckily I still have.
Here is a photo of me (left) on the Fred Dean in the 1963 Sussex Road Championshipss, 88 miles round the Cowbeech circuit. I came 2nd to Barry Carpenter after puncturing and changing a wheel.
My Fred Dean specification was:
I
bought my Fred Dean in 1959.
It was the "Campione" model, 531DB, Prugnat short point
Italia lugs, Agrati forkends. Cost me £13 13s.
Fred's adverts said his frames followed the Italian style with 72 head, 73 seat, with 1 7/8" forkrake. It was a super frame, so much better than the usual 73/71 with yards of rake most frames had then. The transfers were always on the top tube, FRED DEAN in about ¾" block capitals. and headbadge transfer.
They were very popular in the south London bunches, Thames Velo, Morden CRC etc. The late Ken Warren and his team all rode Deans.
It's a shame I haven't still got it but I gave it to a Brighton Velo clubmate for cyclo cross. Needless to say it got wrecked! That was in 1964 and I had just bought a Merlin, which luckily I still have.
Here is a photo of me (left) on the Fred Dean in the 1963 Sussex Road Championshipss, 88 miles round the Cowbeech circuit. I came 2nd to Barry Carpenter after puncturing and changing a wheel.
My Fred Dean specification was:
Wheels
- Mavic
sprints 32/40 on Campag
Record l/f q/r hubs with 15/17g spokes but 14/16g on the gear side.
Regina 5 block 13-15-18-21-24. Regina chain.
Rear tub D'Alessandro cotton Imperforabile, which punctured! Front was a Dutch Radium Criterium. Lovely tubs, very well made and always went onto the rim dead true. They were hard to get in this country; Chainset - Campag Record 48/52t; pedals - Campag record track; brakes Mafac Racer; stem Ambrosio Grand Prix 5" with Phillipe Franco Belgebars.
The gears were Simplex Prestige with Campag bar-end control. These gears were new in 1963. Previously I used Huret Allvit - they always worked very well, but I felt like a change.
Saddle Brooks B17 "French" with Ideale Competition clip, with that clip you could get very fine adjustnent. GB stainless clips, Paturaud tie end straps.
EDCO nitrogen pump, with Terry clips (under down tube in image above). TA cable guide on stem bolt with Watney Red Barrel good luck charm attached. Tressorex cloth tape. TA "crac" d/t bottle cage.
The frame was Orange flam with Blue panels and chrome front ends.
The rider was 21 years old and here is in Brighton Velo yellow Unis Sport jersey, Raxar shorts, Hector Martin shoes. Rider looks tired as he had punctured and took 2 laps (22) miles to regain leaders and then attacked straight away. There were four left on last lap. I finished 2nd in the final sprint.
Webmaster adds
that, in
response to my request for the above information, John replied: "Hope
this is interesting. I kept a record of everything when I raced. I
wasn't really an "anorak", that was the jacket scooter (Mods)
riders wore! Actually, I had a Vespa 160cc GS
scooter to
get to races in those days, and as I came from Brighton where all the
Mods & Rockers had their battles I was often stopped by the
police
asking where I was going. A bit stupid really as I had the
bike
and wheels strapped to the upright rear carrier!"
Rear tub D'Alessandro cotton Imperforabile, which punctured! Front was a Dutch Radium Criterium. Lovely tubs, very well made and always went onto the rim dead true. They were hard to get in this country; Chainset - Campag Record 48/52t; pedals - Campag record track; brakes Mafac Racer; stem Ambrosio Grand Prix 5" with Phillipe Franco Belgebars.
The gears were Simplex Prestige with Campag bar-end control. These gears were new in 1963. Previously I used Huret Allvit - they always worked very well, but I felt like a change.
Saddle Brooks B17 "French" with Ideale Competition clip, with that clip you could get very fine adjustnent. GB stainless clips, Paturaud tie end straps.
EDCO nitrogen pump, with Terry clips (under down tube in image above). TA cable guide on stem bolt with Watney Red Barrel good luck charm attached. Tressorex cloth tape. TA "crac" d/t bottle cage.
The frame was Orange flam with Blue panels and chrome front ends.
The rider was 21 years old and here is in Brighton Velo yellow Unis Sport jersey, Raxar shorts, Hector Martin shoes. Rider looks tired as he had punctured and took 2 laps (22) miles to regain leaders and then attacked straight away. There were four left on last lap. I finished 2nd in the final sprint.
Webmaster adds
that, in
response to my request for the above information, John replied: "Hope
this is interesting. I kept a record of everything when I raced. I
wasn't really an "anorak", that was the jacket scooter (Mods)
riders wore! Actually, I had a Vespa 160cc GS
scooter to
get to races in those days, and as I came from Brighton where all the
Mods & Rockers had their battles I was often stopped by the
police
asking where I was going. A bit stupid really as I had the
bike
and wheels strapped to the upright rear carrier!"Right: Dave Bedwell in Fred Dean
colours, aged 34
here he is followed by Brian Robinson (St Raphael), two Ryall Raxars' riders - one possibly Tony Mills and Jim Grieves (Heylett) competing in the 1962 Isle of Man Road Race. Bedwell, being quite short, always rode small frames with very little distance between head and down tubes as can be seen here.
Thanks to John Spooner for identifying these riders.
here he is followed by Brian Robinson (St Raphael), two Ryall Raxars' riders - one possibly Tony Mills and Jim Grieves (Heylett) competing in the 1962 Isle of Man Road Race. Bedwell, being quite short, always rode small frames with very little distance between head and down tubes as can be seen here.
Thanks to John Spooner for identifying these riders.
Left: Another image of John on his Fred Dean at the start of the Dulwich Paragon Road Race, 1962
Lee Strugnell writes: I have just read the story on Fred Dean Frames. I used to live in Wandsworth and owned a Fred Dean for about ten years, as did many of us in the South Western Road Club. It was a great bike and served me
well in many races. Fred told me that my frame was built by a guy named Brian Packer.I don't think there was room at the shop for framebuilding and I never saw any sign of it. Sadl;y I don't know where Bran Packer built the frames. His signature was a curved brake bridge at the rear which followed the shape of the brake stirrups - very cool!
Right: Here is a picture of Lee, in
SWRC
colours, on his Fred Dean taken in 1966 at a race
in Ashdown Forest. Although Fred's frames always had the
transfers
on the top tube Lee had his re-sprayed with the name on the
down
tube just to be different! This machine was built with Oscar Egg lugs.
Lee tells us that Fred was a wonderful character who always
gave therm loads of credit, which led to his downfall! Lee
rembers that Fred and his wife always showed up at races in
his
red 1956 American Ford Thunderbird. He was a real extrovert!
Roger Pratt on his Fred Dean: Quite why I bought a London frameset in Spring 1960 when I lived in Cardiff I'm not sure. However, Dave Bedwell rode one and we had a Bedwell lookalike in the Ajax, Jimmy Mathers, who was also one of my heroes. (Jimmy rode The Oats in 1956.)
The frame cost £12.19s 6d from memory; my take home pay was about £4.50s a week. It was made to measure with a 25" seat tube. The complete bike would have been about £25.00. It travelled to Cardiff by British Railways. It was 531, had plain Nervex or Prugnat lugs and Campag ends. It was finished in gloss black with powder blue head and seat panels and gold lug lining - very tasteful. It had Gold Fred Dean transfers on the top tube which was usual rather than the down tube. This photograph was taken by Len Thorpe in the Severn Road Club 50 in July 1961 when I was eighteen.
Equipment - Campag. large flange hubs, Fiamme rims, Pirelli Leggero tubs, Stronglight cranks, TA Criterium rings, steel Cinelli badged stem and 17B bars, Brampton pedals, Brooks Professional saddle, Mafac Racer brakes, Campag. front and rear gears, HB control for the front changer, five-speed block, Christophe toeclips and straps, Detto Pietro shoes, TA clip-on cage and bottle, Bluemel's pump with a Campag. adaptor and pump clip. There were no braze-ons - not fashionable at the time - except the rear brake bridge.
The frame was built up for me at Charlie Alexander's shop in Cardiff docks. Charlie and his frame builder, Cliff Smith, built his own frames (as C.W.Alexander) and they were quality products - he built me a frame in 1966 for the Milk Race.
I cannot remember what happened to the Fred Dean. I began road racing in 1962 and several of us in the Ajax bought Eddie Soens frames from Liverpool - built by his son - Billy? Soens. Team-mates later went for George Brooks frames from Bristol and then Ron Coopers if anyone remembers those names.
Roger Pratt of Cardiff Ajax since 1959 photographed on his Fred Dean competing in the Severn Road Club 50-mile TT in 1969