This is the only blurb I've ever been able to find about frame 2.
They're as rare as hens teeth.
From what I can gather. The remainder of the UK frames were bought by a Dutch distributor and marketed under another brand name. Common practice at the time.
The bike in the photo is a Merlin, for a long time, Merlin Cycles used to offer a steel frame that they called a TDB (for Tange Doubled-butted) and their blurb said it was made with 'the latest Tange Spiral-butted tubeset', so although I've never seen another one, I presume the bike in the photo is one of those TDBs. It has a spiral-butted seat tube as well. It looks as though the spiral is an externally-applied butting, which must strengthen the tube, perhaps sufficiently to enable a thinner-gauge tube to be used.
The TDB used to sell for £135, whereas the Merlin WCS, which was made out of the highest grade of Tange/Ritchey tubing, was £199. As ever, these were very good value frames, always highly-praised. I imagine that the TDB wasn't heat-treated, but would have been at a level just below Prestige. i.e., at or slightly above the quality level of a generic 4130 db frame.
I don't know of any other manufacturers that used the spiral-butted tubeset, but Tange dominated the market in those days, so if they were making it it must have been fairly widely used.
All in all, it's a very good frame and a notch above the usual chromo 4130 of that period.
This is the only blurb I've ever been able to find about frame 2.
They're as rare as hens teeth.
From what I can gather. The remainder of the UK frames were bought by a Dutch distributor and marketed under another brand name. Common practice at the time.
The bike in the photo is a Merlin, for a long time, Merlin Cycles used to offer a steel frame that they called a TDB (for Tange Doubled-butted) and their blurb said it was made with 'the latest Tange Spiral-butted tubeset', so although I've never seen another one, I presume the bike in the photo is one of those TDBs. It has a spiral-butted seat tube as well. It looks as though the spiral is an externally-applied butting, which must strengthen the tube, perhaps sufficiently to enable a thinner-gauge tube to be used.
The TDB used to sell for £135, whereas the Merlin WCS, which was made out of the highest grade of Tange/Ritchey tubing, was £199. As ever, these were very good value frames, always highly-praised. I imagine that the TDB wasn't heat-treated, but would have been at a level just below Prestige. i.e., at or slightly above the quality level of a generic 4130 db frame.
I don't know of any other manufacturers that used the spiral-butted tubeset, but Tange dominated the market in those days, so if they were making it it must have been fairly widely used.
All in all, it's a very good frame and a notch above the usual chromo 4130 of that period.
Don't see how you can go wrong at this money.
The tubing feels like a 20 pence piece.
Hope this helps.