What is a Marlboro Lynx ? It's a basic, heavy sports bike that was made by Falcon when Marlboro appeared to be winding down bicycle production in 1987. Maybe contracts needed to be fulfilled to provide Marlboro bikes to Halfords / catalogues etc, but for whatever reason Falcon seemed happy to re-badge production. This particular Lynx has been used very little but the previous owner had allowed the bike to slip into a sad state. I thought it could be useful as a trail bike, but first I needed to do something about that huge frame... More about that later.
The large 24.5 inch frame, steel rims, steel rear hub, pedals and derailleurs push the weight to around 12.5kg. Lively it certainly is not - although I dare say it would make a fast descender... Frame and fork are hi-tensile steel, seat post is steel 25.8mm. Handlebar stem is GB forged aluminium. Chainset is Solida with aluminium crank arms and steel rings. The Shimano style gear levers, brakes and derailleurs are marked Falcon.
Fortunately, the seat post and handlebar stem are not seized but I have yet to investigate the bottom bracket (the crank spins freely enough with a small amount of play). Check out those 'wheelbarrow' grips !
The axles reveal the speed with which these bikes were put together - unequal thread length either side for the nuts. A spot welded plate adorns the downtube which was meant to stop the gear lever band slipping along the tube under cable tension. That was the theory, but the assembler decided to ignore it and fit the band underneath rendering it useless !
After some online scouring I found that Marlboro production had been at Wordsley, Stourbridge near Dudley in the West Midlands. From the mid 1970s to 1987 their output was sold through catalogues such as Littlewoods and Grattan, and retailers such as Halfords.
Marlboro were involved in Holdsworthy during 1985 (taking over late 1985) thus becoming the owners of Holdsworth and Claud Butler (which Holdsworth had acquired in 1958). Manufacture moved to the Holdsworthy Alma works at Darlaston, West Midlands and during this time some higher spec Marlboro bikes were produced which are likely re-badged Holdsworth designs.The cheaper Marlboro versions are still in production, and lower cost Holdsworth models are added.
The Holdsworth / Claud Butler brands were sold to Falcon in 1987 who transferred production to their premises at Brigg in North Lincolnshire. Marlboro did retain a manufacturing presence in it's continued ownership of the Holdsworthy Company Ltd, and according to Norman Kilgariff's excellent Holdsworth resource further Marlboro bikes were made although the brand seems to quietly wither away subsequently.
87 means the year made. Note how the bottom bracket shell has been tack welded to the downtube prior to brazing. This was later ground down.
This is the later design Marlboro head badge.
Right, time for the hacksaw...
No comments:
Post a Comment