Fancy cut lugwork on bicycle frames is a peculiarly English phenomenon thoughin the last
20 years or so some really superb examples of this art have been produced in the States.
The best known exponent of fancy lugwork is Hetchins. Hetchins certainly produced
fantastically ornate lugwork from the mid-Thirties onwards but many would argue that Les
Ephgrave actually produced the finest hand cut lug work of any English frame builder. Over
a period of approximately twenty years from 1948 he produced a total of about 4000 frames
under his own name and a few other top-of-the-range frames for local shops such as Rory
O'Briens at Romford and Ducketts in East London.
Prior to setting up his own business in Clapton,
London E5, Les had worked for Claud Butler and Harry Rensch (of Paris Cycles). In the
early years he had as many as five people working alongside him. From the very first days
the Ephgrave No 1 lug was produced. This initially featured swallow tails rather than
spear points.
Each set of lugs was hand cut and although all No 1 lugs were made to a broadly similar
design the length and width of the spear points and small details did vary. But what
differentiated Ephgrave frames from many others with fancy cut lugs was the beautiful
uniform filing applied to the lugs. Looking at Ephgrave lugs it's hard to imagine how
pieces of ,metal could be so perfectly formed. And this was all done with Abrafiles and
drilling. At first he sold frames from the back of his car at grass track meetings. Soon
he took on agents and dealers around the country so it was no longer necessary to go the
depths of East London in order to buy an Ephgrave.
In the early Fifties a Super No 1 design was
added. Though judging by the number of Super No 1 lugs to survive this was obviously only
made in pretty small numbers. They were very similar in design to the No 1 but had small
windows cut in the spear points and on the side of the lug. And for those whose
pockets were not so well lined there was the Eprgrave No 2 which was based essentially on
finely filed and subtly altered Nervex Serie Legere lugs. Early on there were some
sif-bronze welded (fillet brazed) frames with long ornamental sleeves added on the top
tube. And in later years frames were built with Prugnat lugs both in pretty much standard
form, finely filed, and with their points split and curled round. Additionally fillet
brazed frames with a 1 1/8in top tube were always listed in the catalogue though these are
uncommon. At about the same time that the catalogue was first produced in the early
Fifties the famous Ephgrave lollipop was adopted. On the seat stay top eye a small round
disc was brazed intoposition with a short metal rib running down theoutside of the
seatstay, looking like a lollipop - hence its name.
As car ownership became more widespread in the late Fifties and early Sixties, demand for
even top class bicycle frames dropped off rapidly. Les was reduced to working on his own
and soon he took in work from the local Jaguar car dealer building badge bars, luggage
racks and exhaust systems. The number of frames built in later years was very small and
tragically in September1969 Les died from lung cancer.
Peter Holland ( 01892 510153) is theVeteran-Cycle Club's marque enthusiast for Ephgrave
and would welcome any information relating to Ephgrave from current or past owners who
have not already been in touch with him.
Thanks to Malcolm King for the 1950s Ephgrave No. 1 road/ltrack machine featured.
FRAME DESIGN
Les recommended a 72' parallel frame for mass start racing with equal length top and seat
tubes. For track use the angles were steepened to 73' and the rear triangle shortened by a
1/4 in. to 17 1/4in. But these were only recommendations - Les would build to anyone's own
requirements.
FRAME DETAIL
All the little details on Ephgrave frames were exquisitely executed - the seat stay bridge
was reinforced for the brake and the tube ends were beautifully shaped to fit both front
and rear fork ends. Fork crowns were filed to the same beautiful standard as the lugs.
EQUIPMENT
The frames were generally equipped to the rider'sown requirements by the supplying dealer.
in theearly days purchase tax an complete bikes meantthat most were bought as frames and
equipped bytheir owners.
FRAME NUMBERS
Virtually all Ephgrave frames are easily identifiable, their frame numbers having an LE
prefix, though this does seem to be absent an a few early frames.
Cycling Plus Magazine Jan 2000 |