I'll try to make this my last Post on this subject...but I have to admit it is one that I find quite enthralling.
In the 70s and 80s traded quite a lot with Ron Kitching, his warehouse being a very pleasant one-hour's drive from my shop and workshop. In the later 70 and into the early 80s I used MKM to spray my frames.
As I recall .my recollection being from the mid-70s, and my MKM
catalogues dating from 1976, MKM only used the large MKM letters for
their head-tubes, so I assume that the shield-type transfer shown on the
CR site must have been on earlier frames
>From 76 onwards through to 1980 there was no mention in the catalogues
of any "Metcalfe" frames or Tour-de-France models, so it might be
reasonable to assume that the use of these names was an early device to
promote the new brand, Wes and Arthur being well-known throughout the
UK.
In the later years MKM supplied a lot of "OE" frames into the States but I never found out their destination.. After the departure of the MKM triumvirate, the company was bought by an accountant/cyclist called, I think, Crabtree. Unfortunately Mr Crabtree lived some distance away from Harrogate and was only at the workshop a couple of days a week, therefore being forced to leave the staff to work "on trust". I remember that there was quite a lot of abuse of this trust and many frames left the works without ever showing up on the inventory.
Sad demise really..
Norris Lockley ..Settle.UK