Just a little information on F.W.Evans he opened his first shop in 1921 but probably didn't start building any frames in numbers until to 1926 or 27. He would have stopped building at the outbreak of war in 39 so if you use Hilary's figures he would have only made a maximum of 3900 frames in total. The old man died in 44 and his wife carried on with the shop until about 1976. Tom Board used FW's old frame building jig for many years I very much doubt these figures, as I understand it he built all his own frames and initially in the first couple of years as he was an unknown as a builder they would have been a lot fewer made earlier on. He advertised regularly in Cycling from about 1925 onwards. Hilarys 300 a year is probably way over the top thats 6 frames a week for 13 years. Highly doubtful. No his popularity was very brief as he never really embraced the mid 30's craze for everything continental and by 1936 his designs were very much old hat. I think this is where Hilary is possibly getting confused these are not touring frames by Evan's but old style 20/30's racers of his but which look very like touring frames although dating from the later 30's. He did build lots of tandem frames and these were especially popular with the late 20' and 30's track pacers. Tandem pacing on the track was very popular here pre-war as was tandem time trials. I started riding seriously in 1959 and the older tandem riders said that R.O.Harrison and Evan's tandems were the best. I have owned two Evans tandems and have had the privilege of riding H.R.Morris's Evans tandem, he rates them and this is from a builder who has built a few himself, all of these tandems were built when FW was still alive. I have also owned an Evans tandem trike and another Evans tandem which were both built in the very early 60's. The old man had been dead for donkeys years by then but they were both built to his original drawings. Wonderful machines. Interestingly enough there has been a barn find here in the last few months a totally original F.W.Evans in a large size this is definitely a racing frame because some of the history is now known but for the un-initiated you could easily mistake it for a tourer. It was found in St.Neots by a signwriter from Wisbech. The bloke said can you put that old bike in the back of your van and dump it!
Best wishes Mick.
>From where the wheels don't spin as fast as they use to. Be lucky Michael
Butler Huntingdon UK.