Regarding Gillotts and Edwardes. Harry Carrington sold out to Edwardes in
February 1963 but Ron Cooper carried on building top quality Gillotts at
the old Southampton Way shop. Harry, meanwhile left in 1966. He had stayed
on to support Ron. Harry was disgusted at some of the junk that was coming
into Edwardes, either bought in or P/ex, and then being resprayed and
badged as a Gillott. He also fell out with them over the 1964 catalogue. Ron
continued until he left in 1967, later to set up as Ron Cooper Cycles in
Honor Oak. Ron was still building the occasional Gillott to special order.
The numbering system was now different from the old year prefix system used
since 1945. So far 7100, 7304 and 7309 are known. All seem to date from the
early 1970's so there is a pattern here perhaps. Only Time or Ron will tell.
Ron is renowned for his build quality so these rare 'genuine' Gillotts from
that period are fine bikes. I put the word Genuine in inverted commas
because Harry once said to me that the last genuine Gillott was built in
February 1963. I could hear the anger in his voice.
As for the 'Edwardes' Gillotts. They seem to fall into 3 categories as
far as I can tell. .
1. Frames rebadged as Gillotts by Edwardes after being acquired by sale or
part exchange. This could feasibly be any type of frame.
2. A batch of unknown quantity - several hundred perhaps, made at Raleighs.
Either using up stocks of obsolete frames from Carlton, Sun or whatever (all
Raleigh). These are the frames seen by Dave Marsh.
3. A batch of Holdsworth Mistrals bought in the early 1970's.
Edwardes had a large stock of Gillott badges and transfers left over form
the buyout. They also had some new designs made including the block
lettering I believe.
It is a great shame that the reputation of one of the finest British
frame builders should have ended on this note. The fact that these fakes
keep surfacing on ebay means that you need to be on the ball when dealing
with them. The one currently on ebay is an absolute horror. No relation to
seller...
Mark Stevens in balmy Evanton in the Highlands of Scotland.