Many thanks Norris for the further information. My scant knowledge of Macleans is this. May not be 100% but was given by two former Macleans builders, Tom Board and Jimbo Wilkins ? Not sure on this last one but it is something like this and he was a well known and respected North London club-man. Macleans as Norris quite correctly said started soon after the Great War. There was also another old firm local to them called Featherweights they both eventually amalgamated. Now I was always told that as Norris has again said that the Macleans frame numbering system was consecutive. Because they produced under two separate names for quite sometime and possibly in two separate locations there were two differing frame numbering schemes in operation for the Featherweights and Macleans after the amalgamation. In 1931 the name changed to Macleans Featherweights and they started afresh with a frame numbering system. The frame number was placed on the top side of the right-hand seat lug. They started with A in 1931 the second letter in the number is the code letter for that particular individual frame builder. So DD will be 1934 and built by frame builder D. I was also told that the first frame of the year was always started as 101. Up until 1939 they went through the alphabet until they finished with "J" in 1939, they missed out "I" . Now post-war they started with the letter "K" and relocated the frame number to under the bottom bracket. I am sure Tom Board said that they still used the same piece-rate system of pay and the second letter was the builders code as before for their individual weekly wages tally. I purchased a Macleans in 1968 from a former Goodmayes Wheeler member. This machine was a 1934 off the shelf model with the frame number beginning with DD. The original owner did not want to part with the original receipt. I have only a few tatty copies of my Grandfathers "Cycling's" left to perhaps verify some of this information: Cycling June 26th. 1924 pp xvii Maclean 2 Jackson Road Holloway. Cycling June 28th. 1927 pp viii Featherweights 366 Upper Street.
Croeso Cymru Joe King Nr. Maenaddwyn Ynys Mon Wales