The Grubb Meteor I always thought that the Meteor Massed Start was a 60's Holdsworthy built frame and carried the name Freddie Grubb which they say he hated. RRA Bottom bracket cup removal. I am positive that Cyclo of Birmingham made a cup removal tool that you could get a special adaptor plate for Raleigh Cycles BB cups. Trust Raleigh to be different with their bracket cups and headsets, different threads. The Raleigh headsets were fitted by a lot of the pre and post war builders. The chrome and quality was said to be the best available then. Russ use to fit them quite often. Gillott block letter transfers these either went out of vogue, changing fashions or fell foul of the very strict R.T.T.C. no advertising bans. Both Gillott and Claud Butler used block letter in the 40's but reverted to the smaller script signatures for these reasons. Claud put block letter transfer on his frames when he restarted making in the early 60's. He had to do this as the receiver had sold his signature trade mark to Holdsworthy's when his business collapsed in 1957. Holdsworths soon hit back and revived the block letter transfers on their inferior built Butler's. Northern builders; their frames were very popular in the London area and had a deservedly high reputation. Most of the southerners use to have a look at what the Northern boys were riding when they competed and thought I'll have some of that. Why the London makers get all the publicity is I think down to this simple fact, all the editorial offices of the cycling press were located in central London, in fact very close to the City and Fleet Street with all the famous watering holes. I would reckon that is almost certain that the cycling papers top staff were being taken on knives and forks and jollies by the famous London makers. Lets face it there wasn't much advertising space to sell in the magazines of the times and why go up north when you could be wined and dined and sell your space easily in the capital. Merlin's where one of the famous London makers who came to prominence in the early 1920's. Think they originally started as the Merlin Tyre Company in Tollington Park North London, they sold tyres and Merlin racing accessories such as brakes, pedals, tyres and shoes. I don't know if they manufactured this stuff or were like Constrictor and got BSA and Stronglight to put their brand name on. Merlins had a high reputation and made many fine bikes. Their tricycles and tandems are amongst the best from that era. They were innovative and used a novel front fork drop-out which was unique to them. Like all of these once popular builders they struggled in the 50's, there stuff was seen as old world and very tourist like. They closed in 1955 and I think J.R.J purchased the brand. Hope this prompts a response and fills in some of the gaps by the far more knowledgeable. Best wishes Joe. Croeso Cymru Joe King Nr. Maenaddwyn Ynys Mon Wales