have posted to my wooljersey album a large number of pictures of a very rare Elswick Hopper Vampire Convincible. See the following web address:
The bike was discovered hanging with other bikes from the rafters of a garage at the home of an elderly man who lives in my area. As you will see it caught my eye because I had never seen anything like it before. I could tell that the front chain ring moved side to side in conjunction with shifting the rear derailleur to maintain "correct" chain line. I thought immediately of Frank Berto's discussions of this in the Dancing Chain.
http://www.wooljersey.com/
The story of how I got the bike is a long one and, I believe will be related in an upcoming issue of the Boneshaker magazine in an article primarily by Peter Brown. Let me just note that before I was able to obtain the bike I did some research which led me to Peter Underwood's Classic Lightweights UK site. Under the E's there was a page for the Convincible written by Peter Brown whom I contacted with the help of Neil Fotheringham. Peter was a gem and shared with me everything he knew.
Please see the following for the article:
http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/
The upshot is that no other example of an original unrestored Vampire Convincible seems to exist. How it got into this attic is beyond me.
Please enjoy the pics.
Edward Albert
Chappaqua, New York, U.S.A.