Bobby Jones "Swansea"

[hiflange]

A WAHCC member brought this frameset in to our meeting last night. It's painted up as a Swansea with the rider's name on the top tube; John McGrath. John is still alive and has recently recordered an oral history session with the City of Belmont Museum. The bike isn't mentioned in the interview though:-(
According to it's new owner it was built for John by Bobby Jones of Auburn VIC around 1949. John moved west in '51 and ended up riding for Swansea at some point between then and 1960. His frame was restickered as a Swansea at that time.
It's a very nice frameset, in good condition with very pretty lugwork. I haven't heard of Bobby Jones on these pages before and thought it was worth a mention.
Note the curious brazed on initials "MN" under the stem.

[silverlight]

Now that's a wonderful frameset, especially loving the stem with the initials.
Would look amazing built up, worth following up with John to get more details on it with parts spec.

Wonderful
SL

[hiflange]

Apparently he doesn't remember the setup but it seems he has some photos, hopefully there're some clues there.

[find_bruce]

Apparently he doesn't remember the setup but it seems he has some photos, hopefully there're some clues there.

Gee it was only 60 years ago. Even if John was 18 in 1949 he would now be around 87 now

[GaryF]

What a fantastic frame with a really interesting history. I suppose quite a few riders chose to keep their old and trusted frames when selected to ride for a particular team and having their frame re-painted to reflect their new partnership.

The stem is something I have never seen before. Thanks for the photos.