COMPETITION

Len Ingram writes: "During the early 1940s the Brilliant lug pattern was phased out (the last known frame being made in 1943) and the SuperSpecial was phased in for use on most frames, including the Six-Day. Both were based on Chater Lea blanks.

Another lug pattern was also introduced in the early 1940s. It is a development of the Brilliant but it is different enough to be given another name. It was used on the Competition models still being made from before the War, the last one listed being [made in about August of 1948] with Chater lugs. There are quite a few listed up to this date, although the model does not appear in the 1946 catalog. The Massed Start frame may also have been fitted with these lugs; they look like Anglo-Continental in the catalog, but that may just be an old illustration. Three frames built with the lugs are known in the Hetchins Register, one of which still has its original finish."

We do not know what this lug pattern was called in the shop, so we are tentatively referring to it as 'Competition Phase I' and 'Phase II'.

Competition
Phase I.
Chater Lea lugs.

The Chater Lea bell-shaped head lugs are typical of pre-War designs. Above: is a 1940 Competition. The elegant points and windows along the down tube differ from the simple Chater lug. The simple points on the head tube distinguish the Phase I Competition from the more elegant Phase II.

Below: Chater lugs on a Bates.

Below: an early 1940s Competition.

This 1946 Competition appears to be a transitional model: note the pre-War bell-shaped lugs, on the one hand, but on the other, the very early appearance of the double-plate fork crown. The elegant points on head tube differentiate it from the earlier Competition.

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