Headset and match
In the letter ‘Ahead of his time’ (CW, 2 July) Richard Coomer noticed the stem on the bike of a very young Jacques Anquetil. Probably when he was a junior rider, around the early 50s. He is shown with a clip-type headset. These were the norm before the threaded headset came along. All bikes from the 30s through to the 40s were fitted with this type of headset, and in some instances through into the early 50s. A new/old stock Chater-lea headset nowadays would fetch hundreds of pounds. My 1937 Saxon twin-tube is fitted with a clip-type headset.
Derek Browne Secretary of the The Classic Lightweight Yorkshire Section, The Veteran-cycle Club