The first Zephyr model was a ladies cycle, offered in 1933/4. It was modelled on a machine used by Mrs Holdsworth, it was no longer in the range in 1938.
Road/Path + Path 1952-1961+
Road/path models have track rear dropouts with mudguard eyelets. They have track ends because they were designed for fixed wheel use, but have mudguard eyelets for outdoor use. This could be the sign of a time-trial frameset, as most time triallists used a fixed wheel until the mid 1960’s, and (with mudgaurds added) a top quality winter trainer, as racers often rode a fixie over winter.A pure path Zephyr was first available in 1954.
1952 Zephyr
1953 Zephyr
1954 Zephyr
1955 Zephyr
c1956 Bob Johnson’s lovely Zephyr, believed to be in original finish. The lugs are cut out to the “Coronet” pattern, ornated with windows..click pics to enlarge
1957 Zephyr
Fluted seatstay top-eyes appear in 1957 & 1958 catalogues
1958 Zephyr
During 1958 (perhaps for 1959) a new lug set was adopted on the Zephyr, very different to the original “coronet” style. The top-eyes remain fluted.
1961 The Cyclone and Zephyr were effectively road, time trial or track versions of the same ‘top-of-the-range’ frame. They had the same tubesets and identical lugs. The Cyclone was the road version, with Agrati or Campag road dropouts and 73o head / 71o seat or 72o parallel angles, while the Zephyr had heavy plate track dropouts, with mudguard eyelets as standard but could be omitted, track fork crown with round fork blades and 73o parallel angles.
