Looking at the picture above, you might be forgiven for not noticing much out of the ordinary… or you may have spotted a rather slender down tube, where, perhaps, a chunkier one might’ve been expected. This is the Cliff Shrubb ‘twin tube’ special, and is thought to be a one-off design from the late, great South London frame builder.
Believed to have been built as a time trial bike for David Akam in the 1990s, it’s an unusual sight with the twin down tube feature. Whether the thinking was to create a stiffer frame than normal, or more aerodynamic, has now been lost – but it’s a design a few brands and makers have experimented with down the years, including Colnago, who made a double down tube track bike in the early ’90s, and Factor with its striking Vis Vires from 2013.
> Check out the Project D with twin down tubes and seat tubes
Certainly the current owner reports that it is “quite a stiff ride”. Straight legged track-style forks also contribute to this feeling of rigidity too. Dave had a professional career racing on the continent during the 1980s, but had to retire due to health issues.
Cliff had a curious engineering mind, and was able to find unusual solutions to framebuilding problems. As well as this Special, he also built a twin chainset bike to solve the problem of gearing for a high speed record with rider Dave Le Grys in 1985. Guy Martin and Jason Rourke used a similar design for their attempt in 2013. Although capable of producing fancy lugs, his personal style was less fussy than this, and the beautifully smooth fillet brazing on show here demonstrates that style well.
Cliff had started his frame building career with Claud Butler cycles in Clapham, London in the 1950s, but it wasn’t until the late ’70s that he started building bikes under his own name. During this time he mainly worked repairing factory timekeeping machines and fire alarms.
Initially he rented a workshop from George Clare of Geoffrey Butler Bikes in South Croydon, then based himself at Allins Cycles on Whitehorse Road, Croydon, in the early ’80s. A later move saw him working at Pearson Cycles in Sutton. Although retirement saw his production of bikes slow, he was still building frames in his late ’70s.
Beautifully elegant in its simplicity, this bike is a purist’s delight. The Campagnolo 10-speed Record groupset, with a Veloce rear derailleur in (mostly) polished silver, beautifully sets off the pearl-white finish that the frameset is painted in.
The tubing is unknown, and not stated on the frame. Although we do know that Cliff tended to build using Reynolds, and sometimes Columbus tubing, choosing the gauge and characteristics of a tube to best suit the customers needs. A sign of a master frame builder then, in my opinion!
Tight clearances for the current 23c tyres, and fairly short wheelbase, measuring 990mm, and a straight leg fork all demonstrate a purposeful time trial machine. Although I’m sure that 25c tyres could be squeezed in, should one wish to, to give a little more comfort, this is undoubtedly a thoroughbred racing bike.
My thanks to the current owner for letting me see this beautiful bike, and telling me its interesting history. A lovely obituary to Cliff, written by his friend Richard Hallett, is here.
2 thoughts on “The story behind this lovingly restored Cliff Shrubb “Twin Tube Special” time trial bike from the early 90s”
Much to my parents’ irritation, I opted to do my fifth-form work experience week at Allins cycles in the late 1980s. I remember being fascinated by the frame for the twin-chainset speed record bike, which was hanging up in the frame building workshop at the time. I bought an Allins frame a bit later too, not sure if Cliff Shrubb would have built it.
Stunning frameset. But that set-up is horrendous. Dave Akam was clearly much taller than the present rider. And ’80s/’90s bars were never, ever designed to be set up like that: the drops need to be much closer to horizontal. This particular bike at bedtime has inadvertently become the stuff of nightmares!