Saxon

“There are two English Saxon makers. The first business was set up in about 1919 and went onto 1939 building in the main nice lightweight machines. In the 1920s Saxon were quite innovative offering cassette bearing bottom brackets.”
“In the late 20s they lined their fork blades with wood to add strength. Bill Bailey, a top class sprinter earlier on became works manager around about 1930 and his influence shows in the later models. In 1937 they launched a twin seat tube tandem followed a year later by a solo using the same design. The idea was to get a short wheelbase and allow the chain stays to be very short. The works closed at the outbreak of war.”

“Claud Butler bought the name after the war and sold a variant of the twin seat tube design which was built lugless in about 1951­3. The name was resurrected on some nasty cheap bikes in the 1980s made I think in South Wales.”