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Yes, on the hubs that's week number and year. By the time I worked for Falcon (1980 or 81, so long ago that I can't remember) I don't think the model existed - I certainly never saw that head badge and the tyres are new to me too, never saw them in the factory or on the bikes that passed through...

Late 1970s-early 1980s. You're unlikely to learn much from the frame number as the frame is Taiwanese and Falcon didn't record them. You might have better luck if you can find the bike in a catalogue from the period but that'll be difficult as at the time the company was losing it's way and...

The cog threads are universal across all BSA, French and Italian freewheel bodies. If I recall correctly, the cogs with plastic spacers are splined in place (three splines) and have two different internal diameters with the rear most pair being a wider diameter than the others. The top sprocket...

Yes.

Or a very rare A.P. Enis.

I've always considered that as long as you don't try to pass the frame off as an original you can get away with just about anything. We used to put our own decals on all sorts of frames, especially after a repair or respray. Back in the age of steel frames it was common for pro riders to have...

There's a coincidence...... ;) So that's a minimum of £3.5k plus paint, for a plain frameset.

I recently found out that a frame builder who I'd never heard of has a workshop on the outskirts of the town in which my parents live. Other than having taken a quick look at the website I can't really comment on the product other than to say that he/she/they come across more than a bit...

And there's a difference between 'able to build x per week' and 'build x per week'. Knocking out a 22" 73 degree parallel frame for stock takes less time than a custom job for an exacting customer.

Crash hats? Sometime in the 1970s I think. They certainly were compulsory when I first dipped my toe in road racing in the late 70s.

That's because Mannesmann now is not the Mannesmann of the past after Vodafone reneged on a verbal agreement to keep the group complete made as part of their takeover. The tubing part of the group (and the name) was sold off to Salzgitter while VDO and Boge were sold to Siemens and Bosch bought...

Mannesmann had a tube mill on the outskirts of Bergamo, think the site is now a science park of some sort. I believe they used to supply Columbus with raw tube stock from that mill.

I'd go for that. Looks like International Standard shipping to the EU would be an extra £10.

First edition "Designing and Building Your Own Frameset : An Illustrated Guide for the Amateur Bicycle Builder" by Richard P Talbot, hardback, ISBN 0-9602418-1-7. Cover protected with clear adhesive plastic as encouraged by British schools back in the in dim and distant days of my youth. Has...

Back in the days before public liability and being sued at the drop of a hat, we didn't pull forks straight. With an assistant (usually the Saturday boy/gofer) not holding the bike upright the straightener wouldn't lie on their back with slightly bent legs either side of the front wheel, didn't...

Italian and British headset threads were 99% identical, the only difference being in the thread angle - 55 degrees for Italian and 60 degrees for British (which is also the ISO standard). You should find that the damage to the thread can be corrected by skilled use of a thread recovery file...

DIN stands for "Deutsches Institut für Normung". It's like BS, ANSI, JIS etc. They all contibute to ISO standards.

ISTR that they were wet sponges or something similar, that year's TdF was unusually hot. Think it was the year when some riders wore sleeveless jerseys and then suffered with sunburned biceps.

From what I can remember, my '84 Mexico had a semi-sloping crown, 2 crimps in both the top and down tubes, flat 'CONLAGO' seat stay caps and 'COLNAGO' stamped in both chain stays which weren't crimped on the insides. The BB shell had a club shaped cut out, tubular cable guides and 'BREV...

The small splined Maillard freewheel tool was designated 407 'Atom', the larger splined tool was 408 'Normandy' then the basic 2 dog was 409 '700'. A better 2 dog remover (which I've got somewhere in a tool drawer) was 411 'Luxe 700 avec broche' and had a skewer to hold it in place. With...