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I’m down at my elderly mum’s near Hastings for a couple of days while she’s in hospital having a hip replacement. I brought a bike down to do my running around by bike because bugger doing it all by car, but by jaysus it’s hilly! Glad I brought this one and not my daily which is fixed gear...

Cool find. The wheels look like they have Westwood rims, which are designed for rod brakes, not caliper brakes.

It's not a 992 - they were bonded aluminium frames. I don't recall ever seeing a lugless steel Vitus frame. It might not even be a Vitus. The fork looks like it might be off a 992 though. Have you stuck a magnet on it to see if it's aluminium?

^ LGF the Mafacs actually work really well, like you said, and only need light finger pressure to pull the bike up. Just let down by a couple of dinks on the rims and the fact that the pads are old and slightly unevenly worn.

It coped just fine on the commute. 48x18 has made a massive difference and it flies along. The only thing that lets it down is the brakes, but, like with any older vehicle, you just adjust the way you drive/ride accordingly.

You can’t! They’re kind of in the wrong place for everything. Holding the bars at the top, the clamps and pivots are where your thumbs want to go round the bars, so you can’t get a very good pull on the levers. On the sides where you’d normally be on the hoods, the lever is a long way down and...

I spent some time teaching my 6 year old how to do skids on this, yesterday (it does good skids despite the awkward brake lever positions and the trad Michelins leave excellent black lines). Me, him and my 2 year old on her balance bike then went on a mini bicycle adventure and ended up at the...

Wow, those lugs are quite something!

They’re a really good fit and they don’t rattle or clatter. 70+ years old!

First ride then. I took it into Staines and a couple of miles down the towpath. Gearing set on 48x20. So it’s not a fast bike. What do I mean by that? It doesn’t take a lot to push it along, but it doesn’t want to go fast. It’s not like my 1938 Parkes which is springy and zips along. It’s...

I ordered up some M6 x 8mm x 16mm shoulder bolts yesterday afternoon and they unexpectedly dropped through the door this morning! I got stainless ones, because the carbon steel ones have a black knurled finish on the head that thought might look a bit out of place. These look just fine imo...

Is that 0.7mm difference all the way round (both sides) or total difference? Either way, a 1mm or 0.5mm thick shim is too much interference and I don't think you'll be able to press that in without breaking something. You certainly won't be able to easily cut or roll a 1mm thick Ti shim into a...

2. Remove the broken screw from the chainstay bridge so I can re-fit the mudguard screw. Ok, this is going to be a bit of a how-to with Easy Outs and what to do when they don't work (because it didn't). First, if you can, file the end of what's left flat: Make your life a bit easier - put...

Managed to do a couple of jobs I've been putting off. 1. Remove the wobbly reflector and tap the back of the mudguard back into shape where it's a bit bashed in. The nut was just spinning the stud in the plastic reflector, so I cut a slot in the end of the thread with a 1mm disc in the...

Interesting resource which doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the brand. Lots of pictures. https://www.reneherse.com/

Any interest in any of this before I put it all on eBay?

I *think* they’re backwards compatible.

At the very least, that child seat has to be saved! I bet there aren’t many more of those left, if any others at all. Just put it on eBay.

Not on these cranks because the originals are 3 bolt and Stronglights are 5.

So, rebuild time. There are a couple of things that need addressing, but I can basically start putting this back together and get it riding. I hadn’t done the bottom bracket round at the garage because I didn’t want to lose any balls or fill it with grit while rebuilding. Round at the house...