Boscarn
rBotM Winner
This project started when my Father found his old 1937 Cyclo Ace 3 speed gears, he removed them from his Claud Butler that he built up in 1948. Unfortunately he only kept the gears and the block.
After WWII, most stock was pre war and little was available and rationing caused its own problems. My father is now 84 and suffers with Macular degeneration in both eyes that has left him with limited peripheral vision, but I wanted to build a bike that he would have been proud off.
I stared looking for a frame to mount the gears on and found a 1955 Claud Butler Aspirant down my local dump. This has several nice bits fitted, including a Harden front hub fitted to an unknown 27” rim with rusty spokes and a pair of Reynolds wing nuts, a SA 4 speed complete with a shot chrome rim, Williams chainset, Chater Lea pedals, Mafac Racer brake callipers, GB super hood levers and a set of GB bars and stem. A great find.
The frame had been painted in green to cover the original Gold; the panels had been left as the original red. I stripped the green paint to reveal the frame is sound but needs a re-spray and I pondered what to do with it. However, it was a good starting place to try the gears.
Luckily, I found an Old Campag Nuovo Tipo LF rear hub that looked similar, but with smaller flanges, to the Hayden. Before mounting the 3 speed block, I investigated how to remove it, the smallest cog was removed with some improvised 1/8” chain whips, this revealed two slots that a suitable bar could be fitted and the block then removed. The block was cleaned and lubricated, but did sound rough and with quite a lot of play, knackered in my opinion, nevertheless it was tried.
With the gears mounted, block fitted to the hub and a new 1/8” chain, it worked, but not very well, the gears would shift between the smallest and middle cog, but from the middle to the largest, the chain would ride on top and with all the play did not look like it was going to work reliably. After some investigation, I found the Cyclo catalogues on line, and it would appear that the block (14/18/23) exceeded the maximum close ratios recommended. I check with my father, but all he could remember was he had fitted a disc, (very similar to the old disc protectors used in the 1970’s), to stop the chain from overshooting the cog and into the wheel.
Unperturbed, I found a new Regina 5 speed block (14-28 tooth) in ‘my box of bits’, the original 1/8” tension jockey wheel was replaced with a modern 3/32” sealed bearing type and a 3/32” chain ring fitted. The idea was to use the largest cog as the guard, and have 4 gears to play with. To my surprise all five gears were obtained, all was looking good and back to the magic box; an old aluminium spoke protector was found and reduced in diameter to be slightly bigger than the largest cog.
Now was time to build up the wheels, the front was dismantled and inspected, new bearing obtained and fitted to the Harden hub, the rim cleaned and polished, but still no clues to its manufacturer. In a chance conversation, I described the rim and it was suggested that it may be a Birmalux. A search of the internet proved fruitless, but my luck was again in and chap had a pair of Birmalux rims for sale at a cycle jumble, although very similar in profile and size, theses rims were newer and had an anodized chrome effect to act as a protective coating, they are clearly stamped with Birmalux. I set to work and a few hours later the coating was removed and the rim polished to look the same as the front. Armed with some new stainless db spokes the wheels built.
The rear hub was dismantled and a solid axle fitted and set to 117mm OLN, some old wing nuts found.
All the other bits were cleaned, restored and polished, but what to do with the frame?? Before I could come to a decision, a frame caught my eye on EBay, it was lust a first sight and after an email exchange confirming that it would take 27”wheels and was my size the Bid was placed and I won!
The frame arrived and I was over the moon, a really beautiful frame in great condition a 1935 L H Brookes was in my hands, the frame had been re-sprayed at some time and the larger block lettering on the down tube looked wrong, luckily the seller had also supplied a pair of decals in an old script and in gold. The old decals removed and new black panel sprayed, decals fitted, lacquered and lined.
The bottom bracket was removed and I would have fitted some nice new cups but they are larger diameter than anything I had, so the original was rebuilt with some new 5/16” bearings and adjusted, all was smooth. The TDC headstock rebuilt, the bottom bearing are 3/16” and the top race takes 1/8”, it is not perfect, just a very small high point that will not be noticed when riding.
However, all was not roses, the new frame was a much smaller than the Claud Butler, the wheelbase was much shorter and although it looked like a 23” was indeed a 22”, undeterred, I would make the gears work, all five of them.
Another couple of problems arisen, the frame was build for 26” wheels and indeed took the newly built 27” wheels comfortably, the Mafac Brakes had too much reach, again luck was on my side and during a rummage in a cycle charity’s part boxes I found a pair of Universal Extra brakes circa 1950’s and a suitable donation made. The brakes cleaned and a top cable support fabricated and a new set of brake blocks they were ready to go.
This left the second problem, the gears. The Cyclo gears chain shifting mechanism is operated by a push pull cable that has soldered end and shortening these to fit new Brookes frame would require new ends to be made and fitted, a job that I did not fancy undertaking and would leave the cable too short to fit another frame. The chain shifting clamp also did not fit the Brookes chain stay, I discovered these were available in two sizes and my father had the larger ones.
The chain stay was bulked up with some cotton bar tape wrapped over greaseproof paper that would allow the chain shifting mech to side on the chain stay before clamping in finial position, and hopefully when removed the underlying paintwork won’t have suffered.
The chain tensioner and gear lever are mounted using the same method, the gear lever positioned above the pump bracket that will act as a stop and use up some of the excess cable.
With the new back wheel placed in the frame, the gears offered up, when selecting the largest cog, the chain shifter fork would run into the spokes. This was solved by fitting a 2mm metal spacer to bring the block further away from the spokes, this worked, but the chain started to rub on the frame when the smallest cog selected, this was solved by fitting a 3mm spacer on the axle, this brought the OLN to 120mm, the frame takes this with ease.
The position of the chain shifter was tried in a few places; I found that due to the 28 tooth cog, the shifter has to be placed as close to the block as practical, but leave enough room to remove the wheel. It worked, it worked well, better than I had hoped for and better than some cheap modern Shimano gears.... The cables dressed, this left a loop under the BB, but do not flop about as I first suspected,
The gear limit clamps set, the rest of the bike was assembled with the polished parts and a Brookes Champion B17 Sprinter, I did fit a Brooks Pro and this will probably be my saddle of choice if I have to do some distance on this steed. The bars have been temporary wrapped and will eventually be covered in Back cloth tape in the traditional manner.
Well here at last is the final result for you to gaze at, all is not finished, as the frame is smaller than I expected, I am looking for a 110/120mm GB stem to give me a better riding position. Also a nice Williams chain set, 7” cranks with a 46-48 3/32” ring. What have you???
I have many more photos but I am limited to 8 per post.
I have taken the bike to my Father, and I am pleased to say that it has been approved!
After WWII, most stock was pre war and little was available and rationing caused its own problems. My father is now 84 and suffers with Macular degeneration in both eyes that has left him with limited peripheral vision, but I wanted to build a bike that he would have been proud off.
I stared looking for a frame to mount the gears on and found a 1955 Claud Butler Aspirant down my local dump. This has several nice bits fitted, including a Harden front hub fitted to an unknown 27” rim with rusty spokes and a pair of Reynolds wing nuts, a SA 4 speed complete with a shot chrome rim, Williams chainset, Chater Lea pedals, Mafac Racer brake callipers, GB super hood levers and a set of GB bars and stem. A great find.
The frame had been painted in green to cover the original Gold; the panels had been left as the original red. I stripped the green paint to reveal the frame is sound but needs a re-spray and I pondered what to do with it. However, it was a good starting place to try the gears.
Luckily, I found an Old Campag Nuovo Tipo LF rear hub that looked similar, but with smaller flanges, to the Hayden. Before mounting the 3 speed block, I investigated how to remove it, the smallest cog was removed with some improvised 1/8” chain whips, this revealed two slots that a suitable bar could be fitted and the block then removed. The block was cleaned and lubricated, but did sound rough and with quite a lot of play, knackered in my opinion, nevertheless it was tried.
With the gears mounted, block fitted to the hub and a new 1/8” chain, it worked, but not very well, the gears would shift between the smallest and middle cog, but from the middle to the largest, the chain would ride on top and with all the play did not look like it was going to work reliably. After some investigation, I found the Cyclo catalogues on line, and it would appear that the block (14/18/23) exceeded the maximum close ratios recommended. I check with my father, but all he could remember was he had fitted a disc, (very similar to the old disc protectors used in the 1970’s), to stop the chain from overshooting the cog and into the wheel.
Unperturbed, I found a new Regina 5 speed block (14-28 tooth) in ‘my box of bits’, the original 1/8” tension jockey wheel was replaced with a modern 3/32” sealed bearing type and a 3/32” chain ring fitted. The idea was to use the largest cog as the guard, and have 4 gears to play with. To my surprise all five gears were obtained, all was looking good and back to the magic box; an old aluminium spoke protector was found and reduced in diameter to be slightly bigger than the largest cog.
Now was time to build up the wheels, the front was dismantled and inspected, new bearing obtained and fitted to the Harden hub, the rim cleaned and polished, but still no clues to its manufacturer. In a chance conversation, I described the rim and it was suggested that it may be a Birmalux. A search of the internet proved fruitless, but my luck was again in and chap had a pair of Birmalux rims for sale at a cycle jumble, although very similar in profile and size, theses rims were newer and had an anodized chrome effect to act as a protective coating, they are clearly stamped with Birmalux. I set to work and a few hours later the coating was removed and the rim polished to look the same as the front. Armed with some new stainless db spokes the wheels built.
The rear hub was dismantled and a solid axle fitted and set to 117mm OLN, some old wing nuts found.
All the other bits were cleaned, restored and polished, but what to do with the frame?? Before I could come to a decision, a frame caught my eye on EBay, it was lust a first sight and after an email exchange confirming that it would take 27”wheels and was my size the Bid was placed and I won!
The frame arrived and I was over the moon, a really beautiful frame in great condition a 1935 L H Brookes was in my hands, the frame had been re-sprayed at some time and the larger block lettering on the down tube looked wrong, luckily the seller had also supplied a pair of decals in an old script and in gold. The old decals removed and new black panel sprayed, decals fitted, lacquered and lined.
The bottom bracket was removed and I would have fitted some nice new cups but they are larger diameter than anything I had, so the original was rebuilt with some new 5/16” bearings and adjusted, all was smooth. The TDC headstock rebuilt, the bottom bearing are 3/16” and the top race takes 1/8”, it is not perfect, just a very small high point that will not be noticed when riding.
However, all was not roses, the new frame was a much smaller than the Claud Butler, the wheelbase was much shorter and although it looked like a 23” was indeed a 22”, undeterred, I would make the gears work, all five of them.
Another couple of problems arisen, the frame was build for 26” wheels and indeed took the newly built 27” wheels comfortably, the Mafac Brakes had too much reach, again luck was on my side and during a rummage in a cycle charity’s part boxes I found a pair of Universal Extra brakes circa 1950’s and a suitable donation made. The brakes cleaned and a top cable support fabricated and a new set of brake blocks they were ready to go.
This left the second problem, the gears. The Cyclo gears chain shifting mechanism is operated by a push pull cable that has soldered end and shortening these to fit new Brookes frame would require new ends to be made and fitted, a job that I did not fancy undertaking and would leave the cable too short to fit another frame. The chain shifting clamp also did not fit the Brookes chain stay, I discovered these were available in two sizes and my father had the larger ones.
The chain stay was bulked up with some cotton bar tape wrapped over greaseproof paper that would allow the chain shifting mech to side on the chain stay before clamping in finial position, and hopefully when removed the underlying paintwork won’t have suffered.
The chain tensioner and gear lever are mounted using the same method, the gear lever positioned above the pump bracket that will act as a stop and use up some of the excess cable.
With the new back wheel placed in the frame, the gears offered up, when selecting the largest cog, the chain shifter fork would run into the spokes. This was solved by fitting a 2mm metal spacer to bring the block further away from the spokes, this worked, but the chain started to rub on the frame when the smallest cog selected, this was solved by fitting a 3mm spacer on the axle, this brought the OLN to 120mm, the frame takes this with ease.
The position of the chain shifter was tried in a few places; I found that due to the 28 tooth cog, the shifter has to be placed as close to the block as practical, but leave enough room to remove the wheel. It worked, it worked well, better than I had hoped for and better than some cheap modern Shimano gears.... The cables dressed, this left a loop under the BB, but do not flop about as I first suspected,
The gear limit clamps set, the rest of the bike was assembled with the polished parts and a Brookes Champion B17 Sprinter, I did fit a Brooks Pro and this will probably be my saddle of choice if I have to do some distance on this steed. The bars have been temporary wrapped and will eventually be covered in Back cloth tape in the traditional manner.
Well here at last is the final result for you to gaze at, all is not finished, as the frame is smaller than I expected, I am looking for a 110/120mm GB stem to give me a better riding position. Also a nice Williams chain set, 7” cranks with a 46-48 3/32” ring. What have you???
I have many more photos but I am limited to 8 per post.
I have taken the bike to my Father, and I am pleased to say that it has been approved!
