1960s 'Martyn Young' 531 build (properly finished page 5)

[sjcprojects]

Thankfully, it was indeed only a bit more toe-in that was needed - the adjustable spanner method worked well, though I must confess I had to go a bit beyond 'gentle' without straying into full-on gorilla. I did a decent 25 mile ride this time, with plenty of descents (not that you can really avoid those round here anyway) and there was only the very slightest squeal when braking hardest, which is good enough for me.

And now just a slightly gratuitous shot featuring a favourite local road name...



...and a final one looking towards another place with a good name – Dungworth.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

The bike was well worth your efforts. Great scenery too. Glad you got the toe in sorted.

 

[sjcprojects]

The bike was well worth your efforts. Great scenery too. Glad you got the toe in sorted.

Thanks - sometimes it's pretty hard to beat riding a bike like this on a sunny day. This one was a definite 'passion project', so I'm particularly glad it eventually all came together - and just in time for some actual warm weather

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Thanks - sometimes it's pretty hard to beat riding a bike like this on a sunny day. This one was a definite 'passion project', so I'm particularly glad it eventually all came together - and just in time for some actual warm weather

If it was easy everyone would do it

 

[sjcprojects]

Nearly a year on, I've made a few small changes which are not that visible but were necessary for the bike to actually ride properly. Unfortunately I was wrong about the Campagnolo BB working okay with the Stronglight 99 chainset. I may have just had one that wasn't long enough, but it also seems to me that the taper for the Stronglight is not exactly the standard ISO taper. Hilary Stone does say this, although I can’t now recall if I read it somewhere else as well. Or maybe I'm being prejudiced, and I don't entirely trust a French manufacturer not to have come up with their own odd standard. Anyway, after some trial and error I did eventually mange to get a 118mm Stronglight BB axle, which along with some TA cups gives a good chain-line and cranks that actually stay on properly.

I also experimented with the Stronglight chainset set up as a triple (just using the correct longer bolts), but that experiment lasted exactly one ride before I gave up on the idea. Shifting with the Campagnolo shifters across three chainrings is imprecise at best and frustrating in general. Specifically, the middle ring can very often only be chosen by shifting to the big ring and then back down again a little. Funnily enough shortly after trying this out, I was reading an early 80s Shimano brochure which stated that their triple set-up was designed to avoid exactly this problem. I can certainly imagine that companies like Shimano and Suntour were much more interested in actually achieving this than good old Tullio Campagnolo was – triples of course having nothing to do with the business of racing bikes.

Anyway, I continue to be impressed by the quality of the frame. Whoever built it knew what they were doing; it feels nimble and glides along very nicely. I'm also enjoying the slightly flared Ambrosio bars as something a bit different from my other bikes, as I like narrower bars in general, but on the drops it feels nice due to the increased width there.

 

[cliff]

Good effort, but also the wrong spelling of Martyn. It is frustrating getting no results, yes . It does seem most likely the Martyn in question was the rider, not the builder, though? Unless they built and rode their own bike, but then why have any serial number at all? It’s all a mystery.

Maybe built by an apprentice or something, is my only other guess.