Ernie Clements 531 Falcon Olympic.

[Harvo]

This came up for sale close to me and although too small for me, I reckon it deserves some love!
Any info you guys can give me is going to really help as I'm more used to 80s machines. From the Reynolds decal it's looking like late 60s/early 70s? Anything looking like it's not original (the saddle being an obvious one (possibly Brooks originally? )) and any thing else that could be of interest is much welcome.
It's going to be a preservation job on the paint rather than renovation/respray and clean, polish and re-grease of the shiny bits. I think it should come up OK. Hope you guys think it is worth saving!
Some pics after picking up .

 

[sjcprojects]

That'll clean up okay. Looks early 70s to me - the rear derailleur was made from around 1970 onward, I think. It's interesting that even in the early 70s they were putting cheap steel rims and cottered cranks on a 531-framed bike - I guess that was their way of offering a 531 bike at a relatively low price. There's lots of info on Falcons here if you're interested:

https://falconrestorebike.wordpress.com/

 

[Harvo]

Thanks for link. Looks interesting.

 

[Harvo]

One manky old Velox RD stripped as far as possible. Ready for it's first clean and service in 50 years possibly.

 

[Harvo]

Pleased with this. Hoping the other parts come up this well.

 

[Harvo]

Won't bore you with all the components but I'm amazed at what's lurking under all the crud.