Fixing a Victorian

[Woz]

Surely it's going to be a nightmare to straighten that crank?

 

[Nabeaquam]

Man, this bike has crazy construction, I just cleaned up the fork and put phosphoric acid on it. The acid etch is drying. Originally the bike was nickel plated, but only the frame was painted. Why plate everything? Perhaps to detour rust but galvanizing would make more sense. The fork had no paint so that was just nickel. Now that it’s clean and the remaining nickel is mostly scrubbed off you can see the construction. Talk about craftsmanship. The fork blades were brazed shut, looks like fine stitching. The fork crown is also finely brazed to the legs with brazed pins just to make sure. How they did this is a mystery to me.

 

[Nabeaquam]

Surely it's going to be a nightmare to straighten that crank?

Yes it is. The plan is to try and fit it into an old frame. I’m not sure I can fit it, but if I can I’ll attach a 1.5 meter long piece of wood framing material and attach it to the top of the crank arm with ratcheting hose clamps. One end of the board against the 90 degree bend and the clamps around the pedal end. Then stand on the frame and lift the lever. I’ll use electronic calipers to have it move out as far as the original crank was on the donor frame. Will this work? Ah dahno.

 

[Nabeaquam]

I’m wondering if the fork is made out of the same steel as the frame, honeycomb dents on the inside? Perhaps back then tapering curved fork legs had to be handmade? Anyway, it’s amazing, lost art now.

 

[Mickeyspinn]

My god this is amazing ....that fork....wow.
Safe to say that's most likely made of the same stuff!
If I was your neighbour I'd be wandering over with a case of beer

 

[ferrus]

Fascinating this. Those brazed seams are reminiscent of the castellated and dovetail joints seen on Victorian copper pans and jugs

 

[legrandefromage]

not retro enough

I'm out

 

[Woz]

Remember that bicycle technology was the bleeding edge engineering application of its day - later spawning the auto industry (and indeed aviation, the Wright Brothers were bike manufacturers).

It's that time in the evening, the lights are dimmed, music is flowing, wine is flowing and I've got about one hour ahead of me before I peak.

I've had three attempts to comment on this, and deleted them. I also don't want to hog and distract from this superb bike and the incredible work undertaken to get it back in shape. First off, a disclaimer, I'm no historian nor pretend to be, just fascinated by old bike tat and engineering in general. Bare with me.....

The statement is - I think - part true and part false. If we take the inventions and firsts around 1900, as a whole the entire transport industry was making serious advances and great things were happening in relative terms in very short succession too, riding on better mechanical engineering and production technics. Nothing was spearheading nothing I believe - it must have been an incredibly exciting time of technology transfer, and not only within the transport industry but also the construction industry for example.

Case example; The first rim caliper brake for bicycles appeared approximately the same time as the invention of the diesel engine and funiculars in public service.

While each one in there domains is a "revolution", I can't help but think by this time the bicycle was not at the leading edge, but the trailing edge of applied technology. That does not mean to say great things for the bicycle didn't happen, but I think the principals of the bicycle were already mature, and a handful of people / companies would use it as an effective means to demonstration engineering prowess. It's more like the bicycle innovations were more of a consequence rather than a target if you get what I'm trying to say.

I look at the forks above, and I'm bolded over. A dove-tail like joint in steel? Pressed recesses internal in the tubing?

Why the hell would you apply such techniques if you didn't have a queue of extremely wealthy customers to ride a bike?

Something else is happening I think.

 

[Nabeaquam]

not retro enough

I'm out

So, you prefer hobby horses or dandy cycles? Ha.

 

[Nabeaquam]

It's that time in the evening, the lights are dimmed, music is flowing, wine is flowing and I've got about one hour ahead of me before I peak.

I've had three attempts to comment on this, and deleted them. I also don't want to hog and distract from this superb bike and the incredible work undertaken to get it back in shape. First off, a disclaimer, I'm no historian nor pretend to be, just fascinated by old bike tat and engineering in general. Bare with me.....

The statement is - I think - part true and part false. If we take the inventions and firsts around 1900, as a whole the entire transport industry was making serious advances and great things were happening in relative terms in very short succession too, riding on better mechanical engineering and production technics. Nothing was spearheading nothing I believe - it must have been an incredibly exciting time of technology transfer, and not only within the transport industry but also the construction industry for example.

Case example; The first rim caliper brake for bicycles appeared approximately the same time as the invention of the diesel engine and funiculars in public service.

While each one in there domains is a "revolution", I can't help but think by this time the bicycle was not at the leading edge, but the trailing edge of applied technology. That does not mean to say great things for the bicycle didn't happen, but I think the principals of the bicycle were already mature, and a handful of people / companies would use it as an effective means to demonstration engineering prowess. It's more like the bicycle innovations were more of a consequence rather than a target if you get what I'm trying to say.

I look at the forks above, and I'm bolded over. A dove-tail like joint in steel? Pressed recesses internal in the tubing?

Why the hell would you apply such techniques if you didn't have a queue of extremely wealthy customers to ride a bike?

Something else is happening I think.

Yes, I haven’t found any new bicycle technological ideas since around 1900. The only thing I haven’t run across that old is bicycle disc brakes and derailleurs. I bet someone has an early patent for these ideas.