Fixing a Victorian

[Woz]

Going to attempt to explain about potentially entering your bike.

I'm also calling on long standing moderator of the Road Section @Jamiedyer to correct me or add or take away anything I say out of line, and any input from him would be appreciated. In honesty, I have never entered a bike in either the road or MTB section (for a good reason, but that's another subject).

First up, there is Road Build of The Month. RBoTM. It is found in the general Retro Classic Road thread here:

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/forums/retro-classic-road.12/
How it works, you enter your bike. You don't need anybody to nominate your bike. Some months are special themed months, some are general.

The Road Build of The Year, is a vote based on the all of the winners of the calendar year.

The rules of entering your bike to a RBoTM are here, I think they are the same as on the MTB side:
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/wiki/BoTM_Rules

What's important is when you enter in RBoTM, you specify your build thread to allow readers to poke about in details. So you would reference this thread. It allows people to understand how you came about the bike, and how and why it is what it is now.

Only two pictures are allowed in nomination and voting. This is where perhaps your son may help with a DSLR. A good picture does a lot to grab the eye's attention. Full on drive side shot with an uncluttered background, and perhaps one detailed shot or a very personal shot of the bike in action is always appealing.

As an observer, and this is a personal opinion, the Road section is rather critical. But it's all fun and can't be taken too seriously. People vote for different reasons, dream bike of their youth, superb pro-racer re-incarnation, who as the nicest legs beauty contest type of thing, catalogue specification, start / end point of the build, weirdness, the bike I would most like to cock my leg over, etc. etc. etc.

Now from memory, the last real vintage heap to be entered, and was won by @OldTel with a 1914 vintage, against a field of totally pristine more modern competition.

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads...he-2020-winners-vote-now.423272/#post-3103077

I think we can safely assume, the general road voting public in this little quarter of the internet is receptive about really old bikes.

@Peachy! you've been through this a few times. Would be great if you could offer any other advice from an entrant point of view to help a fellow member.

 

[Peachy!]

I think @Woz you’ve pretty much covered it. @Nabeaquam don’t worry about getting a professional or proper camera to take the shot, your iPad should be just fine, have a scroll through the RBOTM archive and you’ll soon get the hang of how the bikes are “supposed” to be presented.
One thing you might pick up on is how well a vintage bike does when entered, I’ve built bikes that have won 7xRBotM, 1xBotM & 1x98+BotM but I pretty much give up when anything pre-war turns up!

***EDIT*** @Woz you’ve called the comp Road Build of the Month, when it’s Road Bike of the Month (not really important, just thought I’d mention it)

 

[Nabeaquam]

Going to attempt to explain about potentially entering your bike.

I'm also calling on long standing moderator of the Road Section @Jamiedyer to correct me or add or take away anything I say out of line, and any input from him would be appreciated. In honesty, I have never entered a bike in either the road or MTB section (for a good reason, but that's another subject).

First up, there is Road Build of The Month. RBoTM. It is found in the general Retro Classic Road thread here:

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/forums/retro-classic-road.12/
How it works, you enter your bike. You don't need anybody to nominate your bike. Some months are special themed months, some are general.

The Road Build of The Year, is a vote based on the all of the winners of the calendar year.

The rules of entering your bike to a RBoTM are here, I think they are the same as on the MTB side:
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/wiki/BoTM_Rules

What's important is when you enter in RBoTM, you specify your build thread to allow readers to poke about in details. So you would reference this thread. It allows people to understand how you came about the bike, and how and why it is what it is now.

Only two pictures are allowed in nomination and voting. This is where perhaps your son may help with a DSLR. A good picture does a lot to grab the eye's attention. Full on drive side shot with an uncluttered background, and perhaps one detailed shot or a very personal shot of the bike in action is always appealing.

As an observer, and this is a personal opinion, the Road section is rather critical. But it's all fun and can't be taken too seriously. People vote for different reasons, dream bike of their youth, superb pro-racer re-incarnation, who as the nicest legs beauty contest type of thing, catalogue specification, start / end point of the build, weirdness, the bike I would most like to cock my leg over, etc. etc. etc.

Now from memory, the last real vintage heap to be entered, and was won by @OldTel with a 1914 vintage, against a field of totally pristine more modern competition.

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads...he-2020-winners-vote-now.423272/#post-3103077

I think we can safely assume, the general road voting public in this little quarter of the internet is receptive about really old bikes.

@Peachy! you've been through this a few times. Would be great if you could offer any other advice from an entrant point of view to help a fellow member.

Thanks guys. Everyone on this blog gave me much support and also helped solve problems. I really had fun with the group effort. In fact, it would not have been finished in its present form without this support. I was really impressed with the enthusiasm and help. I almost didn’t post the build. I started with another series of posts on retrobike showing how I took the two piece crank apart. This was so difficult that I thought others might be able to use the info from my struggles with it. Then I was encouraged to post my build. I was reluctant as it isn’t a UK bicycle or even a European bicycle. I didn’t think there would be interest in an old American junker.

 

[Mickeyspinn]

Thanks guys. Everyone on this blog gave me much support and also helped solve problems. I really had fun with the group effort. In fact, it would not have been finished in its present form without this support. I was really impressed with the enthusiasm and help. I almost didn’t post the build. I started with another series of posts on retrobike showing how I took the two piece crank apart. This was so difficult that I thought others might be able to use the info from my struggles with it. Then I was encouraged to post my build. I was reluctant as it isn’t a UK bicycle or even a European bicycle. I didn’t think there would be interest in an old American junker.

Probably 95% or more of all bikes on retro bike aren't UK or European....yours fits in a treat...I'd go as far to say it should be referred to as "the daddy"
Think woz will agree.....if you need to store it somewhere we could hang it above the bar in landlord imlachs bikewrenchers inn

 

[Woz]

@Peachy! - Thanks for helping. And why the hell was I going on about "Road Build" and not "Road Bike", brain out of synch with the hands.

 

[Nabeaquam]

I found an old photo on the net that shows the riding position of this bike. My knees are even closer to the bars. It looks like he has the gallows seat post pointing to the rear. This would move my knees back. Right now, if my hands are on the bar top, you could almost fit a sheet of paper between my knees and my hands. I’m 5’8” so anyone taller wouldn’t fit. Its uncomfortable and so far I have ridden it for a maximum of 10 miles at a time.

 

[Woz]

Crikey! It's completely different, and that photograph is not lying.

All the weight looks well over the back wheel. I do notice that the hand grip part is more parallel to the down-tube.

The position looks more inspired from riding a damn horse than what we are accustomed too today.

 

[Mickeyspinn]

Crikey! It's completely different, and that photograph is not lying.

All the weight looks well over the back wheel. I do notice that the hand grip part is more parallel to the down-tube.

The position looks more inspired from riding a damn horse than what we are accustomed too today.

Tis an iron horse! Ridden by a man of iron ...got some calf muscle there!
Just did a little measure of head tube angle on that...61° ...ish! My olduns around 65 - 66 I reckon there's probably 30 years between them.
It's definitely a unique riding experience...low speed stability is ridiculous...pushing off is like a drunken wobble! So little input from bars gives huge changes in direction it is much happier however at speed maybe because there's less weight on the front wheel?
Nabeaquam have you measured any of the geometry on yours? Be interesting stuff to know!

 

[Nabeaquam]

Tis an iron horse! Ridden by a man of iron ...got some calf muscle there!
Just did a little measure of head tube angle on that...61° ...ish! My olduns around 65 - 66 I reckon there's probably 30 years between them.
It's definitely a unique riding experience...low speed stability is ridiculous...pushing off is like a drunken wobble! So little input from bars gives huge changes in direction it is much happier however at speed maybe because there's less weight on the front wheel?
Nabeaquam have you measured any of the geometry on yours? Be interesting stuff to know!

No I haven’t. I have an angle dial somewhere. It’s probably with my armless coaster brakes, which I can’t find either. I have a lot of stuff jammed in nooks and crannies. Most stuff is where it belongs. But, the dial, bike scale and armless coaster brakes must be in a special spot. Everything gets organized, until it’s -8C. I run up to my attic, dig around, toss stuff about and run out. Then it’s too hot in there with the uninsulated garage attic with a black roof so more stuff gets tossed about. If I don’t do a reorganization in October it waits another year. It’s a little messy now, but it has been far worse.

 

[Mickeyspinn]

No I haven’t. I have an angle dial somewhere. It’s probably with my armless coaster brakes, which I can’t find either. I have a lot of stuff jammed in nooks and crannies. Most stuff is where it belongs. But, the dial, bike scale and armless coaster brakes must be in a special spot. Everything gets organized, until it’s -8C. I run up to my attic, dig around, toss stuff about and run out. Then it’s too hot in there with the uninsulated garage attic with a black roof so more stuff gets tossed about. If I don’t do a reorganization in October it waits another year. It’s a little messy now, but it has been far worse.

I'll scroll back through this thread later.....there's a great pic of your handsome Vic next to a lake...I'll measure off the screen