Target Road Ace Resto-Mod

[Edward York]

As a long time lurker, I figure it's high time that I contributed with a thread of my own...

This one has a bit of a story over many years so for a first post, it'll be quite a long one.

The bike originally belonged to my late Father-in Law. Back in the early 2010s, it was sitting unused in my in-laws basement and I'm a sucker for an unused bike.

It's a brand that I'd never heard of: a 'Target Road Ace' made in Barton Upon Humber, so I'm guessing it has Falcon origins of some sort and I'm guessing built in late 1980s? I haven't got any photos of when I picked it up, but it was fitted with a flat handlebar. Very quickly I fitted drop bars to it (and some garish tape). Here's one of the only photos I have of it in this condition:



Even though the frame is just gas pipe, because it belonged to my late FiL, I wanted to keep it as a winter bike. But first it needed some modifications:

 

[Edward York]

Frame modifications and first post renovation riding:

Water bottle bosses and downtube shifter mounts:




I then had it painted by an acquaintance who worked in a body shop. He did a cracking job of the paint (RAL 4007 IIRC). Here it is as first built up:





It worked well as a winter bike but it wasn't long before the urge to modify/add decals appeared...




As built, I'd fitted it with Sora 9x3 shifters, a Soma Highway One bar, Spa Cycles crankset, a Brooks B17 saddle, Sora rear hub, 105 front with Rigida Chrina rims.

 

[Edward York]

I then had my late FiL's name applied to the bike:



Since 2013, it's been my winter bike and have done a fair few miles, usually in filthy conditions. I picked up a used Shimano Dynohub coupled with a Supernova front light.








A few years passed and bits wore out. At this stage, I also added a rear rack and swapped to a Spa Cycles Nidd Saddle. I also wanted to fit the lowest Reynolds decal I could find - so I went with Reynolds 500. Mis-badging, but hopefully not too bad...



The rims wore out and I replaced with a set of damaged Open Pro Ceramics that I had picked up and Continental GP 4 Seasons. The braking in the wet is pretty poor, but rim wear is non existent.



I then started adding more gold bits.



More winter riding

 

[Edward York]

This year has seen even more fiddling.

I sold the Conti 4 Seasons and replaced with Vittoria Rubino Pro (I think it's the only time I've ever made money swapping tyres!).



The gold bands had started peeling off, so I removed them



And replaced with a barber pole. It took a few attempts to get it right, but I'm pleased with the final result.



Assembled and with other decals applied.



I also took the opportunity to add some more decals.



Black head tube also added.



and H Lloyd Cycles created an old York bike shop decal for me.




I suppose I should cover how it rides etc. It's not light - 13.5kg or around that sort of weight. But winter riding is slow anyway. It's comfortable and the components are all chosen to deal with the winter grime/salt. I guess I've done around 8k miles on it by now over the years, but I've ditched my cycle computer as I rather ride without knowing I'm slower each year that passes. The Spa Nidd Saddle turned out to be too uncomfortable for me, so I swapped it out for another B17.

 

[Edward York]

As it's a winter bike, it gets wet more often than not. I noticed that water would often be drawn into the rear hub via the non-drive lip-seal, turning the grease into a mayonnaise.



This year I decided to try and improve it, so after some experimentation, I created a little cover from some spare aluminum to stop water from (I think) the brake caliper from being drawn into the seal.



View from below.



Seems to have helped. It might mot have stopped it completely, but it has reduced the problem a fair amount.

Which leads to it's current state. Pannier rack removed, a smaller Carradice Barley fitted and still racking up the winter miles.



I have researched Target Road Ace, but found nothing online. I had never seen another one, then by chance I was walking by a bike stand the other day and what did I see? A Target Road Ace...



If anyone knows anything about these, please let me know. As I've already mentioned, I'm guessing they were a sub-brand of Falcon as the head tube badge says Barton-on-Humber. The lack of braze on fittings is apparently also a signature of Falcon.



But if anyone knows better, please let me know!

I've probably missed quite a few bits as I've posted, so if anyone has any questions, please shout.

Thank you for reading, if you got this far!

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Welcome to RB. What a great story. I enjoyed reading it. The bike is nice too I think we obsess with weight, ride quality is far more important imo. Jim Haseltine may know about the brand.

@grantoury @Imlach @Woz @KermitGKona88 @jim haseltine

 

[sjcprojects]

Welcome to the forum. You've built that into a classy looking (and obviously very useable) bike.

 

[Iwasgoodonce]

Yes, I like that. A good honest bike still up to the task. I’m interested in how you find the performance of the dyno hub? I might get a Fairlight at some point and there are a few hub options.

 

[Midlife]

Smart Restoration

BITD there were several brands that were made for catalogues (Grattan, Empire Stores etc). In the absence of any leads may well be one of them.

 

[Mark Manley]

Very nice, thanks for posting.