Unknown 50's road/path build
- Thread starter anagrama
- Start date
Hehe 
Yeah, I'll be sure to take some pics of the finished product in daylight.
CarHall indeed look like a good candidate if I go the shop decal-route, though I'm at at the other end of the country so might look for a more local equivalent.
I would certainly consider a drilled stem & losing the hanger, but came across a nice undrilled example first so that's going on for now. Right now in fact!
Here's the bars & stem on arrival last year:
Bars are Dawes Concorde, which flare out in a South Of France-style but not quite as extreme, and have really nice patterned engravings on the tops. Stem is a 4" GB spearpoint.
Here they are again post-cleaning & polishing, complete with Mafac levers & half-hoods (no dots in the MAFAC logo, so slightly late again - maybe 60's?), Velox cotton tape and Milremo plugs:
The arse-section is also ready mounting, and that comes straight outta Brum: a 27.2 Birmalux alloy post w/Brooks saddle-clamp and a B15 Champion Flyer, which was a short-lived early 60's model bearing no relation to the modern sprung Flyer. From what I can gather, it's the second-narrowest saddle Brooks have made.
Yeah, I'll be sure to take some pics of the finished product in daylight.CarHall indeed look like a good candidate if I go the shop decal-route, though I'm at at the other end of the country so might look for a more local equivalent.
I would certainly consider a drilled stem & losing the hanger, but came across a nice undrilled example first so that's going on for now. Right now in fact!
Here's the bars & stem on arrival last year:
Bars are Dawes Concorde, which flare out in a South Of France-style but not quite as extreme, and have really nice patterned engravings on the tops. Stem is a 4" GB spearpoint.
Here they are again post-cleaning & polishing, complete with Mafac levers & half-hoods (no dots in the MAFAC logo, so slightly late again - maybe 60's?), Velox cotton tape and Milremo plugs:
The arse-section is also ready mounting, and that comes straight outta Brum: a 27.2 Birmalux alloy post w/Brooks saddle-clamp and a B15 Champion Flyer, which was a short-lived early 60's model bearing no relation to the modern sprung Flyer. From what I can gather, it's the second-narrowest saddle Brooks have made.
Midlife
Retro Wizard
Oooooohh, seat stays don't get any slimmer than that
Back when I worked at Cliff Pratt Cycles, 50-60's frames just had to have pencil thin stays
http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/bu ... pratt.html
Shaun
Back when I worked at Cliff Pratt Cycles, 50-60's frames just had to have pencil thin stays
http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/bu ... pratt.html
Shaun
Wheels are going on next.. Bayliss Wiley HF on Dunlop Special Lightweights, 32/40.
I didnt take any 'before' pics, but they were pretty grotty on arrival. The front cleaned up OK and the chrome is almost completely intact. A bit of elbow grease and some fresh bearings and it was good to go.
The rear needed a bit more attention though.. what little chrome that was left was shot and the centre rusted, but they came up pretty well in the end. The axle & cones were replaced along with the bearings, and the wheel redished as it came sporting a 5-speed block.
The fixed cog is an unbranded 18T (possibly BW?)
while on the flopside is a NOS 20T TDC De Luxe
Tyres are a modern concession - the ubiquitous Pasela. Something of a pain to find in 27x1 1/8 though, at least this side of the Atlantic..
I didnt take any 'before' pics, but they were pretty grotty on arrival. The front cleaned up OK and the chrome is almost completely intact. A bit of elbow grease and some fresh bearings and it was good to go.
The rear needed a bit more attention though.. what little chrome that was left was shot and the centre rusted, but they came up pretty well in the end. The axle & cones were replaced along with the bearings, and the wheel redished as it came sporting a 5-speed block.
The fixed cog is an unbranded 18T (possibly BW?)
while on the flopside is a NOS 20T TDC De Luxe
Tyres are a modern concession - the ubiquitous Pasela. Something of a pain to find in 27x1 1/8 though, at least this side of the Atlantic..
A super build, with a number of components that bring back memories for me, especially the spearpoint stem, Dunlop Special Lightweight rims on BW large flange hubs, and the TA single ring on 49D cranks. It is interesting that you are fitting 27 x 1 1/8 tyres. I may give that a go when I (eventually) carry out my RO Harrison build.
I am looking forward to seeing how your build progresses.
I am looking forward to seeing how your build progresses.
Re:
Thanks And yep, I wanted something a little leaner than 27x1 1/4 - these come in at 27.5mm on the Dunlop rims.
Most of the way there now after a little more work today.. brakes are Mafac Dural Forge, with some NOS replacement springs from ebay.fr and Koolstop salmon pads.
& brake hardware (ribbed cables, hangers [Mafac single lip but no .'s], Cyclo clips, etc)
Pedals are Lyotard MB23's, toeclips GB Type Professional and the straps some unbranded ones I pulled out of the cupboard.
Crankbolts are one thing I'd overlooked when gathering parts, and the earlier pics show some cheap ones from the parts box, now replaced by TA.
And last for now is the chain - a NOS Renold Elite which, going by the 30/12/50 date handwritten on the packet, is the oldest part of the bike.
Here it is out of the packet for the first time in 66 years:
While the original grease has done an excellent job of preserving it, the links were all clagged up, so it's been stripped & relubed.
On fitting though, I've found that it needs a half-link to bring the wheel in a touch and not sit at the back of the dropout, so that's all that's keeping it off the road right now.
Full pics to come once that's sorted..
Thanks
And yep, I wanted something a little leaner than 27x1 1/4 - these come in at 27.5mm on the Dunlop rims.Most of the way there now after a little more work today.. brakes are Mafac Dural Forge, with some NOS replacement springs from ebay.fr and Koolstop salmon pads.
& brake hardware (ribbed cables, hangers [Mafac single lip but no .'s], Cyclo clips, etc)
Pedals are Lyotard MB23's, toeclips GB Type Professional and the straps some unbranded ones I pulled out of the cupboard.
Crankbolts are one thing I'd overlooked when gathering parts, and the earlier pics show some cheap ones from the parts box, now replaced by TA.
And last for now is the chain - a NOS Renold Elite which, going by the 30/12/50 date handwritten on the packet, is the oldest part of the bike.
Here it is out of the packet for the first time in 66 years:
While the original grease has done an excellent job of preserving it, the links were all clagged up, so it's been stripped & relubed.
On fitting though, I've found that it needs a half-link to bring the wheel in a touch and not sit at the back of the dropout, so that's all that's keeping it off the road right now.
Full pics to come once that's sorted..
The halfink finally turned up on Friday, so I was able to get it into a roadworthy state and give it a couple of shake-down rides over the weekend before unforseen problems arose..
Here's a couple of pics in yesterday's sun:
I was out again today too, but this time found the drive-side pedal working loose as I was almost home - on closer examination, the crank pedal threads are stripped and I'm left scrabbling around to find a replacement before Eroica in a fortnight's time... :evil:
Here's a couple of pics in yesterday's sun:
I was out again today too, but this time found the drive-side pedal working loose as I was almost home - on closer examination, the crank pedal threads are stripped and I'm left scrabbling around to find a replacement before Eroica in a fortnight's time... :evil:
