sjcprojects
Orange 🍊 Fan
That's a rather nice mix of the old and the new.
This is slightly earlier, but here's a nice advert from 1951:
This is slightly earlier, but here's a nice advert from 1951:
Yellow Hobbs winter beater of distinction (WBOD)
- Thread starter Jonny69
- Start date
Jonny69
Senior Retro Guru
Yes! Thanks!
Great find - thanks for that. Wow, they were expensive! I’m not pre-decimal but I’m sure I read on the old classiclightweights site that early 50s lightweights were in the region of £9-£10.
PhillB
GT Fan
Yes, Hobbs of Barbican were amongst the more expensive brands, especially in the 30's and 40's and also into the 50's too.
Jonny69
Senior Retro Guru
First Ride Report: Woking to Teddington (14 miles), 3°C, damp, light rain.
This is basically my commute. I live just outside Woking and it takes me through Addlestone and Weybridge, over Walton Bridge, then Lower Hampton and Teddington. It's a little bit up and down from home to Walton Bridge, but from there to Teddington it's flat and follows the Thames along the Lower Hampton Road, Past Hampton Court and through Bushy Park.
I'm always a little nervous about the first ride on a fresh build because you never really know what's going to need adjustment, come loose, break or just fall off. So 14 miles in cold, damp conditions where I needed to get to work at the end seemed ideal. The first thing I noticed as I pulled the bike out was it had no bottle cage, so my matching scruffy yellow TdF bidon went into the side pocket in my bag. The bike didn't feel too unfamiliar as I mounted it and clipped in with my SPDs. I sit further back on this than normal because, even with the saddle as far forward in the clamp as is will go, the seat tube angle limits how far forwards the saddle will go and that also means the saddle is a few degrees nose-up compared to normal. I also don't normally ride bikes with bars this narrow. As I took off, it felt very much like my Parkes, albeit with a freewheel and two brakes. A big juddery howl from the new brake blocks when I applied the brakes properly for the first time reminded me to take it easy at first, especially on the downhill sections.
I was pleasantly surprised at the acceleration and the gears shifted smoothly with no residual clickety clicking. Changes are silent with very little re-adjustment required. I can only put this down to the fact that this is a Hyperglide cassette, narrow 10-speed chain and a hardly-used 105 derailleur. It's very different to friction shifting on an old 6-speed with a basic 3/32" chain and no ramps on the cassette.
I normally do this route on a 48x18 fixed gear which is around 72gi in old money. The gearing on the Hobbs allows me a couple of clicks either side. With the 46T up front, 72gi is around the 17 tooth cog at the back which is bang smack in the middle of the 12-25 range. As I came up the steep climb out of Weybridge up to the cricket ground, I reached down and shifted up to the 25, which made for a pretty effortless climb. I may still switch the gears around so it's got the 28 tooth I took off. It's unlikely I'll make much use of the 12 tooth to be honest.
The brakes were feeling better bedded-in by this point, which is just as well because a minibus pulled out of a side road without looking and I had to make an emergency stop. The brakes won't quite put the bike on its nose like modern brakes (at least not at this point), but I can confirm that they more than adequately stop the bike.
Stopped for a picture on the Lower Hampton Road, known locally by the older crowd as part of the old ten, before continuing on through to Teddington. Light rain started as I turned into Bushy Park (and a strong headwind) but I wasn't bothered by this as I was in my winter commuting gear.
Everything is now absolutely filthy which should be my prompt to get on and fit the mudguards. The rest of the bike appears to be fulfilling the brief: which is to be a comfortable, scruffy winter bike with gears. The springy frame and 25mm tyres soak up the road rash and it's an engaging ride. I'd like some wider bars, but apart from that little else needs changing. I'm going to check it over before I go home and nip the brakes up a bit. On my stop I also holed my tights when they snagged on the metal cable clip between my legs. I'll have to do something about that before I go home.
This is basically my commute. I live just outside Woking and it takes me through Addlestone and Weybridge, over Walton Bridge, then Lower Hampton and Teddington. It's a little bit up and down from home to Walton Bridge, but from there to Teddington it's flat and follows the Thames along the Lower Hampton Road, Past Hampton Court and through Bushy Park.
I'm always a little nervous about the first ride on a fresh build because you never really know what's going to need adjustment, come loose, break or just fall off. So 14 miles in cold, damp conditions where I needed to get to work at the end seemed ideal. The first thing I noticed as I pulled the bike out was it had no bottle cage, so my matching scruffy yellow TdF bidon went into the side pocket in my bag. The bike didn't feel too unfamiliar as I mounted it and clipped in with my SPDs. I sit further back on this than normal because, even with the saddle as far forward in the clamp as is will go, the seat tube angle limits how far forwards the saddle will go and that also means the saddle is a few degrees nose-up compared to normal. I also don't normally ride bikes with bars this narrow. As I took off, it felt very much like my Parkes, albeit with a freewheel and two brakes. A big juddery howl from the new brake blocks when I applied the brakes properly for the first time reminded me to take it easy at first, especially on the downhill sections.
I was pleasantly surprised at the acceleration and the gears shifted smoothly with no residual clickety clicking. Changes are silent with very little re-adjustment required. I can only put this down to the fact that this is a Hyperglide cassette, narrow 10-speed chain and a hardly-used 105 derailleur. It's very different to friction shifting on an old 6-speed with a basic 3/32" chain and no ramps on the cassette.
I normally do this route on a 48x18 fixed gear which is around 72gi in old money. The gearing on the Hobbs allows me a couple of clicks either side. With the 46T up front, 72gi is around the 17 tooth cog at the back which is bang smack in the middle of the 12-25 range. As I came up the steep climb out of Weybridge up to the cricket ground, I reached down and shifted up to the 25, which made for a pretty effortless climb. I may still switch the gears around so it's got the 28 tooth I took off. It's unlikely I'll make much use of the 12 tooth to be honest.
The brakes were feeling better bedded-in by this point, which is just as well because a minibus pulled out of a side road without looking and I had to make an emergency stop. The brakes won't quite put the bike on its nose like modern brakes (at least not at this point), but I can confirm that they more than adequately stop the bike.
Stopped for a picture on the Lower Hampton Road, known locally by the older crowd as part of the old ten, before continuing on through to Teddington. Light rain started as I turned into Bushy Park (and a strong headwind) but I wasn't bothered by this as I was in my winter commuting gear.
Everything is now absolutely filthy which should be my prompt to get on and fit the mudguards. The rest of the bike appears to be fulfilling the brief: which is to be a comfortable, scruffy winter bike with gears. The springy frame and 25mm tyres soak up the road rash and it's an engaging ride. I'd like some wider bars, but apart from that little else needs changing. I'm going to check it over before I go home and nip the brakes up a bit. On my stop I also holed my tights when they snagged on the metal cable clip between my legs. I'll have to do something about that before I go home.
Joe_Rides
Senior Retro Guru
Cracking build. Running something of that age and simplicity as a daily is just plain cool, against a backdrop of complex carbon drearyness.
Had a similar issue over the weekend with a friction shifter and a front mech, in that it wasn't holding the mech from springing back a little each time I shifted. Tried a different mech, (80s shimano 600), but it didn't want to travel over a 3 x set up. So put the original RSX mech back on and got over the issue by simply adding some pre-load on the shifter, which I should have done in the first place (doh!)
Had a similar issue over the weekend with a friction shifter and a front mech, in that it wasn't holding the mech from springing back a little each time I shifted. Tried a different mech, (80s shimano 600), but it didn't want to travel over a 3 x set up. So put the original RSX mech back on and got over the issue by simply adding some pre-load on the shifter, which I should have done in the first place (doh!)
Jonny69
Senior Retro Guru
I added the other brake adjuster to the front brake lever:
I can’t recommend this enough. all you need to do is run a no.1 M6 tap through the hole. You can get the brake adjusted up quite nicely without the adjusters, but with these you can just nip it up that last bit and then the levers don’t chatter when you’re riding along
I also did a quick lunchtime mod to the mudguard eyes. They were plain 4mm-ish holes so I decided to run an M5 tap through them. Now I won’t need to use nuts on the back:
I can’t recommend this enough. all you need to do is run a no.1 M6 tap through the hole. You can get the brake adjusted up quite nicely without the adjusters, but with these you can just nip it up that last bit and then the levers don’t chatter when you’re riding along
I also did a quick lunchtime mod to the mudguard eyes. They were plain 4mm-ish holes so I decided to run an M5 tap through them. Now I won’t need to use nuts on the back:
Jonny69
Senior Retro Guru
Right, that’s 84 miles covered this week and the bike has just eaten them up. Apart from nipping a few things up, it has needed nothing and I think this is going to be a keeper.
There are a couple of things I want to change:
1. The bars are not comfortable and are too narrow. I have some wider ones in the post which are hopefully straighter across the tops as well.
2. I will be putting the 28T into the cassette and taking out the 12T.
3. There is a little bit of brinelling in the headset which I should be able to solve by turning the headset races round a bit.
There are a couple of things I want to change:
1. The bars are not comfortable and are too narrow. I have some wider ones in the post which are hopefully straighter across the tops as well.
2. I will be putting the 28T into the cassette and taking out the 12T.
3. There is a little bit of brinelling in the headset which I should be able to solve by turning the headset races round a bit.
Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
Tange Levin headset with a 27.00mm crown race is available. I fitted one to my Fred Dean.
Edit, the reply function seems inoperative.
Edit, the reply function seems inoperative.
Jonny69
Senior Retro Guru
I swapped the cassette cogs round from 12-25 to 13-28. There’s a little mod you have to do if you want to do this. If you look in my pics you’ll see that the second smallest cog is grooved. That’s because the smallest cog locks into it and acts like a lock cog against the lock ring. You need to put something in that groove or the lock ring won’t tighten the cassette down. I’ve made up a ring of 1.6mm square wire for that job. Then it’s just a matter of re-assembling like usual.
The front derailleur band-on arrived in the post, so I swapped the 105 derailleur on and connected it up. Now got a manly 54 to play with up front (not that I can actually push that sort of gearing round).
I wanted to get the mudguards on tonight but I spotted one of the chainring bolts was rubbing the chainstay. Sorted it by swapping the bottom bracket from the 113mm to a 115mm, but it obviously ate a lot of my time up this evening.
The front derailleur band-on arrived in the post, so I swapped the 105 derailleur on and connected it up. Now got a manly 54 to play with up front (not that I can actually push that sort of gearing round).
I wanted to get the mudguards on tonight but I spotted one of the chainring bolts was rubbing the chainstay. Sorted it by swapping the bottom bracket from the 113mm to a 115mm, but it obviously ate a lot of my time up this evening.
Jonny69
Senior Retro Guru
Wider bars and mudguards are on!
I’ll get some better pics later. The bars I had on originally were some narrow GB bars I’d had knocking about for years. They were comfy enough on the drops, with a bit of back sweep, but way too narrow on the tops. I was looking for some 80s or early 90s drops in plain aluminium, which tend to be wider across the top and a lot squarer at the top bend. These kind-of looked like that in the listing and were a nice dull-looking earlier alloy with an early-style bulge at the clamp area. They are actually an almost identical bend to the GB bars but a few cm wider. Same back sweep on the drops, so they should be comfy to ride.
For the mudguards I had to cut the stays down and re-form the loops on the ends because they’d come off another frame. This was challenging because the stays are 3.5mm steel rod! Two came out well and two just ok like this one:
I don’t think I’ve mentioned that I’m allergic to old, mashed up slotted screws. I took the opportunity to get rid of the ones in the guard mounts and replaced them with stainless button heads. The originals seemed to be about 4.7mm with the same thread pitch as M5, whatever they would have been? So I just chased the threads out to M5:
Overall I’m fairly happy with the fit. I think I might space the back of the front guard back a bit to match the fit of the rear guard.
I’ll get some better pics later. The bars I had on originally were some narrow GB bars I’d had knocking about for years. They were comfy enough on the drops, with a bit of back sweep, but way too narrow on the tops. I was looking for some 80s or early 90s drops in plain aluminium, which tend to be wider across the top and a lot squarer at the top bend. These kind-of looked like that in the listing and were a nice dull-looking earlier alloy with an early-style bulge at the clamp area. They are actually an almost identical bend to the GB bars but a few cm wider. Same back sweep on the drops, so they should be comfy to ride.
For the mudguards I had to cut the stays down and re-form the loops on the ends because they’d come off another frame. This was challenging because the stays are 3.5mm steel rod! Two came out well and two just ok like this one:
I don’t think I’ve mentioned that I’m allergic to old, mashed up slotted screws. I took the opportunity to get rid of the ones in the guard mounts and replaced them with stainless button heads. The originals seemed to be about 4.7mm with the same thread pitch as M5, whatever they would have been? So I just chased the threads out to M5:
Overall I’m fairly happy with the fit. I think I might space the back of the front guard back a bit to match the fit of the rear guard.
