A.E.Elsegood

Apparently this is being a bit of a bastard in the workshop :/

Updates from @hillbilly 's hammer expected tomorrow.... :)

@hillbilly 's hammer, file and immense endurance say no :(

Basically it's appears that the headtube is on the piss to such an extent that if you fit the HS properly, you won't be turning around corners any time soon.

So bad news......or is it! I've been in contact with @alanelsegood whose still researching and cataloging his dad's amazing life (inbeteen his holidays :)) and he was talking about contacting Ellis Briggs (when he come back from a far flung and hot part of the world) to see what info they had about his dad's work. So I think I might send the chrome Minster up to them to see what they think, it may achieve nothing other than starting a conversation, but I reckon it'll be worth it either way.

In the meantime @hillbilly is going to put Arnold back together with the addition of a dynamo and working 8 speed gears, and I'll get to enjoy using it as a super lush winter steed :)

Little update

The blue Minster - Arnold - has been up and running for a few weeks now as my (luxury) winter bike. The Dynamo is a revelation and will remain as a fixture in what ever proper winter bike appears next....

The chrome frame has been sent up to Ellis Briggs for them to have a look at. Hopefully it can be saved and I can use it as my winter steed. The idea is to clear coat it's ratty backside to protect it a bit and to keep the orginal decals.

The intriguing thing I found out when I spoke to EB when they had got the chrome frame out of the box, was that they immediately identified the frame as one of theirs. Apparently Jack Briggs and Arnold were good friends and Briggs made some frames for Arnold. I'm going to find out a bit more when I speak to them again as I didn't have time to chat then. (this also tally's with @hillbilly 's assertion that the two Minster frames were made by different builders, which initially had me worried!!)

EB seemed interested in helping put some more information together on Elsegood, which I know will please @alanelsegood as he was planning to contact them to ask about his dad. I'm Really hopeful this Minster can be sorted and the EB can furnish us with some more information. I know Alan is also going through the huge collection of stuff he has on his father too.

Hopefully some more random news to follow soon.

I'll leave you with a picture of Arnold in light touring guise.

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hi there just come across this post my dad was originally from york and he has a 1970 minster bike built by arnold elsegood, once he sends me some pics i will post them up - it's in need of restoration now as not been used since late 70's but it has been to australia and back in 1971 - his is dark purple and gold with real gold leaf writing and scrolling around frame.

Sounds interesting, I'm looking forward the the pictures!

The chrome Minster (Alan) is back from Ellis-Briggs. They have re tracked it and sorted out the headtube issues. BC have built it up with the parts from the Blue Minster (Arnold) and just as the weather is looking up I have a proper winter bike :)

E-B confirmed that they made this frame, as Arnold was good friends with Jack Briggs, if Arnold had too much on he got E-B to give him a hand, good to know the history, but no more details than than. Hopefully @alanelsegood will have more luck with them.

Anyway here it is, lovely and ratty and ready to be shaken down on the London Classic this weekend. Just need to do more tinfoil treatment on the chrome and try to protect the decals with localised clear coat.

Will put more pics up when I get a chance.

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Just a quick note to say that the chrome Minster, pictured above, will be for sale as a complete bike in mid September. The only changes from the above image will be a different saddle and seat post.

This is a very reluctant sale, but sometime life is like that! :)

I will do a proper sales thread in September, but I just wanted to give any folk who have commented here previously a heads up.

Cheers

Rob

Chrome Minster now up for sale properly - http://www.lfgss.com/conversations/275335/

Silver Minster now sold - it's gone to a good forum home with @Zebra_Cyclist

Chuffed!

I'm now starting to look at re-building the Blue Minster for summer.

I really enjoyed having it built up as a functional, usable bike with the 8 speed DA on it, so after some hard thinking, I'm going to see if its possible to cold set the rear end from 126 - 130mm.

Even though you could run the 8 speed block on 126 mm, you could only run 6 gears due to the chainstays and it became a bit annoying after a while. On the Silver Minster it was better as you could run 7, oddly enough.

Cold setting an old frame like this may be sacrilege to some, but after some thought I think it will preserve it for longer and enable me to use it regularly and it also carries on the evolution of the frame, as it appears that it was build in the 50's, then modified in the 70's to take a derailleur with the Zeus dropouts.

If it is possible to make a modern setting work on the rear end, I think I'll build it up with 9 speed Campag and sympathetic components, if not, I'll build it up full Eroica I think :)

I think it's pretty normal to cold set from 126 to 130mm, it's only 2mm per side.

Indeed and I've used 130 hubs on it, but I want it done properly, if it can be done, so I can get the clearances on the chainstays, if that makes sense

Random update

I'm going to build her back up in period trim over the winter, non of this re spacing nonsense :)

Sounds great! Looking forward to the journey finding all the bits!

Good stuff! Are you on a parts accumulation mission or have you the bits already?

I need to go through my vintage parts box, but I think I have most things. Well I hope I do, but it's not until it starts to go together that you realise how much you are missing/is wrong....

I also want to chat to @alanelsegood again as his dad was an early adopter of new tech, indeed this frame had the dropouts changed (we think) in the 70's to take a derailleur.

As the dropouts are Zeus, I also wonder if I should disappear down that rabbit hole.

Can't wait, will go through parts later this week and post up an initial have/want list :)

Awesome, I really love to see the older stuff coming together. Let me know if there's anything specific you're after as my parts collection seems to have grown to hoarder levels :)

I bet it has!

Cheers though :)

Right

Broke out the parts bin to see what I have and what I need

In the box

-Super Record/Nuovo Record brake levers (aero drilled)

• Williams 3 pin cottered double clanger with spare chainring
  
• Record large flange hubs
  
• Nuovo Record rear mech (one for spares)
  
• Nuovo Front Mech
  
• Colloral double bottle holder
  
• Mafac Racer 451 centre pulls and one cable
  
• Weinmann 999 centre pulls and straddles
  
• Campag Super Record (pista?) headset
  
• Campag Record headset (modern)
  
• one set of vintage clarks cables
  
• various Campag/colloral and Huret stops clamps and outer cables
  
• Campag downtube shifters.
  
• Christophe toe straps
  
  

Need

• stem - GB spearpoint or 541 100mm +
  
• Bars - dunno, but nothing too fancy if I go with the double bottle holder
  
• mudgaurds - Blumels of some description
  
• 27" rims
  
• pedals and cages
  
• seat pin and saddle.
  
• tyres
  
• chain (although I'm sure I have one somewhere)
  
• loads of other stuff probably
  

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Cranks, Cage & Hubs

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Mechs, levers and Mafacs

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I have some flared 50s Dawes Concorde bars with engraving for sale if you're interested? Quite a bit of scoring but the visible parts aren't in bad nick

And i've got spare set of bluenmels lightweight mudguards in white if you like

I'll pass on the Dawes bars, I don't think that would look quite right, but thanks for the thought.

I should really find a stem that's drilled for centre pulls too thinking about it, maybe even one that's been tapped for an adjuster.

They sound perfect, do you have some photos of them?