Late 80s Gazelle Tour Populair

Front wheel is built.

So much bike left to fettle though.

Front mudguard has been, ahem, encouraged to fit between the front forks with some judicious use of an F clamp. I'm beginning to wonder if the silver mudguards might actually be a nice touch.

This is great. I rode a Batavus Locarno to work for a year. Such a wonderful bike. Look forward to seeing it come together. Can't see above picture though.
Arup is a gent and builds great wheels too.

Picture fixed, I hope?

Progress.

But those chrome mudguards are going to have to turn black.

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It is and looks great. New pic not working though.

I'm going to use brush-on Hammerite metal paint on those mudguards, unless anyone gives me a good reason not to?

The mudguard painting went really well, which is good, because everything else about this project is a total ballache. Here's the paint curing. Once its fully dry, I need to add the little gold stripes, for authenticity points.

I've only now discovered that Sturmey Archer axles have a unique thread size. The nut on the non drive side was f***ed, as it was never the right size in the first place.

But axle problems are nothing compared to chainguard problems. The shop supplies the thing in one piece, but expects you to cut the necessary holes in it yourself.

piccies not showing?

Seems Google Photos is almost as difficult to tame as a vinyl chainguard.

Will totally be worth it once it's done though.

Found some pump pegs in my parts bin . . . so I've bought this to go with 'em.

So that's kickstand, rack, dynamo lights front and rear, skirtguard, mudguards, chainguards, bell, integrated lock and frame-mounted pump. It's basically bike maximalism.

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We're on the road! Bike is far from complete, but it's in rideable condition again.

Oh my goodness is it slow. A good thing, given that braking is, er, relaxed. Because both brakes are operated from one lever (which spans the width of the bars) adjusting them is tricky.

The three-speed rear hub is...playful, let's say. Kept booting me out of the middle gear.

Bottom-bracket feels like it has been filled with gravel. Definitely needs repacking if I can ever be bothered to remove all those components ever again.

I'm also going to have to learn some Dynamo-fu to get that working again. All the wiring is internal, so I'm desperately hoping that it's a) still working b) a match for the non-original light fitting on the rear mudguard.

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Turns out the rear drum brake was broken. Which explains a lot of things. You can just about make out the crack at the top of the brake shoe thingy.

So now I'm learning about how to fix drum brakes.

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Nice to follow this projects. Super slack bike :)

Those tiny grips are amazing, ha ha. Bike looks good, bet it weighs a tonne!

Really like this, sub'd

Weighs about 23kg. And you feel every kilo of that when you're trying to pull away at the lights.

Anyway, we're off the road again for now. One thing has led to another and I've been sucked down the wormhole that is repacking a Sturmey Archer rear hub.

Not only was the brake shoe sheared, so were two of the rear axle nuts, one of the bearing races and one of the outer hub bearings. It's a small wonder the rear wheel was still turning.

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Decided to overhaul that BB after all.

What are these plastic shell things and how do I remove them?

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Managed to get that plastic shell thing off the non drive-side of the bottom bracket, to reveal another notched plastic ring things.

Looks like it's a press-fit square taper bottom bracket. Notoriously trixy to remove and, to judge from a quick internet search, not readily available to buy new. So I'm not going to remove it after all.

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@Diamond_Supercool
someone is giving away a sturmey archer hub FOC on the forum, you can probably rescue the shoes from it for yours.
bike looks cool. Dont think I've ever seen angles like that.
edit:
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/322378/#comment14292821

This bike has been off the road for the past year or so, owing to moving house and becoming a dad. Both these things meant that I never got round to properly overhauling the SA rear hub so that the gears engaged properly. I finally took it to my LBS instead and the wheel is due back tomorrow. Had really wanted to do this job myself but just didn't have time.

Anyway, in the meantime I've been timing my commute back from work on my regular fixed-gear, for the sheer bantz of discovering how much slower it is on this beast.

I'm also hoping the bike is going to get a new lease of life as a child-carrying machine (although that's a little way off yet).

Yes - the Dutch juggernaut shall ride again!

Rear wheel is back from my LBS, who have overhauled its guts.

But....the gears are still slipping. Either slipping in 2nd gear (when the cable tension isn't high enough) or in 3rd gear (when the cable tension is too high).

Sheldon Brown tells us that 99 per cent of shifting problems are due to cable tension. But no matter how I play around with this cable it still won't shift solidly. Pretty sure I'm in the 1 per cent club. Going to try replacing the trigger and cable.

Is it a sturmey with the threaded indictator rod?

If so check that the chain comes out of the nut in line with the cable. I find if the chain is at a slight angle to the cable I can never get the gears properly adjusted

Have just checked and the chain is nicely in line with the cable. Thanks for the tip though.