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This one certainly looks a very worthwhile project: even if that downtube needs replacing I'm sure it's worth the expense.
The pictures give the impression that this machine has seen a lot of use, which is often an indication that it's good to ride. The mixture of kit is typical of much used machines - I think most club riders would wear bits out and replace them piecemeal. The idea of buying a new bike every year* would not have occured to them, so the concept of 'original' components doesn't work that well in practice, since there would have been constant replacements.
I've recently been doing some research into a Ferris frame. I've learnt that the previous owner bought the bike complete from Harry Ferris's shop in 1958. The frame was secondhand, but fairly recent, and Harry built the bike up for my friend using some new and some secondhand parts. The whole thing cost £25 and was paid for, on the never, from the proceeds of a paper round. So although this machine came from the shop with the maker's name on the downtube, it could never have been said to be a 'standard' model.
To return to this ROH, if I were sending it for respraying I would remove the lamp bracket boss from the front fork blade - it's unlikely it will be ridden in the dark, and even if it is, that type of lamp is so obsolete there are no batteries available for them. I realise this is going against 'originality' but I feel those bosses are ugly and are additional and useless weight.
In the same way you should think about removing the pump pegs. If you really are going to carry an old style pump keep them, but if you use a pump that fits the frame itself (practical and easily available) then take them off because they'll only get in the way. The gear lever boss looks like a Simplex - fine, if you have the lever and the hard to replace screw which holds it in place. If not it may be best to change it.
- I recently heard of a rider who, although old, would buy a new bike every year. He always had the new machine resprayed green, steel, ali, carbon, whatever it was. When asked why he did this, he replied - it's the wife, she can only tell a different bike by the colour, and I don't want to discuss current bike prices with her.
- I recently heard of a rider who, although old, would buy a new bike every year. He always had the new machine resprayed green, steel, ali, carbon, whatever it was. When asked why he did this, he replied - it's the wife, she can only tell a different bike by the colour, and I don't want to discuss current bike prices with her.
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clubman
It's hard to know on original colour, I had thought from the pictures in the Ebay posting that it might have been original paint still, but it’s a non-professional paint job, nicely enough done but there are brush strokes in the seat panel and it needed repainting even before I messed it up further. The edges and braze-ons all look pretty sharp still though, so I thought it hadn’t had much rough treatment. I thought the red was a rust treatment undercoat and the original finish had been copper with a brown flam. You can definitely see these layers, red, copper, brown flam and then brown spray can on top. However … I tried gently cleaning and trying to take the top layer off carefully but only revealed what looks like a cracked downtube below the headtube. To my untrained eye it looks like an earlier repair job. So that’s a shame on several levels but I will see what they have to say at Argos. Who knows, maybe the red is the original colour, maybe it’s not a repair and the frame is totally bolloxed.
Before I was worried about the soundness of the frame I had planned to have it repainted as I thought original. Copper brown flam, gold script downtube decal and gold lining on the fork crown. I have wanted a red bike for a while though. Decisions. Edith Atkins’ ROH in the Coventry Transport Museum is a great example, I’ve included a photo taken from Sunshine Cycles blog http://coventryrecycledcycles.blogspot.com/2012_07_28_archive.html. I was thinking about having the shifter and gear cable stop braze-ons taken off – I intend for it to be fixed or single speed, double fixed or fixed/free rear hub. I’ve come round to leaving them on though, keeps it original with the indicators of the model and gives more options in the future. I like the way this fella has the cover and screw in the shifter boss without the lever http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=363142. The reveal at the end of the thread made me spit out my cornflakes, not how I was expecting it to go!
Anyway, fingers crossed this isn't a quick thread but is a slow burner with refinished bike and period correct equipment gathered ...