Pre 1950s rides of LFGSS: old bikes, vintage rats, classic lightweights

The varnished handlebars. I have used waxed string to finish the ends and then mixed varnish with PVA and painted it all to seal it. The saddle looks scuffed but it is just superficial, I'm not sure what happened to it as the rest of the leather is in excellent condition.

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Handlebars

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Looking just brilliant - I love the natural 1960's "I use it every day mate" style. That Brooks saddle is superb, the leather and the embossing - wow; you can see how they built their reputation with those qualities.

Thanks @The.Glen.
The sprinter saddle is gorgeous and it looks way better in the flesh.
I will post some pictures of the bike as I ride through France next weekend. In the meantime
I have just accidentally bought another Gillott
1955 spear point. I put a bid on eBay and forgot all about it.

Good luck with the French trip.

You say the bike is ready, so I hope you can now get top gear (even though bottom is likely to be more useful).

The sprinter saddle - I know from our ride in June that you can survive 60 miles on it, but I wouldn't try to go further than the nearest newsagents with it. Still Chacun a son gout.

p.s. Sorry about lack of French accents - I don't know how to do them for forum posts.

Hi Guys! I have a 1947 Dawes Courier. I am just about to send it to paint. The closest match I can find is JRL (Range Rover) colour "Montalcino Red" Would the original paint on a 1947 have any hint of metallic? Contemporary blurb calls it "Ruby Lustre" And I have seen it called "flamboyant"

Two points here:

I think this is a Dawes Coureur not a 'Courier'.

Coureur is a word which has caused a lot of trouble in English cycling. It is a French word with the basic meaning of 'runner' (courir = to run) but it has come to mean competitor, and since in France far more was written about cycling than running, coureur most often means racing cyclist. A 'courier' is someone who carries something - a package or a message - from one place to another.

I've gone to this length to explain the difference because these two words are very frequently muddled, often by people who should know better.

The late Jock Wadley, perhaps this country's greatest ever cycling journalist, tried to call his magazine 'Coureur', which should have been an excellent title since it was heavy on reporting continental racing in a way that 'Cycling' certainly was not. Unfortunately it proved to be impossible to stop people thinking of it as 'Courier' and eventually the name had to be changed to 'Sporting Cyclist'.

Flamboyant

Flamboyant (aka Flam and Lustre) is a style of painting rather than a colour - you can have a flam in several colours - red, blue and green being the commonest. The finish is achieved with a base coat of silver oversprayed with a tinted lacquer. With bike frames it would be common practice to apply transfers onto the tinted lacquer and then finish with clear lacquer.

I used to buy the coloured dye separately and add it to clear lacquer as required.

It should be mentioned that Flams generally are not very durable because any scratch will tend to reveal the silver base coat which will be hard to hide. It's not easy to touch in the coloured lacquer, even if you have the right dye. Note that it is important that the painter does not fully stove the silver coat as this will cause poor adhesion of the lacquer.

Thank you! But.....

I have other pictures but that hard drive is not connected ATM. But is is definitely "Courier"

'Courier' it is then!

But as I said in my post above, this word was often muddled by people who ought to have known better.

Perhaps the sales people at Dawes thought their machine would suit the messenger market, but I doubt it. An example of this sort of muddling is that some Hercules advertising in the 1950's stated that their bike was fitted with GB 'Courier' brakes, but old Gerry Burgess knew better than that and had actually named them 'Coureur'.

As to the colour, most red flams are pretty much the same, but your photo shows the colour as a bit darker than normal - it might almost be called maroon. I think it's quite possible this is the effect of the passage of 72 years, so you may have to decide whether to make it look like it appears now, but repainted, or take it back to the way it looked when new.

Personally, I would stick to cleaning it and wiping with an oily rag. Had you noticed that the machine in the catalogue picture appears to have 27" rims, whereas I think yours has 26's (the position of the brake blocks in the calipers is the clue)? If you plan to do much riding I suggest you consider changing to 700's, which will enable you to get good tyres and will improve its riding qualities. Anyway, it certainly looks a desirable machine and I hope you have many enjoyable miles with it.

It's amusing to note that if you google Dawes Coureur now, you find that they used this name recently, but this Coureur is described as a tourer, so they've now got the word right, but they still don't understand the meaning.

My new bike.
The handlebars are original GB superhoods, comes with the right calipers. Which is a good start. The handlebars on the other hand are definitely going.

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Coming along great

Looks very interesting, Any full bike photos?

Note the correct spelling of 'Coureur' on the GB brake calipers (see above).

While I'm here......

I had an interesting conversation with another old bloke the other day which referred in part to the old bikes this thread is keen on. The relevant bit went like this:

"1960 was my first season as a senior, and I had some success with a few road race wins. By the end of the year I'd improved my road bike to the point where I felt it was state of the art - everything was Campag! " (NB at that time you weren't supposed to get cash prizes as an amateur, but you could receive equipment - which, of course you could swap or trade for cash at your bike shop).

"At the beginning of the 1961 season I got an offer to ride as an 'independent' for Wally Green Cycles, which I took. One little snag was that I had to ride the bike they gave me (for sponsorship reasons) and it was quite a lot inferior to my own. In particular, it had a Cyclo parallelogram rear mech which was a copy of the Campag."

"Didn't it work? " I asked.

"Well, yes, it did work after a fashion, as long as you keep on adjusting it, but it was nothing like as good as the Campag."

Incidentally, that Cyclo mech was barely any cheaper than the Campag Gran Sport. Although I've seen plenty of drawings of them in old adverts I don't think I've ever seen one in the flesh, let alone in use.

Moral: don't be guided in your choice of kit by what professionals use - they ride what they're paid to use.

Thanks, and well spotted re the rims. Yes it has 26" x 1 1/4" rims. So I am limited with tyres and simply cannot find any in tan wall! I have some black Schwalbes which will do. If anyone here has any in tan, please let me know! (I have even asked Tim Gunn, who lives near me, and he said, no, none available, you won't get them!) I am reluctant to scrap the original rims which are in good condition just for this reason.

I have just accidentally bought another Gillott
1955 spear point. I put a bid on eBay and forgot all about it.

Heh. That is the best thing about this thread, it will never end.

I might have an odd one in the loft. I'll have a look for you to see tomorrow, if you like

Rims and Tyres

You haven't yet mentioned what your plans are for using your Dawes.

If it is to be a museum exhibit then appearance is crucial, but if it is to be used you need to think about what will work well on the road. Good tyres are probably the most critical factor here, and by good I mean they should be reasonably light and capable of taking fairly high pressure (say at least 80 psi.)

As we all know 26" x one and a quarter is, sadly, an obsolete size. I've done a lot of riding using this size and I feel there's absolutely nothing wrong with it, also I certainly prefer it to 27". Unfortunately the world has moved on and now there is not much available in the way of tyres. The Schwalbe tyres you mention seem to be the best bet, assuming you can find some. They are said to take 85 psi, which is adequate, but they are heavy, and the tread pattern certainly looks out of place on a machine with any pretention to speed.

I have seen some lovingly restored old machines, presented as if in racing kit, but with 26" tyres marked 'max pressure 55psi'. I know from experience that those tyres will be ruined by bulging if the stated pressure is exceeded. So a bike like that is only really suitable for looking at.

I do have couple of bikes which cannot take modern wheels and I'm keeping my very limited supply of good tyres for those machines. Fortunately most frames built long ago for 26's were so gappy that they actually look better with 700's, and they certainly feel a lot zippier on the road. If you look at my posts under ' Sunbeam ' in the Current Projects thread I think you will see what I mean.

Your Dawes would obviously come into this category, so I hope this is food for thought if you intend doing much riding on the machine.

P.S. If you want to look at the Sunbeam thread, search under Silver Sunbeam.
I've just discovered that just searching 'Sunbeam' doesn't find it.
Looking at the pictures again , I'm a bit ashamed the bike looks so scruffy, but I would like to mention it is strictly a hack bike.

No I had to leave it as I'm on holiday now. It means I have something to look forward to when I get back.

The scuffing of the saddle can be treated with some burnishing.
I used an old and retired leather top that looked like this

scuffed it with some 40 grit sandpaper

and then to minimise the damage.
a dab of Gum Tragacanth and some rubbing with a bone folder. This slicks/burnishes the fibres, and then followed by a dressing of Proofide.

I also documented how treat a misshapen leather saddle, because words are not sufficient.
Brooks style leather saddle reshaping

Thanks to all for the replies re. my Dawes. I have been wondering. Would it not be possible, somehow, to put it around on all forums, facebook groups etc etc. and gather together sufficient interest to put in an order for a short run of decent tyres in 26 x 1 1/4" tan wall with, say, Schwalbe, Panaracer, Vittoria or even Chan Sen (?) Surely SJS would take a few? Other online shops? Etc...?

On relection I have two used but useable tan wall Michelins (1 Speed, 1 zigzag) which I would be happy to swap for serviceable black tyres, preferably Schwalbe. If your swaps are better than mine (e.g. new Schwalbes) I'd be happy to make a cash adjusment in your favour.

Getting tyres made would be great if it could be done, but I fear it would involve a large and very risky financial investment; basically a sledge hammer and nut situation. If I really thought it might be feasable I would try to involve the Veteran - Cycle Club and my first port of call would be Veloflex, who make really excellent tyres on a relatively small scale.

Another possibilty for your machine would be to use sprints and tubs, which certainly existed when your bike was new even though Dawes would never have fitted them (although owners might well have done). There are still plenty of rims lying around that nobody wants, and you should be able to find 32/40 spoking to match your hubs. I don't know what heavy tubs cost nowadays, but compared with getting tyres made they would be cheap, and you could certainly afford to throw away any that punctured. As a bonus sprints give an excellent ride.

@clubman you asked me if I had sorted out my Simplex derailleur. Well I hadn't and I wasn't going to but your right it will be a useful gear on such a long journey.
So I went on a hunt for some thin washers in the Loire Atlantic region of France today, I thought I could use a washer on the rear axle between the wheel and dropout. This should push the derailleur out enough for it to drag the chain onto the smallest cog. Will let you know how it goes. The bikes running well, saddles still hard, thanks @Big_Block for the info will give this a try.

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