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

Granby
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333551781768

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Anyone got any advice on treating rubber handlebar grips? I bought a set of the green Dare grips from Hilary (with the Stronglight bb). I gave them a wash in soapy water last night and they look in good condition, just wondering if I should do anything more to keep/make them supple. @BigBlock I remember seeing in one of your builds you used some yellow ones (looked great btw) but can't remember which one / where I saw it.

Finally managed to take this out for a spin today.
I bought it last August but it's taken me this long to make it rideable.
A 1955 A.S gillott spear point, the paint and transfers are original, however the Simplex deraileur hanger had been broken off, probably so the previous owner could use Campag.
I bought a frame on eBay last year with a Simplex hanger and sent both frames to Argos.
They cut of the hanger and welded it to my frame. I ended up giving the donor frame away.
I replaced the wheels that came with the bike as they were not original with Campag first edition hubs on Fiamme sprint rims which were advertised in the 1955 edition of Holdsworth Cycle Aids.
The saddle is a replacement as the original was to far gone, I have replaced the derailleur for a Simplex Juy51 and thanks to @veloham for sourcing a NOS Bayliss spindle which is now fitted and working a treat.
Everything else came with the bike.
It obviously still needs some work but firstly I need to sort out out the deraileur which inevitably doesn't shift properly.
I'm starting to wish I had welded on a Campag hanger instead of a Simplex one.
When on the bike stand it changes gear fairly well but once on the road the chain seems to be slipping.
I have replaced the chain and changed the freewheel but it's still doing it. Arghh
More investigation tomorrow I guess.

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The hanger and Simplex Juy51

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Gorgeous biek

Cockpit

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Stronglight competition cranks, Simplex TDF, lytard pedals and Bayliss Wiley.

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Phwoar, lovely

Lovely job.

Great Job. My simplex tour de france slipped like that, sold it in the end in my current mini bike cull. I had to dial up the the tension using the tension spring arm by winding it around with pliers and a screwdriver driver as my fingers weren't strong enough to get adequate tension. I don't know if this will work for you (It never really worked that well for me, if I pedalled out of the saddle hard it still slipped) Lovely bike though, I like the paint and parts being nicely faded and patinated like that

Great work, lovely bike. Hanger and everything else looks great.

The guy I bought it from was proper sad to see it go to be honest, I said I would look after it and send him a picture once I had made it road worthy again.

I was quick to assume that the slipping drive train was related to the Simplex derailleur, however I have been messing about with the setup today and have come to the conclusion that the chain is the problem. The two chains I tested where both modern and designed for 8 speed?
At the top end of the freewheel there is no slipping but as you work your way down the cogs the slipping gets worse.
I went to my LBS earlier and bought a "KMC narrow". Hopefully this will end my pain.

Actually, I forgot that I had to swap from a vintage Renolds 1/8th chain (mine was a 1/8th compatible changer) for a slightly thinner modern one as well, and it did help a bit,...

Well I've just tried out the new chain now and it made no difference!

A new chain on an old block usually slips, whatever rear mech you have.

In the photo above, your second to top sprocket is visibly worn out - I would not have expected it to work.

However, you say it is the larger sprockets that slip. I'm no expert on Simplex, but I feel that the arm of the mech is too far back and this may be causing inadequate wrap of the chain round the sprockets. An immediate and simple adjustment would be to move the wheel to the front of the fork end.

For what it's worth, my own experience with a TdF mech was that, given a new block and chain, it showed no tendency to slip or jump, the only problem I had was to get it to engage the bottom sprocket reliably.

Great advice as usual @clubman I will have a look tomorrow.

I'm pretty sure your cage needs to go through a 180 - the jockey in line with the coil spring should be at ze top - non ?

I don't think I've got a definitive answer on that. In my mind, based on modern derailleurs, I'd automatically set it up the way show in your picture. However [1], it has been pointed out to me by a number of old timers that it should be the way @falconvitesse has it. If you refer back to the sales adverts where they are pictured, it's common to see them that way round. However [2], it's also worth bearing in mind that those pictures are often embellished with artist's impressions, it could have been drawn by someone who doesn't know bikes, plus you can't guarantee the builder put it on correctly for the picture either. To confuse things further, they seem to work either way round, so there's always a chance it should be how you've got it!

Falconvitesse's Simplex is a Juy 51, the mech in The.Gren's pic is a Tour de France, incidentally with the jockey cage upside down.

The difference ( so far as I can see) is that, apart from the second cable, the Juy 51 has the end of the plunger shaft connected to the middle of the jockey cage, whereas with the TdF the shaft is connected to the bottom of the cage and supports the bottom jockey wheel.

The nut on the end of this shaft holds everything together and is difficult to tighten. I covered mine with a blob of araldite. It hasn't fallen off, yet.

How's that for escapism on a dark day?

P.S. Jonny 69 is correct, they can work ok upside down, but M. Juy intended the TdF to be used as I have described.

It's been very tricky locating the problem with the drive as while the bike is on a stand it runs smoothly with no issues, it's only when I'm riding the bike and putting force on the chain that it slips.
I obviously cannot see the problem while I'm riding, however I did try recording the drivetrain while I was moving but that didn't help.
I don't think slipping is the right description to be fair and I don't think it's the Deraileur either, I have looked at a few of these Simplex derailleurs and they all vary in the way they are set up, I just don't think they are that sensitive to positioning.
It feels more like the chain is not locating the teeth on the cogs properly.
I have 3 options
1 buy a new/old freewheel. Regina this time, the two I have are Cyclo 5 speeds
2 buy another chain. Not sure about this.
3 file down teeth on existing freewheel. I have read about it on line.

The chain you show in your pic. above looks quite a long way from new. If you've used it on the worn block (also in your pic.) that will not have improved it.

I doubt whether the make of block has any influence - either they are worn or they are not, but critical wear is not always obvious to the naked eye. Have you got any other wheels with blocks that do work which you could try in this bike? That might answer your question - I do have some you could try, but that's no help under present circumstances.

As things are I think your best bet is to try a new chain - just don't let that block in the photo get anywhere near your new chain!

The way you have it, any wobble in the spring (in the plane if the chain) will be amplified and tend to have the chain "floating" between gears. That would be minimised in the other configuration.

BITD we used to chuck these bloody things in the bin as soon as we'd got enough money from our paper-round to buy a parallelogram shifter ! Not helpful, but true ;-)

Yes, you're absolutely right - by about 1959 nobody with any sense or money was still using a 'plunger' type derailleur. I'm sure that's why the final Simplex version was a hopeless failure even though Anquetil used it successfully. Aside from anything else it cost as much as the Campag Gran Sport, but still retained the old technology. Although I was around at the time I think the first 'Juyrecord-60' I ever saw was on Hilary Stone's table at a recent Ripley Jumble - and he wanted £300 for it!

I have in front of me an advert from Sporting Cyclist for July 1962 which offers the JUYRECORD-60 for 95 shillings (£4.75) which might sound cheap until you remember that you could buy a Campag for £4.00!

I have a feeling I may have retailed this story on here in the past, but I think it's worth
repeating. I got this from a Bath RC member who is a little older than me and as a young man trained with Dave Bedwell (AKA The Pocket Rocket from Romford). Dave was a prolific winner of road races and a successful pro. Some time about the end of the fifties when he had just spent an evening desperately trying to hang on to Dave's back wheel and they were warming down he said: "Dave, I can't understand why a man of your status and calibre is still using that crappy old Simplex mech."

Dave replied: "Oh that's easy, I get three quid a week to keep using it."

My friend was dead impressed, as an apprentice he was only getting £3.17.6 (£3.875) a week!

Did todays exercise ride on this (1950 Paragon Andy Bone):

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