RVL's Ugly Ducklings

Reached a minor milestone on another biek

A couple more projects in the pipeline -
Ratty mountainbike ( separate build thread )

And a new hip-hop winterbike (Donohue)

Donohue

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I did a bit of an impulse purchase the other day and bought a 1930's lightweight on ebay

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The seller was an absolute gent and we had a good old natter about bikes.
Turns out he was right about the lightweight being a Dawes - I found it in the 1938 catalogue

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Here's a few shots - the "before" pics as it were

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The other bike in the pair was a 40's or early 50's 'K' by the standard bike company (not a Kerry as originally proposed)
I have no use for this and so I sold it on ebay for £37 so I'm £2 up before starting

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Before selling the k, I swiped the brakes from it as they’re monitor sheerline
They scrubbed up ok so that felt like a win too

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So much going on in this thread

Quite so, I’ve a tendency to dive into the next project as soon as a bike’s rideable so finishing touches take forever...

This last one has potential! Certainly can't get much worse :)

General update. I sold the Tifosi and the aluminum Weigh over the summer .
I also gave the 653 version of the weigh to my sister in law (thanks to @PhilDAS for the splendid seat stay replacement) - I’m sure my bro @girodibeniamino will make a great job of it

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On the subject of finishing stuff off, I finally finished off my father’s Gillott and gave it back

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He’s pretty happy with it and already getting the miles in

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Back to the Dawes... I’ve still got the bar/ stem combo from my eroica rat so I stuck them on.
1960s red dot brake levers are an outrage...

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Fitted the San Marco saddle from the eroica rat and the Geometry seems reasonably rideable - so far so good

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Rad dad. Very cool indeed.

Haha, he's got a reasonable stash including a 60's Campag Claud, the Gillott, a 90's lugged 501 MTB, an Airborne road bike and a Scott gravel bike..... I guess the apple's not fallen far from the tree

This.
And that Gillott is an absolute stunner.

Thanks, I'm sure he'll be pleased to hear that!

re: the Dawes.
The chainring has gouged a chunk of metal out of the (very thick walled) chainstay.
I assumed this was due to the BB being super loose.
When I tightened it I discovered that the BB shell is threadless to suit the Bayliss-Wiley oilbath BB

I regreased and tightened it but the problem persisted.
I tried a 3-pin Solida chainset but the chainstay strike was even worse.
inverted the BB and tried the chainset on the NDS to see if it was a bent frame (I've still not got round to an alignment check) - clash was exactly the same on the NDS.
When I inspected the BB axle I noticed it's not Bayliss Wiley but TDC. It's also symmetric.
I then had a quick hunt around my parts bin for another cottered BB axle.
I found a Claud Butler one from the 30s the same length as the TDC but the bearing surfaces are closer together. This is non-symmetric and the longer drive side put the chainring in the right position wrt the chainstay. Unfortunately, the assembled BB is too short so I've no threads to fit the lock-ring... this is all a bit annoying.

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in the above pic, the TDC axle is shiny, Claud is grubby one

From my measurements, the Claud one looks to be conventional (B = 50 mm) whereas on the TDC, B = 53 mm according to my vernier....

For both axles D=122.5 mm which is pretty short for a cottered axle
For the TDC, A = C = 21 mm. No wonder the chainring is rubbing.
For the Claud, A = 21 mm, C = 23mm which is enough to let the fixed chainring on the Dawes run with rizla clearance...
I just found this picture on the internet - I think it's the one I'm after, D = 133 mm B = 53 A = 21 mm and C = 31 mm

it's not a million miles away from https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/bottom-brackets/cottered-bottom-bracket-axle-a16/ where A = 24 mm and C = 35 mm but I'll see if I can find something a bit tighter...

My bro @girodibeniamino kindly donated this 3speed 1/8 rear derailleur for the Dawes
It’s an erlotti torpedo from the late 30s - its a bit bent and gunked up but it’s complete and will work great with the 3 speed rear block

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It turns out that this mech was made under license from Fichtel & Sachs - based on their 9a

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Reasonably easy to dismantle & clean

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