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That front stubby mudguard made a bit of noise on the potholed roads,
If you look at my post 476 above you can see the mudguards on my son's blue Gillott. These are, I'm pretty sure, the same as yours - Bluemels 'Popular'. It's not a Gillott feature, just a once very common type of mudguard. Close observation will show that front guard has been repaired at the bottom.
The reason your mudguard is noisy is that it lacks the two pairs of stays it was intended to have.
Foreigner 65's post has caused me to look again at my own post, and there is an update that's worth mentioning.
I handed the bike over on a Friday evening and my son said ' That's handy, I'm going on a trip to the Isle of Wight with some friends ...... tomorrow! I said 'don't you think you should road test it and get used to it before doing an ambitious ride?'
He was more confident of my bike assembly skills than I was, and it turned out I hadn't got the derailleur quite right. When the bike came back to me I had to struggle to get it perfect - in the end what seemed to cure it was to change the right hand Milremo crank for a Stronglight (still steel, naturally). The new crank had a smaller gap between the chain ring and the crank, so it effectively moved the chainrings slightly to the right - now everything worked perfectly, what ever I did when test riding I couldn't make it misbehave.
You would have thought that with such a simple system, 5 x 2 with a relatively modern rear mech, every thing would work with no trouble. That's what I thought, but I was wrong.
Incidentally, I went on today's Hounslow club run - Staines to Henley and return, so our paths might well have crossed.
clubman-
Thanks. Out of interest, which route did you take, along the Jubilee river or via Eton Wick?
And yes, you are right, it must have two pairs of stays, I had that set-up on a Carlton Corsair some time ago.Brave son you have there, setting off to a long ride just like that, but didn't we all done it in our youth?
Foreigner65
I guess I should post it here:
Spearpoint from 1951, serial 512512. Original paint.
Wheels - 27 1 1/4 Dunlop Special Lightweights on Normandy LF hubs
Charter Lea 48t & BW bottom bracket
Philips rat trap pedals from another bike
GB levers & GB Hiduminium calipers
Mansfield Bath rd saddle on Stata seat pin
Reynolds COntinental bars on Spearpoint stem
Apex Grand Prix pump
Simplex rear mech and DT lever (both to be replaced)
First outing today since I took it home 2 weeks ago. Washed and degreased, stem and seat pin cleaned and lubricated, pedals fitted and out we went. Everything moves as it should, felt a bit tight on it, so at pit stop in Eton saddle went up and back an inch or so. Front brake OK, rear so so, maybe because cable is stiff, or brake shoes are hard. That front stubby mudguard made a bit of noise on the potholed roads, otherwise it was a nice leisurely 30k or so all-in-all, mostly on flats round mine, better so as that 48 and tight 5 block at rear are not hill friendly.