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

Yes I'll take these please if i can pick up at the weekend
Will send pm

I won't be around next weekend. Sorry.

Before I post onto main For Sale page....

Not one, but two AS Gillott bikes by Ron Cooper:

1. 1951 Spearpoint, 22 1/2 size, original paint, mostly original era parts, incl CL chainset etc. See more info here I'll include the pump and will throw in a bike stand too

2. 1963 f+f, bought as a donor bike, 22" or 55cm to my tape measure. It may be original paint, but could be mistaken. Offered to @Hornsweep, but he perhaps wisely changed his mind and save time and effort in trying to find the correct era British parts considering he is based on the continent.

£295 and £115 respectively. PM for more info/pics etc.

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Oh for heavens sake
So much good stuff for so little money
I need to buy some scratch cards on the way home :(

Thanks. Trying to be fair and reasonable with pricing. And would want these to be on the road, not sitting in my shed....

Anyone want to chat about a daytona amalgam frame bike? Seen one for sale and am wondering...as a frame replacement for a single speed conversion.

vintage? I know of Dayton, never heard of Daytona

Yes dayton, my mistake as I have been looking at triumph daytona motorbikes.

Haha, no worries - and the bike you are looking at is an Elite round 1950 mark?

'Amalgam' in the context of Dayton means, I think, 'flash butt welded'. I believe the frame tubes were mitred, pressed together and then had an electric current passed through them which welded the whole thing together. This gave a fairly neat looking result; a lot of these bikes were bought by parents of boys who had passed the 11 plus in the 1950's.

But, a lot of these did not last out the boy's school career because the welds often broke. Perhaps it depended on how accurate the mitres were - they didn't all break. The one you're looking at has lasted about 70 years, so maybe it's a good one.

Thank you, didn't know about the frames failing tho.

Think I'll keep looking as no longer sure what I want to do.

Hi Alex,
if the tools are still available I'd like them for Reading Bike Kitchen please.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087360936648
https://www.readingbicyclekitchen.org
We could make good use of some of those, and ensure that the rest go to a good home.
I can pop over when it's convenient.
Regards, Gren

Posted in retro already, but just in case - anyone has an axle or rear Campaq 120mm hub?

Picked up a car load of stuff last week for little £ and included were 1950s Gran Sport wheels, rear frewheel/fixed, so it must've been 120mm for sure. Needed for 50's Ephgrave.

A new item rather than a reply
Just acquired a 50's track frame - Frame number LY3034, 24" any suggestions about the builder? Ta C

Some pictures of the frame might help, but once a frame's identity has been lost it's often impossible to re-find it.

Having said that, I should add that I recently sold an ancient track frame which I thought was impossible to identify. I was wrong - the new owner quickly discovered it was a late 1920's Freddie Grubb. So you never know your luck!

Pics are needed as @clubman alluded, otherwise it is a 'my lady is 5' 3", how old is she' question 😁

A Mafac Problem...Solved

Mafac levers were much favoured in the 50s and 60s and were quite often used with different make callipers at the other end. Naturally the rubber hoods tend to perish and wear out - to my knowledge they haven't been made for many years and they have become scarce and expensive.

I had an unused spare pair which I was keeping for my old age......which has now arrived. So I was disappointed to find that on one of my levers I could not get the adjuster in the rubber to stay at the right angle in relation to the lever and cable.

I found another (newer) lever in my parts bin and as the photo below shows, there is a difference between old and newer. Fitting the newer lever solved the problem.

So, if you are restoring a bike with Mafacs, and you're thinking of paying an extortionate price for a pair of rubber hoods, do make sure they are compatible with your levers!

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@cluman Yes its very subtle you would hardly notice unless side by side as in the picture thanks for the heads up

I have a set of gb levers which have a distinct line running vertically down the body of the lever.
the side nearer the clamp is darker, while the other side is lighter, the line clearly shows where the bar tape had been wrapped around the lever just like yours.
Obviously it was the thing to do.
Are you going to shellac the handlebar tape.?
It looks great until it rains and the tape acts like a sponge, fine in the summer but ive found in the winter wet bar tape makes for wet gloves and cold hands.

I think it was common (but not universal) practice to put cotton tape round the levers as shown in my photo.

No, I'm not going to apply shellac. I've always thought the slightly absorbent nature of this tape to be desirable - if I wanted something impervious I'd use different tape. So, chacun a son gout.

chacun a son gout.
Totally agree with that and there are also plenty of drawbacks with covering the tape in shellac, it definitely doesnt add to the look of the bike and it doesnt matter which colour the tape is, brushing them over with shellac turns them into a dark brown colour.

Century Ride (24th May'23)

I've just posted this under 'Tell Us about your Weekend Ride'. It may be of interest to readers of this thread since it done on old bikes.

The H.G. Shillingford was by far the most interesting of the bikes; it was pre-war and it featured a Cyclo Standard derailleur (3 speed block) with a double chainring (rod changer) which worked efficiently.

It had another interest for me, because I was lucky enough to have met Mr. Shillingford in person; even by the standards of bike shop proprietors he was eccentric. One Saturday in the early '80s I happened to ride through Leighton Buzzard and noticed his shop, which looked as though it was stuck in a time warp, not just because of the old fashioned shop front, but also because much of the stock displayed in the window was obsolete (eg Williams 1" pitch chainrings)

I went in for a nose around hoping to find something useful like Airlite cones, but he denied having any of the items I mentioned. Subsequently I heard that he was very reluctant to sell any of the old stock, and was very annoyed when his wife sold some Resilion brake blocks: "I was keeping them for my trike!" I've no idea how the business survived, but it lasted, I think, into the early 2000s. I did then manage to acquire, from the shop's stock, a pair of new 26 x 1.25" Westwood rims (think - hen's teeth).

I've no idea how the business survived

I know (second hand) of a similar outfit, the key to survival being outright ownership of the freehold of the shop and the flat above. You can get by on very little once you remove rent/mortgage payments from the budget.

Smashing ride @clubman and the sunbeam looks superb.
Francis has gone all out i notice with alumniuim water bottle, paper maps and like you old school pedals.

Thanks for your comments.

I expect you are aware of this, but for Francis and me, the old school stuff is the only way we know how to do it!

The only thing Sunbeam about the Sunbeam is the frame. The Mavic 700 rims and the light tyres are far superior to anything they ever fitted. Although I would never have contemplated using it for a 12, it does make quite a comfortable machine for this sort of all day ride.

Does anybody have any advice for removing a top coat of paint to reveal the old paint underneath?
I have just picked up what is apparently a Gillott Continental (all the frame number decent seem to match the sequence) that has peeling white paint. Under it is a lovely light blue showing through which I want to reveal, but my initial experiment with white spirit and wire wool is just stripping that off too so need another method.