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

Cellulose thinners might leave the original intact if its been oven baked?

I suppose that could work. Maybe if I wiped if off quickly with a soft cloth, or watered it down somehow?

I recently used Wickes paint stripper, it has lots of terrible reviews for being too weak and not stripping multiple layers of paint but it did a great job of removing a single layer of paint badly sprayed over the original paint (with the aid of a washing up sponge).

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Paint+Varnish-Stripper---1L/p/155054

good call. weak paint stripper- maybe leave it for just a very short amount of time

I think Midlife's suggestion is the best bet. If that light blue paint is stoved it should resist solvents, but if it isn't stove enamel it's probably not worth saving because it won't be the original finish.

There are other solvents stronger than white spirit and less potent than cellulose, but my knowledge of availability is a bit out of date - there must have been a lot more Heath and Safety since I was in this trade. In any case, use powerful organic solvents out of doors - the fumes are not beneficial to health!

Dampen a microfibre cloth with pure acetone (ebay 5L £20) and rub the frame down with it. Used judiciously, acetone (ie pure nail polish remover) will remove amateur overpainting but not the original coat. I've had a lot of fun with it over the years. A recent example being a scrappy blue frame which turned out to be a Parkes Lightweight.

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If you want to try Acetone and can get to St.Pancras during working hours I can let you have a few 100mls .

Loving the dropouts.

I think I can hold of some at work, but thanks for the offer anyway

Any more details on the Parkes? I've got one and you very rarely see them. What's the frame number?

XSM8412X - 1956?

The x on each end is a bit strange. It’s normally two letters and four numbers. I’m not an expert, but I’d suggest the date code is more likely the S which would make it 1951/52.

There’s a date chart in this thread on Retrobike: https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/j-c-parkes-year-and-model.449551/

Also if you haven’t seen it there’s this old thread on here where a few of the Parkes family popped up: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/170221/

Got some Acetone from work, seems to be working okay so far as the blue paint underneath is resisting it. No sign of old decals at all though, and blue looks quite fresh so not sure what's going on there, although the colour is one Gillott offered for this model. Uncovered the frame number more and turns out is a 1954 Gillott Continental, so seems genuine and correct in that sense at least.

Yes i saw your feed on facebook, that must have been a nice surprise, revealing that frame number.
Very nice.

Repainting Frames

It's natural to start the restoration of an old frame by refinishing it - I've done this more than once, but I wouldn't do it that way now.

Perhaps you have acquired a prestigious brand of frame, or possibly something eccentric which has taken your fancy, but before you go to a lot of trouble and expense you should find out whether you like riding a bike built on it.

I assume that the purpose of a restoration is to have a bike you will actually enjoy riding.

So I suggest it's worth assembling your 'new' frame and getting it rideable before painting it - just because it's that brand you've always wanted to own doesn't mean you will like it as a bike.

The photo below is an example. I have wanted to build a traditional roadster ever since I had the Marcel Planes BSA on loan, but it has proved more difficult than I expected. The object is to try to recapture some element of Edwardian touring, so if the end product is not satisfactory to ride, the whole thing's a failure.

The frame shown is actually a WW2 Sunbeam (made by BSA, as it happens) and an almost complete set of parts has just be come available. The original paintwork is in a bad state and was clearly a 'war grade' job in the first place, but I'm going to build it first, make sure it's reasonable to ride and then, if I like it enough, I'll think about repainting.

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Good point. The frame won't be repainted though as the blue underneath the white overpainting appears to be in pretty good condition, so is probably stoved. It's a nice colour blue as well. So all it will cost me is the price of a tin of acetone to strip the topcoat-£10 or so. I have to strip the frameof parts to strip the topcoat anyway, so after that I will build it up and ride it for a bit before buying replacement transfers etc if I like the ride. I already have suitable period parts that came off another frame currently doing duty as a baby carrying bike.

I have a question for people knowledgeable in older bike tech. I was looking through old Sunbeam catalogue (around 1924, I think) and saw this item. Surely they didn't have any Slime or Stan's back then, so how did it work?

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Surely they didn't have any Slime or Stan's back then, so how did it work?

Maybe a multi layer tube, similar to a self sealing fuel tank

I've no idea how these worked, but I can tell you that 15 shillings (75p) was a lot of money to spend on inner tubes.

Cycling (the magazine) cost 2d. (less than 1p, which equals 2.4d) and a new 3 bed semi in the London suburbs could be bought for about £500 in 1930.

I think Sunbeams tried (with some success) to give an impression of high quality simply by being expensive.

Since removing and replacing the back wheel of a Sunbeam must have taken about half a day's work, I can see why a 'self sealing' tube would have seemed desirable!

Acetone is Cleaning up then Gillott Continental frame nicely. Lots of what I think is original blue paint under the white topcoat, but lots of old alterations mean some is missing where brazing etc has occurred and no old decals sadly.
Strange thing with the frame though, the top tube only has a very slight subtle bend down into where it fits into the headtube lug. NO ripples or dinks or anything and doesn't look at all like crash damage, more like someone has deliberately gradually curved the end of the top tube to conform to the head tube lug angle or something like that. No idea if this was a legitimate building technique or not as I have no frame building experience, but certainly not noticed it before so obviously.

I'm hoping it isn't going to be an issue, as frame is looking good and have ordered replacement Gillott decals.

Dream come true. Prior hubs. Now to find some cane rims.

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Well in!

I'd love to see the finite element analysis which backs up having the same 16 lightening holes in the 40H rear as in the 32H front 🙂

Same flange, spoke holes were drilled as last stage, why making two different designs if one suffice ;)

why making two different designs if one suffice ;)

My Baylis-Wiley Continentals have 8 holes in front and 10 in the rear, I imagine the 36H option had 9 holes but I've never seen one.