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

I dare not, perhaps a bit of a bad luck but had flat on my Ephgrave within 15 minutes, twice in a row.

Just ordered some 28mm tyres at £3 that I know are bombproof https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Specialized/All-Condition-Armadillo-Elite-Tyre/3EJN

£3! That's a ridiculously cheap price!

Nice, age appropriate chainset. I'd be tempted to change the rust finish to matt black

I notice you have your cotter pins fitted according to continental practice - crank forward, nut downwards - the English method is the opposite. As we know this is much debated but I'm now convinced it doesn't matter.

On the other hand your toe straps are fitted upside down. Again this doesn't really matter, but the idea of those quick release straps is that you can tighten them to climb or sprint by pulling on the loose end, and loosen them again by flicking the lip at the top of the buckle, both actions while riding.

Commuting on tubs? I wouldn't recommend it, especially not in the rain (more likely to puncture) Two spares probably a good idea.

Back in the day when employment conditions were more favourable to employees, we used to get proper lunch breaks. One of my clubmates tells me that he would normally ride to work on old racing tubs - he kept a stock of them at work and repaired them as necessary during his lunch breaks.

That was when you could have a job and leisure!

The cotter pins were fitted after a long day so I didn't take much notice as to the direction other than opposite each other, but as you say, I've never noticed much difference as I have fitted both ways in the past. I hadn't realised about the toe straps ,but that would explain why I always find tightening them when riding such a faff. Been doing it wrong all these years! I chickened out on the tubs, and thought I'd try these 'Hutchinson Fusion 5' tyres in black and brown/tan. Fitted to modern 700c rims build on old Airlite hubs by the ever excellent Arkane Wheelworks. Not sure about the look of the tyres, but a good solid vintage looking wheel set. -We'll see how the tyres hold up on a daily summertime commute

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That's a sensible wheel solution - pretty much what I would do myself!

Lovely looking bike. Nice colour too.
Ive just built up a new frame with a set of williams cranks which im sure uses the same chainrimg pattern. Do you know the brand of yours.?
If commuting without mudguards i would temporarily replace the saddle with something a bit more pedestrian, unless your only using it in the dry.
Enjoy.

Looks great, especially like the vintage hubs on new rims combo 👌 how’s the braking performance, based on a brief experience vintage, levers / callipers would concern me on a daily commute?

Its a GB Hiduminiun front brake only- this one is fine if set up well and the lever has the correct adjuster. Also because it's fixed gear I can stop/slow down when required which helps control speed in traffic nicely I find. Obviously it doesn't stop as well as modern dual pivot callipers so you have to ride accordingly, but I find it alright in this setup at least

I've never found standard caliper brakes to be a problem - as long as you haven't got chromed steel rims. Perhaps I just don't go fast enough to need anything better!

On the other hand there are at least two situations where a back brake does come in handy

1. Descending at speed - it's difficult to use your fixed to slow down if you're doing 100 rpm, and that's just when you may need good braking.

2. Failed brake cables. Not that common, but it will happen to you eventually.

If you're commuting somewhere flat, you don't need to worry about the first point. If you're only riding time trials, you will brake so rarely that point two is irrelevant.

Otherwise, fixed or not, I like two brakes, but it doesn't really matter what brand they are.

Doesn’t really count here as it’s ‘53 but managed to realign the borked fork blades so now it’s ready for a wobbly cycle around the block (tomorrow)

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Doesn’t really count here as it’s ‘53

Except that the thread was started eleven years ago... If the title means to say, bikes over a certain age, then it should be 'pre 60s' now

OP seemed confused from the outset

If its older than the 1950's( 1900's, 10's, 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's) show us what you have got

So I guess 1950s bikes have always been OK, as have grocers' apostrophe's🙂

OP seemed confused from since forever

The back isnt drilled for a brake so no choice really. Thankfully I barely get fast enough in London traffic for it to matter much generally, as I can generally stop with my legs. I have another fixed bike I have used for rainy commutes (a lovely 70s Holdsworth) that has drilling for ( and is fitted with) two brakes

How did you fix the forks and how damaged were they? Just the fork blades bent or the steerer off true as well?

I got some spanner time this weekend and my Rene Herse is getting closer to being rideable. There are a couple of things that need addressing, but I can basically start putting this back together and get it riding.

I’m 99% certain the seatpost clamp is pinched closed and it should have a bigger diameter seatpost. Folks on Retrobike think 26.2mm is what it should have, so I’ll keep an eye out for one. Then I can ease the clamp open to where it should be and lightly ream it back to round and the correct size.

It was missing the rear brakes and I bought a set of Mafac cantis because they’re alloy, fairly slim and French. They looked pretty close but they don’t actually fit, which is annoying. But I think I’ve got a plan. They’re thicker than the RH cantis so the original sleeved mounting bolts aren’t long enough. They also don’t quite go over them, so I think the bore in the Mafacs might be 5/16” (=7.94mm) while the RH ones are 8mm. The fix will be to use some M6 shoulder bolts with an 8mm x 16mm shoulder, then just run an 8mm reamer through the Mafac cantis.

Then I’ll need to get a stuck screw out the rear bridge, which is what holds the rear mudguard on. I’ve got some nice Dormer easy-outs that ought to do the trick. I’ll drill a 3mm hole down the broken bit of screw and hopefully it’ll come out. I’m also hoping it’s M5 so a replacement will be straightforward. Then I can put the rear mudguard back on.

That just leaves the Cyclo rear mech. It’s very worn at the pivot, probably too worn to operate properly and I fear it might actually break through. I haven’t quite worked out what I’m going to do here, but it’ll involve opening up the bore and either lightly pressing in or bonding in a brass ring. In the meantime I’ll probably ride it single speed while I deal with that.

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wonderful

assume you've been through this https://vintagebicycle.wordpress.com/

Looks like you spent some time cleaning and polishing, awesome bike, contrast between shiny and „fished out of a canal" is very nice.

No! Great find!

I got the RH riding. I took it into Staines and a couple of miles down the towpath. Gearing set on 48x20.

So what’s one of the worlds most sought-after bikes like to ride? It’s not a fast bike. What do I mean by that? It doesn’t take a lot to push it along, but it doesn’t want to go fast. It’s not like my 1938 Parkes which is springy and zips along. It’s happier just ambling along at a steady pace. It’s quite difficult to haul around when out the saddle, but this might just be the short stem and shape of the bars.

Steering feels quite old fashioned - it’s got that 26” roadster feel about it. I guess a contributor to how this feels this is the short stem and very narrow bars. I wouldn’t call it nimble like my Parkes is, but it feels perfectly sure-footed flying round roundabouts at speed. It soaks up the bumps extremely well.

So all in, I could see this being a pretty pleasant ride once loaded up and making use of the gearing, just pedalling along at a sensible pace.

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https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/176403905022?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=r3Jm7ICqQPy&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=zb3kpnpgQlG&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Possible bargain from Telford

Very nice. Vintage and practical.

Not strictly pre 1950s as it hails from 1950/1951, but close 😁

Maclean Apollo, amazing lugwork. Mostly original, everything working. No time to fettle with at the moment, will post pics once thoroughly cleaned.

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Wow! Love how it has a speedo - what's the max speed on it?

Where’d you find that? S’really nice