Italian roadster job

Please excuse the poor thread title: my imagination was running a bit low.

A few months ago my beloved 1950s Legnano 'beater' died due to the fact that there was no more thread in the bottom bracket. The bike served me well, taking me backwards and forwards to work, carrying the shopping (I don't have a car), and the odd game of bike polo.

For the past two months i have been riding cheap Bianchi mountain bike, that was kindly donated to me by a colleague. Unfortunately it does not really cut it as a day to day bike, as it does not have mudguards, a dynamo light, a chainguard, or a basket. I could of course put them on, but then there would be a few aesthetic issues.

So I began hunting for something a little more suitable. The criteria were as follows.
It must have a: Basket, chainguard, and mudguards.
It must be the sort of bike you could leave chained up outside the train station for the day, and nobody would nick a thing.
It must have a (seemingly, at least) sturdy bottom bracket.
It must not cost more than 60 euros (if it is really nice)

After some hunting, I picked this up for 40 euros.

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However there was just one small problem.........

It had been in a bit of an accident and the frame was a bit bent.

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hello

It sounds a shame that the bike was done for purely because of a few threads :(

Have you heard of or tried a threadless bottom bracket? It screws into itself instead of the frame and sort of clamps onto the shell, this might be an option worth exploring because It sounds like you really liked your old bike. I have never used one but I have heard good things, bad things too.

hello

It sounds a shame that the bike was done for purely because of a few threads :(

Have you heard of or tried a threadless bottom bracket? It screws into itself instead of the frame and sort of clamps onto the shell, this might be an option worth exploring because It sounds like you really liked your old bike. I have never used one but I have heard good things, bad things too.

I did think about it. However there are few points to consider.

These type of bottom brackets are usually for cotterless cranks, whereas my bike uses cranks with cotterpins. Of course I could change the cranks, but I may have trouble fitting them inside the chainguard.

I presume it takes an Italian thread. If i am not mistaken Italian bottom brackets are smaller than Bsa ones. This could mean that a threadless one may be too big to fit in. I have never tried them though.

At the end of the day it's a financial thing. I just want a work bike, not to restore a bike to its former glory, so the cost of changing a new bottom bracket, plus cranks and a new front wheel (that's seriously on its way out) would be equal to another bike.

Fortunately, i've got a big basement to store it in just in case I come across a way of resurrecting it.

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Here's the damage. Fortunately the mechanic who I bought the bike from told me that he would straighten it out free of charge, as long as i took the parts off it.
Normally i would run a mile from frames with this sort of damage, however as this one seems to be made of pretty thick steel, and I live in a flat area (Modena) so i thought i'd take the risk.

I also realised that those rust patches won't get any smaller, so I decided to take the opportunity to do a quick (and hopefully cheap) restoration.

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• damage.pdf

Nice bend - looks quite serious....
Look forward to seeing how it looks when straightened out and painted.

By the way, Italian BB's are larger in diameter than BSA. The BSA is 1.37" or 34.8mm, whereas Italian is 36mm in diameter

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So i took all the bits off, and but them in a safe place.

While the frame was at the mechanic's, I set to work repainting some of the parts.

I handpainted them with primer. I presumed it was good primer, as it had all sorts of health warnings on the label.
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Then i sprayed them with matt black paint, as I wanted to go for a utilitarian approach
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I did think about it. However there are few points to consider.

These type of bottom brackets are usually for cotterless cranks, whereas my bike uses cranks with cotterpins. Of course I could change the cranks, but I may have trouble fitting them inside the chainguard.

I presume it takes an Italian thread. If i am not mistaken Italian bottom brackets are smaller than Bsa ones. This could mean that a threadless one may be too big to fit in. I have never tried them though.

At the end of the day it's a financial thing. I just want a work bike, not to restore a bike to its former glory, so the cost of changing a new bottom bracket, plus cranks and a new front wheel (that's seriously on its way out) would be equal to another bike.

Fortunately, i've got a big basement to store it in just in case I come across a way of resurrecting it.

ah ok, does sound like a bit of a job. Well if the guy can straighten out your frame it sounds like it could be a handy bike so long as there are no cracks. I ride a 50s roadster every day to uni and its great.

What make is this bike?

What make is this bike?

Good question. As I live in Italy i presume it's Italian. I would say that it isn't a Bianchi, or an Umberto Dei, or even a Legnano. The forks are apparently from a Taurus but the bike is not. I presume the original forks were destroyed.

I don't know how old the bike is but i imagine that when it was produced Silvio Berlusconi was still playing kiss chase in primary school (he still is, if you see what i mean).

There is a frame number, which might give me a clue.

2 quick thoughts on Legnano repair - both require a new square taper chainset though!

1) Threadless cartridge BB : The Zenith is £15 from Velosolo, the 2 cups screw onto the shell. I think it's only available for BSA shells, so you'll have to put some coke cans round the cups to hold it in place!
TFG do one that comes ready shimmed for italian shells, but it's twice the price

2) Ofmega do a Plastic cupped cartridge BB - £10 from SJS - though you may be able to source it in Italy. If it's anything like the FAG brackets, the cup threads come up big and compress to fit. If you check that the cups go in ok and then cover them in Araldite and fit them in, that may be good enough.

Here's a view of the repaired frame.

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Here's a close up view.

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And here's a view of the rear of the frame.

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haha! that's quite impressive. If the thickness of those lugs is anything to go by then the tubes will probably be safe, plus if you leave it like that then you certainly will be able to leave it parked outside all day as you said you wished.

I notice you have an old dynamo there. A note on vintage dynamos:

I have been riding with a 6v sturmey archer dynohub and was using the original old bulbs, it was ok, fairly bright but not that bright. I bought some conversion LED bulbs for the lamps and WOAH! Suddenly it was the brightest bike light I had ever seen.

If you are interested you could probably find something suitable on this website: http://www.reflectalite.com/LEDpage.html

if you can find out what voltage and wattage your dynamo is putting out then this is a cool upgrade. It explains all about what bulb is for what dynamo if you scroll down.

Just a thourght

I have been riding with a 6v sturmey archer dynohub and was using the original old bulbs, it was ok, fairly bright but not that bright. I bought some conversion LED bulbs for the lamps and WOAH! Suddenly it was the brightest bike light I had ever seen.

If you are interested you could probably find something suitable on this website: http://www.reflectalite.com/LEDpage.html

Thanks for that. I'll look into it.
My main problem with dynamos is that they don't work when it's wet. Is there any way to get the generator wheel to grip the tyre in wet conditions?

hmm. I only ever had an internal hub generator so I am not sure about that. Sorry. Maybe some helpful forum member can fill us in.

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Here is the finished bike.

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Here is a close up of the repair work. I think the frame is alligned. I don't have any problems when riding none-handed.

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Nice - The basket & Headlamp look good.

Liz really likes it too(except the mismatched tyres), but wants to know when you'll be getting onto painting/building Ruzanna's!!