A.E.Elsegood

Afternoon all, apologies if this reads awfully, my writing skills are seemingly awful

Anyway.

This is my 1950's A.E.Elsegood 'Minster' from York.

I have an unnerving habit of buying old British clubman bikes, riding them for a while and then moving them on. I had a 47 Raleigh Clubman that after a lot of soul searching I sold as I felt it was too small for me. I've always regretted it (even though it was too small for me!) so I decided to find a frame that I could turn into a 'bike for life'.

I found the Minster on eBay going cheap so I thought I’d have a punt and see what it got me. The frame had a decidedly ropey 70's paint job, in green and orange, decals that no-one was ever going to stock and some pretty aggressive rust on the BB shell and down tube.

As I researched Arnold Elsegood (he's fourth from the right in the green coat in the photo) and tried to find out his bikes, this one really grew on me as I realised that there weren’t many of them left and that it would be practically a crime not to try and save it. Malcolm from York Wednesday Wheelers was a real Gent and told me a lot about Arnold and the bikes he built. He even sent through a photo of the shop as it was in the 50's and 60's. He also told me that when Arnold passed away there was no one to take on the records, decals and general shop paraphernalia, so sadly it all ended up in landfill.

First things first I stripped the frame and it started to give up its secrets.

It was obvious that the bike had had a refurb at some point but it wasn’t obvious when, or if it had been done in stages. The paint looked like a classic 70's job and the decals were the 'official' Elsegood ones so it must have been re-sprayed in the early to mid 70's when they were still available. The paint chips on the forks and rear triangle showed that there was chrome underneath and that it looked like the rear Zeus dropouts had been added to the rear later in the bikes life.

The wheels were very old (60's maybe) Campag Record large flange hubs attached to Mavic MA2's. The rear hub was a 40H as well so the MA2's must have been fairly old too. The mechs were Suntour cyclone and the chainset a Campag Strada 52/42 copy and the Bottom Bracket an old Bayliss Wyley (shagged and with an axle that could be used to knock cows out!)

The brakes also painted a picture of fettling through the ages as the levers were GB super hoods and the front brake was a GB courier +, the rear was a much later Weinmann 730 though. The headset was a ropey old Tange job but the stem was a GB spear point beauty with some really narrow GB drops attached.

When the frame was stripped (with the help of BC for the stubborn bits) the frame was sent off to Neill Shankland at Atlantic Boulevard in Bury. Neill is an awesome bloke and can talk for Britain about old bikes. He reckons that the bike was built in the 50's as a fixed and then fettled in the early 70's to be a road bike, with the addition of the rear centre-pull guide, a new brake bridge and the Zeus drop outs. Before having a horrible re-spray in the late 70's and the other parts added over time.

The decals caused a big problem as no-one had any that were close to the originals, so we resolved to get them made up especially for the frame. They took about two months but they really make the bike and were worth it (although on decal couldn’t be saved unfortunately)

Neill then properly went to town on the frame. The old paint and chrome came off, eventually, and then the new chrome (Rear triangle, front forks and crown) and paint went on, followed by the hand lined lugs. The colours are based on an Ephgrave No1 and I reckon it s a pretty tidy combination.

So with the frame back I had to sort through all the bits I had collected/kept/begged. it was also 'fun' finding out what worked.....Also having the mechanical skill and patience of a honey badger (ok for demo, not great for new paint) I took a big bag of bits down to BC and thus started Hillbilly’s fun/headache.

So the original bits that I wanted to use were the GB stem, the Campag seat post and the hubs....The 40H rear hub quickly ruled them out (despite me not checking this and the front wheel having already been built! second time I’ve e done this, sorry sorry sorry...) so I procured some 36H large flange super records that paired up nicely with some open pros.

The next 'fun' was the drive train; I’d collected all 90's 8 speed Dura ace. (As I wanted it to be a useable classic and not just be hung on a wall) The bike had been an 8 speed but only a 5 speed would fit on it now, so Hillbilly worked his magic with the shifters (DA 2X8) as the spacing was pretty similar. The Bike didn’t have a stop on it though for the front mech so the hairy genius combined a front mech clamp with a down tube cable adjuster to create one!

After a bit more swearing it was done.

I'm properly happy with it and it’s definitely a bike for life, I’ve taken it out on a couple of club runs to shake it down and it’s a great bike to ride, it’s quit ea different riding experience to my other bikes but a brilliant one all the same.

Massive thanks to BC and Neill at Atlantic Boulevard.

Right now an out of character foray into the 90’s with a GT Edge….

Flickr set - (taken before the cables got sorted)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/96979340@N04/sets/72157634071868687/

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