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

Not to be a total weiner

It was 27/- in the catalogue page attached to the post to which I replied 🙂

Ha! Fair enough, 20 shillings in a pound. 6p inflation from 1948 to 1953 :)

6d inflation

ftfy

I stand corrected, said the man in the orthopedic shoes.

I purchased liquid evaporust after a recommendation from @Big_Block and it is very good.
A couple of before and after photos -

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Very nice, definitely looks worth a trial.

I remember that Allez pedals were popular, at least with people I knew and, as you can see from the catalogue they were significantly lighter than most of the competition. However while the advert claims the 'plates' were specially hardened, my memory is that they wore out pretty quickly and this is probably the reason they haven't come up in the discussion - they've all been binned.

Webb is another brand not so far mentioned - I had a pair which I think cost 15 shillings (75p) from a local shop. They gave good service and could be a good choice now if some turned up. I've also used the Brampton B8 which also seemed as near to indestructable as one could hope for, but remember - nothing will survive a really hard impact on a granite curbstone!

Thanks for the info, Hilary Stone has a couple of pairs of the Allez. I like the Webb, but seems another one that gets snapped up on ebay.

I quite fancy having a go at this http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/pedals-rest.html but there's a lot more urgent stuff on my to-do list!

Help -
Took the Gillott out for a spin in the sunshine and the top nut on the H/S is a little loose and needs tightening.

H/S is I think a Gnutti and measures 1.25" or 31.9mm. I don't have a spanner that will do the job and I've looked on nut/bolt conversion sites around the sizing to figure out an imperial size Spanner but can't make any sense of conversions.

Please can someone tell me what size imperial Spanner will do the job.

Thanks

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Does anyone want this bar/stem/lever set? Free (collected from Edinburgh or pay for postage), unless they're worth something, in which case some money would be really useful as I currently have none. The levers are Dia-Compe, the stem and bars are AVA (?) and the grips are rubbery fake leather things.

Only problem is the quill stem bolt uses an odd (Imperial?) sized hex key - I tried a 5/5.5/6mm and none seemed to fit.

I have a ton of little housing grommet things for the levers so I can dig some of those out for you as well. Will give them to a bike recycling charity otherwise.

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Please can someone tell me what size imperial Spanner will do the job

I can tell you which metric one will work - 32mm. It's a very common size for threaded 1" headsets.

Ta @mdcc_tester, I have tried a 32mm and it's not the best fit

So, Are we still doing this ride in June then? If so where and when Exactly are we meeting, just so I can work out logistics?

Ooh, they’re nice. What width are the bars and do the clamps for the levers stay in place when you undo the bolt / nut that holds the lever / housing?

They're 38cm at the drops and around 36cm at the clamps. The clamp mechanism looks like this - I can't really get access to it without removing all of the grip part unfortunately...

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Ok, I’ll pass but thank you!

Well I'm still planning to go on the June ride - I have Sunday 2nd pencilled in my diary.

I suggest we meet at Cafe Nero in Staines High Street ( the same as the Hard Day) because it seemed to work last time.

As to timing I suggest 9.30 for 9.45 start.

As I said before, we will decide exactly where will aim for when we see who actually turns up, but we will head north west and do at least some climbing. There will be a cafe stop.

If the top nut of your headset is loose, the whole bearing is out of adjustment. I bet you get a judder when using the front brake.

Riding with the head bearing loose will rapidly damage the bottom race which takes all the weight.

Tester is right to say a 32mm spanner should be the correct size. If that's a bad fit, use an adjustable spanner or you might try removing the hanlebars and stem and holding the nut in a vice.

I’ve still got it in the diary.

Cafe Nero sounds like a sensible meeting place.

I have booked the weekend off, so there is no turning back for me now
Thank you @7ven for the bottle cage it works perfectly and was very straight forward to fit once you had the bike in front of you.

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Amazing, looks great!
See you soon for some pre ride fettling.

I can't remember who else asked if I had a wire type one but you're welcome to come over for a rummage into my box of carefully curated treasures. .

Anyone recognise this braze-on...?
It's on an early 50's Stallard.

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Stallard braze - on

This is just a guess, but that position was often used for a Sturmey Archer cable pulley.

if I had a wire type one

Ah, that was me. Whereabouts (roughly) are you?

I'm in Hither Green / Catford.