1960s Falcon Track Bike - The British Italian Job

I've been commuting on those in 20c size for the last couple of years. Can't really fault them if I'm honest. They're a traditional reasonably hard rubber so they don't tend to pick up many punctures, grip is quite good though, tan wall ages well. Great tyre for the price.

Hi @Sig_Arlecchino
If you decide to be rid of the TAs I'm on the hunt for one of those adaptor/carriers on there. Naturally would take the cranks if you'd rather not keep those or sell seperately. Both are quite rare as you rightly said.

@Jonny69 Thanks for the insight, sounds good so I'll order a pair :)

@Skülly I'll probably keep them for now.

How deep is the crack in the ds crank?

I have filed a few of them out with no issues so far. Will need to keep an eye on it but I think the general consensus is if the crack hasn't propagated too deep then it's perfectly fine to just remove it.

Thanks for the advise :)

Fair enough, That is pretty big!

Unfortunately so.

Cool. Nope, I don't have any 165s to shift, have a pair that are destined for my Jack Taylor fixed TT thing I've been dawdling on. That's what I hoped to get the carrier for - the normal 56mm bcd TA rings are really scarce though I have one or two track ones I'll try out.

Well, I wasn't overly optimistic anyway :)

Skully
I may have one of those TA adapters message me and I will have a look when I get home.

I could get a brooks b17 with copper rivets from a friend for this, what do you think? Yay or nay? I'm not sure since the unicanitor matches the cinelli bar & stem. Then again it's a british frame and the brooks' patina might be a nice fit for the frame. It's a bit of a mystery brooks since it has 7 instead of the usual 6 copper rivets in the back, any info is appreciated...

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I made a rather unsettling discovery a couple days ago. There seems to be a (superficial?) crack on the DS chainstay. The crack isn't longer than what can be seen in the photo i.e. it's not on the inner side of the chainstay. Any ideas how to determine if it's just a superficial hairline fracture in the chrome or whether it's something to worry about?

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Crap! Only thing I can think of is can you see it moving or opening up when you try and put pressure on it?

Thanks for the advise! I just tried it and the crack wasn't opening even when i felt the tubes flexing (mostly in the bb area). I used a marker to mark the ends of the crack and will keep an eye on it to see whether it's getting bigger. Given that the chrome was in a somewhat tatty condition in some places, I figure (read hope) it could be superficial.
I guess it also means less skiddyskiddy and more frontbrakybraky :(
p.s. I checked the photos that I took when the frame arrived and the crack was already there so my skidding didn't make it worse...

Do we have any framebuilders on here who could give me an expert-ish opinion in so far as possible on the basis of photos alone...

That does look like it goes fairly deep.

What would be your recommended course of action if I may ask. I'm a bit clueless what to do :/

Shit.

On the plus side your saddle is a rare beast, I remember reading somewhere about a fabled 7-rivet B17... also it has the biggest rivets which is not normal.

Either a custom job or one of the rare collectors' items.

Take the frame to the best: Argos in Bristol.

Sweet, thanks for the info! I'm afraid Bristol is not an option since the frame (and I) are located in Germany. I wrote an eMail to Krabo (Krautscheid) in Bochum, they build steel frames since 40 years so I figure they have plenty of expertise...

Well fuck, i filed off the chrome and it seems to be a deeper crack. Now I have to decide if I keep this as a summer sunday cruiser and get a new track bike to use and abuse or whether I spend $$$ to get it repaired and rechromed. Any guesses how much a repair like that would cost?

i say just repair. frame has seen a lot, was well looked after. if you replace the stay or patch over it and braze it it will live on but if you get it rechromed it will look out of place (in contrast with the patina it has). if it was mine, it would bother me more than a replaced bare (laquered) stay.. would make me do a full resto and that's a slippery slope

Thanks for the input, I think I agree that a smooth repair without re-chroming would be the best option. Re-chroming would probably be really expensive and I'm not even sure in how far it would be possible since the whole frame is chromed and I don't know if it's possible to get a clean transition between the old and the new chrome.

I talked to Mr. Krautscheid (Krabo) and he quoted me 100€ for replacing the chainstay sans paint. Sounds fair to me - so the Falcon will get a new lease on life.

Fitted the Michelin Classics. I also temporarily fitted the campag crankset so I can work on the TA cranks and polish them up. Made a TT protector out of brooks bartape and shimmed the seatpost cause it slipped and wouldn't stay at the correct height. I'm still bummed out about the crack in the chainstay tho :(

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It's a lovely bike man, well worth getting repaired.
€100 to get it fixed is a real good price. I had a similar issue with an old frame and the cheapest quote I could find was £168+ because of having to remove the chrome to do the repair.
Tyres look good