Just joined the forum as a result of a general Googling to find links for Youngs bicycles. My experience and contribution(s) might or might not be relevant or of interest but here goes, nontheless ....
Back in the early 1970's I lived in Catford, London and had started to go to Avery Hill College (Eltham). I had a general purpose road bike built for me by Youngs. It was a lovely golden yellow with the Youngs name emblazoned on the frame.
At that time it was fitted with standard Derailleur gears and had the obligatory drop bars. Soon afterwards we moved to Charlton and one evening, whilst riding home down the very steep Charlton Church Lane, the gear arm fractured and the next thing I knew I was kissing tarmac! The bike's frame survived, but there was damage to the rear wheel and bars.
Silly, I know, but thereafter I've never trusted swing-arm gears like Derailleurs again! Tarmac and blood don't make for a tasty apperitif.
To cut a long story short, when the bike was repaired, I shifted to Sturmey Archer gears and, because of asthma, I found that straight bars were better for me so I had those fitted as replacements.
I eventually gave my bike to a friend and colleague. Recently, because he now has his own off-roader and because I'd mentioned that I was hoping to do a bit of bike riding again to help with what has now become COPD, he asked if I'd like my old bike back. Yesterday he returned my old steed. It was like greeting an old and cherished chum.
It's a bit worse for wear and needs a desperately thorough clean. It's not quite as pristinely golden as it was and there are some suspicious areas of iron oxide. A fair bit of chrome has surrendered to rust - but not as dramatically as it might have done. Overall, it looks serviceable and rideable. My friend was doing some initial work on it when his window cleaner, who is apparently an avid cyclist, saw it and said he'd often heard of Youngs bicycles and did he want to sell it? He described it as 'vintage' which my friend and I took to mean 'quaintly old fashioned'.
Anyway, next week, I shall be stripping the bike down as much as I can, cleaning what I can and setting it up as best I can.
Here's hoping that a 'vintage' 38-year old Youngs doesn't prove to be as dodgey and decrepit as me.
Just joined the forum as a result of a general Googling to find links for Youngs bicycles. My experience and contribution(s) might or might not be relevant or of interest but here goes, nontheless ....
Back in the early 1970's I lived in Catford, London and had started to go to Avery Hill College (Eltham). I had a general purpose road bike built for me by Youngs. It was a lovely golden yellow with the Youngs name emblazoned on the frame.
At that time it was fitted with standard Derailleur gears and had the obligatory drop bars. Soon afterwards we moved to Charlton and one evening, whilst riding home down the very steep Charlton Church Lane, the gear arm fractured and the next thing I knew I was kissing tarmac! The bike's frame survived, but there was damage to the rear wheel and bars.
Silly, I know, but thereafter I've never trusted swing-arm gears like Derailleurs again! Tarmac and blood don't make for a tasty apperitif.
To cut a long story short, when the bike was repaired, I shifted to Sturmey Archer gears and, because of asthma, I found that straight bars were better for me so I had those fitted as replacements.
I eventually gave my bike to a friend and colleague. Recently, because he now has his own off-roader and because I'd mentioned that I was hoping to do a bit of bike riding again to help with what has now become COPD, he asked if I'd like my old bike back. Yesterday he returned my old steed. It was like greeting an old and cherished chum.
It's a bit worse for wear and needs a desperately thorough clean. It's not quite as pristinely golden as it was and there are some suspicious areas of iron oxide. A fair bit of chrome has surrendered to rust - but not as dramatically as it might have done. Overall, it looks serviceable and rideable. My friend was doing some initial work on it when his window cleaner, who is apparently an avid cyclist, saw it and said he'd often heard of Youngs bicycles and did he want to sell it? He described it as 'vintage' which my friend and I took to mean 'quaintly old fashioned'.
Anyway, next week, I shall be stripping the bike down as much as I can, cleaning what I can and setting it up as best I can.
Here's hoping that a 'vintage' 38-year old Youngs doesn't prove to be as dodgey and decrepit as me.