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That story put a smile on my face! If I didn’t have the obligatory “bike for my partner (even though they couldn’t give a ####)” build underway already, it would make a good mate for my Gillott.

Looks like it from the sideplates doesn't it. Too big for me too :)

A wise man once said to me "don't buy bikes that aren't your size", seems obvious but easy to see how you'd break that rule.

Thought I'd share something that has been confounding me for a couple of years / sums up this whole pastime.

I can't quite remember now, but I think I'd had a couple of medicinal brandies when I bought this blue anodised Chater Lea hub on Ebay. I've never seen another one, although searching on Google I've found a set of green ones. Also now a similar sort of green rinse, not sure if they were better coloured originally. Pretty sure they date to the mid 50s although I can't remember seeing the anodised version advertised (the unanodised appeared 1946/1947).

It seemed a bit gritty when I got it, but nothing a service shouldn't sort, so cleaned it up and looks pretty much unused - has been laced but still very good condition. I couldn't get it to spin nicely though and the cups have almost no bank to them. I thought I'd been done and it was missing cups or missing annular bearings or something. Put it on the shelf and fumed for a year or so.

Anyway, finally bought another set about a year ago planning to cannibalise the rear and potentially even anodise the front to match. Blow me over but the dust covers on this rear are both anodised, one green and one red. And I can't get them out. Luckily I've learned a few expensive lessons so haven't tried too hard to shift them. Any tips appreciated.

Tonight I thought I'd take some pics as someone offered me a spare CL hub, and taking the blue one apart again I thought I wonder if it's actually the cones. Swapped them over for the one with green/red dust covers and it spins like butter. Made my night (times have changed).

Re the Holdsworth La Quelda ... can't quite make them out but the pedals look interesting too.

Not me. I’d be all over a good set of 26”.

@falconvitesse I don't really go for those 2-tone ones, my 26" wheelset and guards are a bit of a slow burn, no rush :)

@absurdbird not sure if you've got a cheeky 8 grand to blow but here you go :)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154185327652

Can we see some pictures please? :)

@clubman thanks for the info on mudguards.
@jeff80 I could be talked into seeing if those Noweights fit my bike 🙃

Re that 1959 Gillott, at £295 that makes me happy about mine at £300 with bits. I’ve made back £150 selling stuff so far but I guess the replacement top tube pretty much cancels that out. Need to get the Campag hi-lo on Ebay 😢

Re 700s ... I am increasingly on board with this. I think I’ve got one set of 26s in me, but that’s just for the larfs.

Very nice. Are you putting the badge back on? What’s your plan for the build?

@SideshowBob well well well
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Campagnolo-Maillard-Mavic-Arc-en-Ciel-S-A-Fiamme/294035887828
I should have bought that flippin wheel after all :)

Re fully period correct spokes ... 💥 ... yes very pleasing, period correct and about as strong as you could hope for from the period. They do clean up with Autosol too.

Re red for the Gillott badge ... I have Humbrol red gloss enamel #19, just because that’s what I’ve got not any colour matching. Looks ok though. Tbh if I can just get it to look like it wasn’t done by my 6yo I’ll be happy.

Here you go, the pink one mentions 1947 winners using the Sport, with the crescent moon too. #geeklordery

The Trois Etoiles changed head marking - to an "E" for Etoile obvs or an "R" I think, which I read somewhere was the same but for Retail, not sure if that's right. But anyway I've never seen any with the 3 pointed star for sale but the "E" do come up.

Don’t think so, it’s the same in the rivet drilling and this is the back. I’m baffled how they did these badges in bulk - maybe a squeegee contoured to the shape of the badge? I dunno. It’s a fairly enjoyable few hours fiddling about, just so long as it ends in a decent result.

Np on the Robergel write-up. They were around in the 40s too, I’ve got an advert somewhere.

The flat lighting is doing it a lot of favours :)

As far as I can tell the brassy colour is the underlying colour of the badge, not sure if it has been painted, anodized or some other coating to add the silver layer.

Re your early Fiamme ... ah well done for removing that temptation, I have been itching to click it, decent price imo. Now we get to see if you ever find a matching front! Although that said, it wouldn't look wrong to have replaced a worn out front with the next model (MADE IN ITALY rather than MILANO).

Nice looking bike, can hardly tell you haven’t hand-drawn you’re own transfers 😁

Here’s my headbadge fully dried, polished and waxed. Pretty sure I’ll have another go at it - my air canister was running out and I ended up putting the paint on a bit thick. Learn a little each time - a final spray of just thinners during cleanup also helped even this attempt out. Partly why I haven’t wanted to use anything more abrasive than polish, the letters would be brassy rather than silver by now.

I think this will be ok. It’s my second serious go at it. It’s air brushed and then the letters brushed with a cocktail stick dipped in thinners. The metal polish knocks back the waves of paint a bit. I’ll post another pic when it’s done. I’ve found it hard to take off the paint from a curved badge. You’d think you could scrape it but it drags through the fill.

It’s hard getting the paint off the raised letters without chuffing up the rest of it. I’m hoping that after it dries and a polish it‘ll look ok. That evens out the finish a bit.

No not fitted yet, think there’s probably a few weeks till Argos are ready. As far as I know it’s still waiting for a slot for painting. I’ll keep an eye on your progress 🙂

Coincidentally I’m in the middle of my own Gillott craft project. I went into it thinking it would be easy but it’s another major pita.

Urgh. They look really good. Lucky I just bought a set of the less good ones 🙄

N.B. the crescent moon Robergel Sport spokes should be a good bet for vintage spokes. Write-up here https://midlifecycling.blogspot.com/2016/03/when-you-spoke-of-good-wheels-there-was.html?m=1
I’ve got them in my Harden wheels, they clean up with Autosol but nothing further to report yet.

Sorry, you're right, Dugast. You'd never imagine that cream rubber tyres would looks so good! I like the FMB though, got a nice French flag on them too :)

The FB hubs in the 1950 Fonteyn catalogue are solid axle, the 1954 Holdsworth Aids is the first one with the Campag quick release hubs and BHC were advertising theirs in the 1955 catalogue. They definitely rushed them out, the quick release front hub just re-uses their rear barrel to accommodate the thicker drilled axle. Interesting looking at the Stronglight 1957 catalogue yesterday, talking about the 57 cranks their advice for cyclists upgrading from their 49 cranks was just to replace the right crank and rings. Pretty sure people were jamming Campag qr skewers in their Airlites as soon as they could get their hands on them!

I've got a feeling the Italians themselves don't pay those optimistic prices on Ebay. I suspect the 20% vat will bring prices down a bit, although no change for US and Asian buyers >.<

I got a nos Stronglight Competition headset a couple of years ago for £90 and thought I was splashing out. Amazing the inflation in prices in the last 18 months. There are a couple of nice Magistroni headsets on Ebay at the moment courtesy of @Nbenja3!

Yeah it’s great isn’t it? Those are modern tubs - without looking weren’t they FMB? Either way they’re cool. $$ but if I win the large flange Blumfield hubs and get to build the sprints I’ve been dreaming about for a couple of years I might get some :)

Agree the hubs are Airlite, I think it was common to put in Campag or Gnutti hollow axles and skewers. They fit in the older 5/16” barrel front Airlites - I had one I serviced to find a Campag axle and ‘53 date stamped locknuts. The stem is a nice touch. Could all have been put together last week obviously but certainly tells a romantic story.

I’m probably spending a year in Switzerland from August and have been debating what bikes to take. Pretty sure the R O Harrison is going so maybe at some point someone will wonder how that got so far from home :)

Question is, am I man enough to pair these with my Tobacco metallic ROH? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-BANTEL-26-INCH-PLASTIC-MUDGUARDS-1960S-CYCLE-N-O-S-BABY-PINK/143612821651