Search results for:

Block removal

Yep that's what I meant. The freewheel that I had trouble with was a notched one, requiring a removal tool with two pins. [What I meant initially was if you don't have the tool for a notched freewheel, you may be able to remove the small sprockets so the notches are exposed and improvise a tool.] I did managed to get mine off with the tool clamped to the hub with a skewer, but damaged the notches, damaged my tool, stripped the threads off the hub, taught my kids new swear words and learnt some life lessons >.< After the freewheel was off I was determined to service it, so opened the outer cone using a hammer and punch. It was all perfect inside, no need to have opened it. Also to get the pawls and balls back in you need to be an ambidextrous octopus. All in all not my finest hour(s). [It did clean up nicely though, and at least the notches aren't beyond use.]

Wishing @jeff80 the best of luck with his removal!

I had a go at that too, not sure if you've tried it before, but they are on tighter than you'd think. I ended up with scraped knuckles and punch dents in the pin holes but got it open. Good luck!
[The whole experience was a shitshow of impatience and stupidity on my part, I initially stripped the threads on a Campag NR hub by clamping the tool on with a skewer and then not loosening the skewer once the freewheel start to turn. Was wondering what the clicking was before the peels of threads dropped out. Waaa. Some meagre threads left, completed removing the freewheel, serviced it, put it back on, went for a test ride and it started slipping on the first hill. I've got a replacement hub now, it needs a polish and then the wheel rebuilt but it's taking a while to get up the enthusiasm for it.]

They look nice, I was very tempted, but have a pair of Fiamme on the go already so had to resist. I look forward to seeing them built up.

I ask re the notches as you could improvise a tool - the correct thickness bit of steel in a vice, slot the frewheel on top, try and turn and see if it gives before you get a hernia.

Were those the ones on ebay? I was pleased someone else bought those before Friday night beers had their way with me :)

I feel for you re the freewheel, I had a torrid time with one last year. Is it a notched freewheel? Sheldon's advice "Once the notches are damaged, or to remove and discard an old freewheel for which you have no tool, you must disassemble the freewheel and clamp the core into a vise -- left side of the wheel up -- then unscrew the wheel counterclockwise."https://www.sheldonbrown.com/freewheels.html Doesn't solve your leverage problem though!

Thanks @Big_Block I have enjoyed reading your threads on various forums, including that one, but good to read again, especially in the context of my current considerations.

I have been in to Argos again, the frame has been blasted and there are no more nasty surprises. The earlier repair looks like a better job with it all cleaned back, it looks like a sleeve is possibly brazed in to the tube, it's been pinned on either side of the crack anyway. So it's a go.

I sent the headbadge to a metal restorer as I figured it was worth doing a professional job of it given the frame is being resprayed. This is the current state after a clean and polish and the bends taken out. She reports that the original paint in the lettering was black. However the other two examples I've seen are red - the 1938 Super Circuit on Classic Rendezvous and this one http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=343616.

Not sure how to proceed. I really like how it looks at the moment, but the plan is to refinish the badge to a similar level as the frame - polished star and border with a black background and black or red writing. It sounds like all the marks can't be fully removed from the star, but those in the background will be covered by paint. Input and advice appreciated ... just because those two are red doesn't mean they were originally or all were, just because my one has black in now doesn't mean it was original.

I've also now got a sample of the metallic 'tobacco' paint. Still can't decide between this and the dark red flam. Funny to say it, but the red is a safer choice than the brown, I'm sure that would look good, but I feel compelled to go with the tobacco. Again any opinions welcome!

@Big_Block not sure if these help? I know very little about Simplex derailleurs.

Haha definitely the extra weight of the boss! I had thought about taping the braze-ons removed from this frame inside the seat tube, but can't be having those unnecessary grams :)

Hello all, thanks for well wishes and interest.

Firstly @Big_Block thanks for the steer on the saddle being Motobécane, it does indeed look like this one on velobase http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?ID=34068F1D-4BA8-4861-ACD7-3ABCA6C5DE59&Enum=106&AbsPos=0. I’ll take some more pictures of the rear derailleur tonight.

@clubman fully agree regarding the piecemeal accumulation of components. A cyclist might move a saddle they’d already broken in or nice wheels from a previous bike to a new frame, or make do with their old wheels for a few years before adding flashy new ones. So in my mind that gives me leeway to use components within a few years either side of the year the bike was sold. I enjoy the research and aim to recreate a snapshot of what cyclists would have been riding around the time the bike was sold.

So having been in to Argos the frame requires a new down tube, they can replace with 531 and I am emotionally involved with this frame now so barring any other nasty surprises I will go ahead with the repair. They agreed there had been an earlier repair, although the term used was 'bodge' and that it was dangerous to ride. Really not sure how long ago it was, how many miles done since or where it fits with the chronology of the paint. My guess is it was quite a while ago and can only say for sure that it was before the final matt brown finish.

I've been thinking a lot about the braze-ons - all the agonising about a build is a big part of the fun. I hadn't seen the shifter boss in the ebay pictures and planned to build it fixed with a double sided hub. Finding the boss and cable stops and that indicating the 'Professional Model' was great, but has led to a fair chunk of agonising. Pros for keeping them - originality, part of the identity of the bike, 'fun' restoring with comparable components to when it was sold; cons - without gears the boss on the downtube in particular is an eyesore, with gears I'm stuck with a pernickety old derailleur. [I already have a 1955 Hetchins build ongoing, aka the money pit, with a 53 Benelux, and for me, for now, one is probably enough.] Anyway … on the way in to Argos I made a deal with myself that if the downtube needed replacing, I wouldn’t move the boss and cable stop over and I would have the chain stay stops removed. I will keep all those braze-ons though, they can always be put back on!

The problem with removing braze-ons is where do you stop. I don’t plan to take the rear brake cable stops off - the bridge is already drilled for a brake, I will want two levers when honking up hills and it gives options for the future. [I have a nice Blumfield fixed/free rear hub I’d like to use if I can ever find a front and would also entertain a hub gear in the future.] I considered removing the lamp boss for the reasons @clubman gives, I doubt I will ever fit a lamp. Similarly I would be happy without the pump pegs and am unlikely to ever fit mudguards, but am I going to remove the eyelets? So all that stays, for the pros given above. I wouldn’t add them, but I’m not taking them off. It’s a pretty believable setup I think for 1947, as mentioned elsewhere it would not have been common to have more than one bike. If it didn’t have a rear brake why not track ends? So with forward facing dropouts and a rear brake, i.e. not being a second specialist machine, in my opinion it should have a lamp boss and mudguard eyelets. It could be someone’s pride and joy, and in fixed time trialling trim but the mudguards and lamp can be put back on for the ride home.

The rear spacing is currently 115.5mm, my guess is because it’s had a 5 speed block jammed in there and was originally 114mm (having done a bit of research). The end of the drive-side chainstay has also been ground down to accommodate 5 speed. I’m having the chainstay built up again, so will look as original. I had thought to take the spacing down to 110mm, but re-considering now that 114mm is probably better. I’d appreciate any input on this!

So that’s where I am with it, I’ll get the angles next time I go in to Argos and hopefully no more nasty surprises.

They are also preparing a paint sample of the half a tin they have left of a metallic brown ‘Tobacco’ paint that is the closest they have to the copper brown flam shown at the top of the seat tube. As much as that looks great, I have a slight mental block over a brown bike. They had a lugless Hobbs in dark red flam hanging up that looked very smart.

Thanks. Refurbishing the brakes has gone on my to-do list, but it’s pretty long at the moment. If the frame makes it, I think the stem and bars will go back on after a good polish. I got burned on a replacement headset on ebay and that has killed my enthusiasm to refurb or replace parts like-for-like. I’ve been accumulating period correct kit for a while now, so would also be a more costly option.

Crikey.

Hello all, fyi just posted a 1947 ROH in the current projects forum. Thanks @SideshowBob for pointing me to this thread.

I was at Bespoked, bumped in to the CL stand and had a pair of the pedals in my hands. They are nice looking things, but big and on the heavy side. Possibly foolishly they had a pair of Tommy Bar and a pair of Sprints on the stand and the new ones suffered in comparison. IMO the Sprints are one of the most aesthetically pleasing pedals ever made. I think the watch analogy is probably a good one, and agree that turns me off rather than on! Anyway, they’re nicely made, big platform, good on an upmarket commuter.

I do like that Coloral bottle though 🙃 Call me a ponce but I don’t mind drinking out of something that isn’t 70 years old and also isn’t plastic!

Missed the pic of Edith Atkins' bike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Atkins love this

On 12 July 1953 she covered 422 miles (679 km) in 24 hours, breaking the London to York; 12-hour, and London to Edinburgh records along the way. Two weeks later she also broke Land's End to John o' Groats.

It's hard to know on original colour, I had thought from the pictures in the Ebay posting that it might have been original paint still, but it’s a non-professional paint job, nicely enough done but there are brush strokes in the seat panel and it needed repainting even before I messed it up further. The edges and braze-ons all look pretty sharp still though, so I thought it hadn’t had much rough treatment. I thought the red was a rust treatment undercoat and the original finish had been copper with a brown flam. You can definitely see these layers, red, copper, brown flam and then brown spray can on top. However … I tried gently cleaning and trying to take the top layer off carefully but only revealed what looks like a cracked downtube below the headtube. To my untrained eye it looks like an earlier repair job. So that’s a shame on several levels but I will see what they have to say at Argos. Who knows, maybe the red is the original colour, maybe it’s not a repair and the frame is totally bolloxed.

Before I was worried about the soundness of the frame I had planned to have it repainted as I thought original. Copper brown flam, gold script downtube decal and gold lining on the fork crown. I have wanted a red bike for a while though. Decisions. Edith Atkins’ ROH in the Coventry Transport Museum is a great example, I’ve included a photo taken from Sunshine Cycles blog http://coventryrecycledcycles.blogspot.com/2012_07_28_archive.html. I was thinking about having the shifter and gear cable stop braze-ons taken off – I intend for it to be fixed or single speed, double fixed or fixed/free rear hub. I’ve come round to leaving them on though, keeps it original with the indicators of the model and gives more options in the future. I like the way this fella has the cover and screw in the shifter boss without the lever http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=363142. The reveal at the end of the thread made me spit out my cornflakes, not how I was expecting it to go!

Anyway, fingers crossed this isn't a quick thread but is a slow burner with refinished bike and period correct equipment gathered ...

The equipment on it tells a story of years of use, and was filthy and is pretty knackerd. I guess the 6 3/4" double fluted Williams C34 chainset was original, but the LH crank has year code AD (1941), the RH crank and 34t small ring both AW (1956) and the 50t big ring ZF (1965). So a plausible story is the LH crank is original and the bike started with a single chainring, in the 50s it was upgraded to a double and the big ring having the most wear was replaced in the 60s. Or maybe it was all cobbled together in the 60s! The headset is a Brampton Alatet (without engraving on the toothed washer), the bottom bracket a Bayliss Wiley, but the axle has been swapped out for a Philllips double and the lockring is TDC. I think the pedals are Phillips Credalux but seems like there are a lot of similar looking pedals and they could easily be later. The alloy seatpost is unbranded but pretty sure it's Reynolds, the stem is an early Strata and the bars are the Reynolds alloy 'Jean Aerts' bend looking at the bends in the 1947 Reynolds catalogue in the VCC library http://veterancycleclublibrary.org.uk/library/ combined with the 16 1/2" ctc measurement. They have a lovely curve and flair to them not shown in the picture. It also had a pretty nice set of GB Hiduminium brakes with period correct levers, but fairly heavy wear on the lever pivot pins, where the springs rub on the callipers, etc. There’s a decent chance all that is original, I guess the Solite small flange 40h fixed/free rear hub is original, but the Weinmann Alesa rims and Maillard front hub are later. The Simplex Rigidex 35 rear derailleur the bike came with is mid to late 50s (according to Velobase) but may have replaced an earlier Simplex model. The seatpost clamp is Olmo branded and looks old, but I guess more like 60s, I don’t know the logo on the saddle (probably should) but I guess a similar date. The front derailleur is a Sachs Huret and band-on double shifters Suntour from the 80s.

I'm taking this frame in to Argos soon, so thought I'd share details and maybe get some input beforehand.

Quite nervous I might just be reporting on a bit of archaeology, will have to see what Argos say about the soundness of the frame. More on that later.

I've had my eye out for a 40s lugless frame for a while, I was imagining an unrestored Hobbs but always like the R O Harrisons and have been oggling a Shortwin on Hilary Stone's site for a while. Before I could decide on that a Lyta showed up on Ebay with an early brass head badge and I got giddy and bought it without looking at it. [No criticism of the seller here, he was a pleasant bloke and I would still have bought it if I had seen it. He was not the original owner, nor had much knowledge of the bike’s history, he picked it up as part of a lot with another bike he wanted.]

The serial number is 1271731 so a December 1947 build based on info at classiclightweights.co.uk/harrison.html. Looking at the 1949 catalogue on classicrendezvous.com/British_isles/Harrison-RO_main.htm I am reasonably sure this is a Lyta. There are a few suspected Lytas around, but I think mine has decent supporting evidence. It is lugless, it also has double tapered seat stays and oval to round forks. I will double check the angles with Argos when I take it in to see if they agree with the spec. I would also be reasonably confident it is the Lyta ‘Professional Model’ as it has braze-ons for a rear brake and gears (they look original to me, but obviously could have been added later).