On yer bike!

[billyspew]

Well..I've been in touch with the folks in "Hope Valley" (what a great name!) at William Lennon's. - thanks to Libs for sending those.

They've kindly sent me some leather samples for 'brown' cycling shoes. I've taken good detailed photos so *CLICK* on the little photos and they will magically grow in size!

I'm toying betwixt the waxy tan or the waxy brown colours. The tan (it's a darkish tan) looks like it will develop more character and patina with use and abuse on the bike (Billy..? any comments).

The leather is a good, strong thickness too that I wasn't expecting!! I'm surprised in a very 'good' way. Without further ado, the photos...

(Colours are listed as TAN WAXY; DARK BROWN LATIGO; BROWN WAXY).

It is pretty thick isn't it? Oddly very soft and supple at the same time, so no breaking in problems either.

I can attest to the waxy tan developing a lovely patina, the leather on the boots I have have really started to gain that patina (I use 3 different polishes, light brown, light tan and clear).

 

[esteban68]

I'd go for the lightest you can always darken it and it will darken naturally, darker brown eventually will go almost black-ish...Hope Valley/Stoney Middleton is quite forboding when you drive through it with tall cliffs at it's sides, defo worth a visit Paddy if you can afford the time/fuel.... tie it in with a local-ish vintage fair and you're laughing.

 

[PADDY]

Cycling into Stoney Middleton..."Hello, hello. What's going on? What's all this shouting?
We'll have no trouble here. This is for local people..."

Yes - I must make a weekend of it there !

(Thanks to 'League of Gentlemen' for my humour!).

 

[PADDY]

LAMPS CHAPS...? I'm deliberating here in relation to my 1930's Saxon (you have enough photos already in here to bore the cycling pants off you!).

CHOICES ARE: A tin Eveready small front lamp that works on batteries (with the bakelite/plastic switch on top). These became plastic later but the shape..etc, essentially the same. OR...an old Carbide lamp (there's a few up for grabs)? Would I use the carbide? (I've used them a few times for pot holing/caving, but on the bike, I'm not sure..). Also, would they have been used on my age of lightweight? I think they look 'good,' but ...I need some advice on the choices I have, please. Thanks in advance!

 

[billyspew]

On the issue of lighting, I would never take a chance, I always use modern LED lamps, cycling around London is dangerous and you need to make yourself very visible.

I do have one of these which I attach to my lamp bracket on the 50's roadster when I am going to be using it in the dark. It's classic enough to not look out of place, but has the modern brightness I need.


However I am working on a project to use an old carbide lamp and add an LED into it. Not keen on the Everready style lamps myself, I think it looks very 1970's for some reason.

 

[esteban68]

LAMPS CHAPS...? I'm deliberating here in relation to my 1930's Saxon (you have enough photos already in here to bore the cycling pants off you!).

CHOICES ARE: A tin Eveready small front lamp that works on batteries (with the bakelite/plastic switch on top). These became plastic later but the shape..etc, essentially the same. OR...an old Carbide lamp (there's a few up for grabs)? Would I use the carbide? (I've used them a few times for pot holing/caving, but on the bike, I'm not sure..). Also, would they have been used on my age of lightweight? I think they look 'good,' but ...I need some advice on the choices I have, please. Thanks in advance!

my grandfather was still using carbide lamps during WW2

 

[Gin&Tonics]

Thought these might be of some interest to the cycling types on here. They're actually vintage surplus, too. I was thinking of buying a pair to use for cycling when the weather turns a bit nasty and long trousers are called for:

Now don't you all go buying them up and not leaving any for me!

 

[Mike1973]

I've used a carbide lamp before now, on my commute from work one winter. I'd blagged a jar of carbide of a friend and this lasted quite well.
I loved it! And if I could find a local supplier of carbide, I'd use it again. A really bright white/blue light, that cast a good beam of light. It was fiddly to use though, and obviously needs care and maintenance to keep it in order.
From reading my old cycling mags from the late 30's, they were still quite popular, especially from the 'old guard', who preferred them to the new battery lamps. I have a photo of mine (from '28 I think) on my 33 BSA, in the beginning of this thread, and it didn't look out of place.

I've also used old Silverkings a lot in the past as well, but on older Edwardian roadsters. Quite a comforting glow, and the little red and green glass in the sides is very pretty.

The main thing to remember is modern lamps are designed to make you be seen, in a way these old lamps are not. I used a hub dynamo on my winter bike now, in conjunction with a discreet little LED strapped to the handlebars and set to 'stun'.

LAMPS CHAPS...? I'm deliberating here in relation to my 1930's Saxon (you have enough photos already in here to bore the cycling pants off you!).

CHOICES ARE: A tin Eveready small front lamp that works on batteries (with the bakelite/plastic switch on top). These became plastic later but the shape..etc, essentially the same. OR...an old Carbide lamp (there's a few up for grabs)? Would I use the carbide? (I've used them a few times for pot holing/caving, but on the bike, I'm not sure..). Also, would they have been used on my age of lightweight? I think they look 'good,' but ...I need some advice on the choices I have, please. Thanks in advance!

 

[botty]

My new 'old' bicycle.

I am off to a vintage bicycle rally in a few weeks and decided that much as I would like to do it on a vintage bicycle, modern working items such as brakes etc would be a good idea over 250 miles. So with the help of my local bike shop who runs frame building courses I made my own:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Shame about the tyres but the modern rubber will be removed for more authentic ones after the ride.





Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[FinnSpinn]

Very nice!

 

[Stearmen]

That is one nice build. You are a true artisan!

 

[Gin&Tonics]

Gorgeous bicycle!! Are you going to dress the part to compliment your beautiful machine? Don't neglect your tie, sir!

Just be careful with those rod brakes...notoriously sub-par compared with canti or caliper brakes.

 

[Cicero]

Nice bike you have there.
That vintage lamp with the LED light is just fantastic.

Here is my bike.

 

[PADDY]

Been on a nice little ride on the Scottish Borders, weaving in and out of Northern England and Scotland. Starting in a village called Yetholm, then onto Kirk Yetholm. A good collection of bikes by members of the VCC (Veteran's Cycle Club), from early 50's to turn of the Century (20th). I took out the Triumph Roadster on this one and it was a good choice as it happens.

 

[PADDY]

I've been after an good condition Bertram Dudley Nomad Cycling Jacket from the 50's for some time now. I missed one about a year ago in near perfect condition, my size and only going for about £30!! I know!! talk about kicking yourself. Now Hilltrek in the UK do their own revised version in 'ventile' (which is a great fabric developed in WWII for RAF pilots downed in the sea), but at £170'ish, it's a tad pricey right now! And part of me is wanted to go 'original' even though I understand it will in 'no way' perform in severe wet weather as ventile will. So for now, it's still the "G" word (whispers.."goretex").
Anyone of your Gents have a Nomad Greenspot (the jacket I've been talking about)? and what do 'you' think of it..?

 

[Mike1973]

Loving that Nomad jacket Paddy!

 

[Mike1973]

I've been working on my Great Uncle Walters bike recently. He had it made for him in 1955 (ish) from Cliff Peters cycle shop in Aston, Brum. It had been well looked after all it's life, and ridden regularly up until a few years ago when Uncle Walter was in his late 70's. When he passed it on to me, it looked more like an 80's bike as it had been upgraded throughout it's life. I rode for a short while before I came a cropper on one of Southamptons many potholes and broke a couple of spokes on the back wheel. Fast forward 18 months to this May and I decide it's time to get it back on the road.


Cliff Peters getting tlc by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

Back wheel was nowhere near as bad as a local bike shop had diagnosed. I ended up taking it back off them and doing it myself. Stripped down and cleaned and regreased the spindle, removed the cassette to get to the spokes and ended up replacing four. then spent a very enjoyable couple of hours one afternoon truing it back up. Tempted to have a go at learning this black art and building a wheel up myself! Runs sweet as a nut now. Treated the Mavic rims to new tyres and inner tubes as well.


bust spokes and siezed spindle by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

Next up was purely cosmetic issues. I wasn't happy with the plastic 1990 San Marco saddle, the worn out pink handlebar tape, the chunky modern mudguards ... Searched on ebay for several weeks for a Brooks B17 saddle. There are hundreds out there! Just took a while to get lucky with the right one at the right price. After a couple of misses, I found someone had just listed a lovely near new one, with a BIN of £34.99, brilliant! Next up was a pair of Bluemels lightweight mudguards. I found a good pair for under £20, another good result! Last on the shopping list was new bar tape. I liked the Brooks, but the price put me off. I could go for synthetic leather look for a quarter of the price of Brooks ... also I heard mixed reviews about it. In the end after plenty of internet searching on bike forums I decided to bite the bullet. I settled on the 'honey', rather than the 'brown', as my saddle was on the lighter side. I found a set on Amazon for £35, a lot cheaper than through Brooks England. (they charge a lot for shipping from Italy as well)


The merchandise by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

 

[Mike1973]

Start point, remove this horrible stuff!

out with the old ... by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

Then had fun removing all the sticky stuff and hardened glue left over, until the bars were relatively clean. They are GB 'Ventaux' bars by the way. I only know this as removing the tape revealed the name stamped underneath.
Then time to have a go at wrapping the leather tape on. I had only done this once before, with cheap and cheerful cloth tape, nearly 20 years ago, so I am very much a novice here. Plenty of googling and a few youtube how-to's and I was ready ...


this is a wind up by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

First dry run attempt wasn't as bad as I feared, but highlighted the problem of what to do when I hit the brake lever. All the videos I had watched showed new brake levers with big rubber hoods to hide any gaps there might be. My older Mafac levers didn't have this luxury.



So for the second attempt I tried wrapping the tape over the brake on one side. This worked better, but left a big unsightly gap on the outside. (I found out later I had wrapped the tape around in the wrong direction in these early attempts. The tape needs to be wrapped in a certain direction, so when you grip the handlebars, your grip actually tightens the bindings, rather than loosening them) Also, my tape is still ending short here. I hadn't perfected the tensioning of the tape at this stage!



Third attempt and I've almost cracked it! I used that extra bit of tape they give you to place under the brake, and wrapped it around the other side of the brake lever. I still wasn't convinced this was the right way to go about it at this stage. The binding still look rather clumsy, but I was getting the hang of tensioning the leather, by twisting it as I went along, to take out some of the slack.



More internet surfing, and I finally found photos someone had posted with their bars wrapped the same way as I was attempting, and they looked great! So I persevered ...

 

[Mike1973]

Brooks Honey Bar Tape by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

Really happy with the end result. It took several more goes after I decided which way I wanted to wrap the tape, fine tuning it along the way. By this time it only took minutes to unwind and start again each time, and I was much used to the feel of the leather by now.


Brooks Honey Bar Tape by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

It has improved the look of the bike no end. I'm not sure if Brooks tape is really a vintage option, but it is more in keeping with the bikes '50's vintage than what was there before. Maybe more retro than vintage? But this '50's bike has so many '70's and '80's components fitted that it was never going to be a period correct bike again. I just wanted to give it a slightly more vintage edge, and still keep all the modern components.


Uncle Walter's Cliff Peters rejuvinated by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

 

[PADDY]

Mike - what a GREAT JOB!! mmmm - wonder if those lightweight mud guards were the ones on Ebay a few weeks back. They look great as does the saddle and the tape!! it's great bringing the old girl back on the road again isn't it.