On yer bike!

[PADDY]

The tape is finished now. Put about three coats of the Ronseal on (initial soaking - then two lighter ones to seal and bring out the 'brown' colour). I'm really chuffed..!!!
(And all thanks to advice, pointers and guidance of the Gent's 'in here!!' so thankyou!!! it's been a joint effort).

 

[PADDY]

HELP PLEASE - Remember I did the taping (see above)..? And had to take off the brackets holding the brakes to the handlebars? WELL...Guess What? I have Magpies nesting ...mmmmm!! You know what's coming next don't you?

They love 'shiney things!!' WELL...they LOVE my shiney brackets and the little toe-rags doing what these birdies do, 'took them' (probably to restore their very own roadster!!).

Any one out there (be easier if it's one of the Brit Pack) have a matching pair of 30's (ish) brackets to fix the brakes back on - please..? I know!! who would have thought!!

 

[esteban68]

Hope Paddy I know I don't have one of those babies...you could look for a pair of Raleigh Industries ones (complete levers) they used the same pattern from the 30's to the Chopper days! getting 1930's parts is getting to be more difficult....you may get some nice 30's looking levers of French Ebay, just put in velo ancien and some should be listed, they may be slightly bigger/smaller and you may have to 'relieve' the tape a little to get them to fit.
Have you got a pic of the whole lever assembly I may be able to at least identify it for you.
Good job done by the way!

 

[PADDY]

Oh I still have the levers. It's the retaining bracket to attach it to the handlebar that was pinched (see photo above alongside the pound coin).

 

[esteban68]

Paddy should you wish you can sand the old chrome plate etc of the bell revealing the brass underneath, I did one recently and it came up a treat.

 

[DanielJones]

You could pay those dirty birds a visit around your neighborhood and shake their tree down for the parts.
By the way Paddy, great job on the bike. Looks like you've had a lot of fun with that one.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[PADDY]

Esteban - I've just rechromed that little 30's 'King of the Road' Bell, don't ask me to undo it all now!! please.

Dan - Thanks! it turned out pretty well actually, so I'm very chuffed.

I know a chap who is a blacksmith and if push comes to shove, I'll see if he can knock me up a few of those 'missing' bits.

 

[esteban68]

It were that shiney Paddy I thought it had all been sprayed with that chrome paint stuff....who did the plating and were they reasonable?

 

[PADDY]

Just 'in' from a cycle ride and then setting up an Exhibition of 'Vintage bicycles' at a stately home in Northumberland (Scottish Borders) with the VCC (Veteran's Cycle Club).
We had bikes from the early 1800's (Boneshakers and original Penny Farthing) through to military bicycles from the Boer War Era and WWII onto 1930's Lightweights and Roadsters and 1950's Roadsters. Names such as Sunbeam, Elswick, Rudge, Palace, Saxon..abounded in the fine grounds of Blagdon Hall.
Some amazing bicycles with wooden wheels and 'netting' saddles!! Lamps that were fuelled by Carbide Crystals or oil with crystal side lights in red and green for Port and Starboard!. A pure Aladdin's Cave for the vintage cycling enthusiast!

**Photos taken 'at the Pub' before the display!! Hic..!

 

[esteban68]

Loving that early Swiss army? bike Paddy it even has the freewheeling pegs on the front forks!

 

[PADDY]

I think that's the Elswick Dispatch Riders bike from 1899 / 1900. There's a proud piece of metal on the back hub to place one foot, push...run and flip the leg over, whilst mounting!! Dangerous stuff on a tall bike! The Farthing looks crazy for mounting..!

 

[PADDY]

 

[PADDY]

Amber walled tyres on the 1938 Saxon Lightweight.

 

[PADDY]

I've just read this funny, engaging and moving story of the North Cotwolds Cycling Club (a 1930's Cycle Club very much like hundreds across the UK in those interwar years). Read it, get to know the members, see their faces in the outings and races and then learn of how the War changed things forever. The photos are marvellous reference shots too!

http://www.cotswoldcycling.co.uk/preface_page.html

 

[esteban68]

great stuff Paddy, it went the way of many cycling clubs I believe...how many never returned from the war.
I have quite a bit on local cycling clubs/history one of the most poingnant is a reciept of collection for a box of Apex cycle pumps collected from Chesterfield train station dated 6 June 1944,mundane and sonewhat genteel this side of the channel hell the opther side!
A film well worth watching that gives the feel albeit a bit earlier is A Day Out, Here's part one and the whole things probably on there well worth watching! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYOWNNF9hP4

sorry for previous link it was for charity aid event featuring the league of gentle men it should have been:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068449/

 

[PADDY]

That's marvellous, thankyou.

 

[Mike1973]

Right, apologies fellas, I have been AWOL on the Lounge for a long, long while now ... (Took on editing a club magazine in my spare time in 2009, didn't realise quite how much of that it would take up :eusa_doh

Anyway, I thought I'd check in and show you a few photos I took recently of the old Watsonian sidecar. This has been hidden in the rafters of my garage for the last 8 years or so. It got chucked up there when I started overhauling an old Kombi, and before I knew it the nippers had both outgrown it, so there it stayed, out of sight, out of mind ...

Anyway, roll on a few years to now, and I have a hankering to get an old style Canadian Canoe, and need to free up some funds. Time to move this sidecar on? So out it comes into the daylight again, to remind myself what I actually have here ...

First time in daylight for 8 years by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

Took a while to clean all that dust off! But everything was still fine underneath. The only damage was a puncture, which wasn't easy to fix with a very stiff old tyre! I got the old tube out to discover it was a War Grade Dunlop! It had finally perished after 70 odd years, not bad going! Here are some of the photos I took while I put it all back together again.


Watsonian sidecar hood by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

Watsonian bicycle sidecar by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

Watsonian bicycle sidecar cockpit by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

Watsonian sidecar plate by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

The rest of the set are all here -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29051501@N08/sets/72157629816034345/with/7077247423/

 

[Mike1973]

And here it is hooked up to the Winter Hack, my '48 Humber Sports.


1930's Watsonian and 1948 Humber by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

And I'm not sure how this link will work, as I haven't posted up movies on here before. Thanks to my very kind missus treating me to one of those thoroughly modern gopro thingys, here is a sidecar cam view of what it's like riding along in the Watsonian. (You have to imagine you are under 4 years of age as well...) I think we can all assume it is fairly bumpy in there.

It rolled very well hooked up to the Humber, which is a well behaved bike as well. Took it for a few spins around the block and it didn't have any vices, very easy to manoeuvre as well. This is all on the flat of course.

[video]http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=109786]width="400" height="300" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=88b40e83d4&photo_id=6931669542" bgcolor="#000000" allowFullScreen="true" [/video]

 

[PADDY]

Fantastic accessory there Mike!!

 

[Mike1973]

Cheers Paddy, it is so much fun! As always when it's time to let something go, you dig it out and clean it up to sell, and then have second thoughts ... [huh] But this really has to go. Going to take it to a Vintage Nostalgia Show some friends are organising fairly locally next month, then it'll be up on the dreaded ebay no doubt.
For those interested, this auction ended a few days ago, but is a similar Watsonian model -
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/360450481982?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Anyway, while on the subject of child carriers, this has also been dug out of the bowels of the shed as well! (Again, as the kids outgrew it 8 years ago it's time to move this on also)


Wicker child seat by zombikombi1959, on Flickr
A 1920's (I think) wicker child seat. I'm pretty sure I've already posted something about it in this thread so some of this will be repeated.
I got it just as a basket, and had to find a carrier to mount it on. I had heard reports that it was originally fixed to the front of the bicycle, but I couldn't figure this one out? Made sense to mount it sideways at the back, so I found a suitable 26" bike rack.

Wicker child carrier by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

And a couple of shots of it on it's first test ride ten years ago now

test ride by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

Wicker child carrier test ride by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

And little Wilf fast asleep in it on the Windsor Great Park VCC ride in 2003

Windsor Great Park VCC Ride by zombikombi1959, on Flickr

It is mounted on my 1934 Raleigh Sports Model here, and that also has been hanging up in the garage for 8 years. (I preferred to ride my 40's racing bikes) I'm busy collecting parts to get it back on the road again though!