A Langsett restoration

Look what the cat dragged in - I left the back door open otherwise she'd never have got it through the catflap...

frame no.52160 - 1960? I've contacted Langsett for any info they may have
these decals:



It seems to have once had 1/4 chrome forks, chrome chainstays, chrome fork crown and chrome h/set lugs. Sadly now lost to rust.
SA FM 4 speed x7. Poss 1957?

Big job ahead...

It seems the Lucas King of the Road bell that came with the bike is worth nearly as much as I paid for this old thing

Lots of work needed here!
I’ve had a couple of vintage buys where a single component covers the costs!

I anticipate much use of alu foil and water, in the approved manner, although I fear this alone won't do too much good

Given (I think) that the efficacy of said combination relies on the production of alu oxide from the foil combining with the rust, what about cutting out all that elbow grease and using pure alu oxide powder with water? Anybody tried this? It's generally available BTW.

So, I've ordered a small amount of said powder. Will have to wait and see if it's any good...
In the meantime I set to with some fine wire wool, white sprit and Solvol on the least worst areas of rust Some success but I am always conscious of overdoing it this way and scratching the chrome that's left.

It looks as though quite a lot of the chrome is salvageable, all the dropouts are good, and also lowest bits on the forks and all 4 rear stays.



Fork crown looks promising, at least the sides, not so much the tops.

The front of the head tube is good too, but behind it's too far gone I think.


Here's some rear end pics

All in bits now, in the usual way. Dontcha love a table full of lovely shiny bits? Sadly, there are none and IMHO little is likely to be any good - maybe stem and bars and that lovely old B17. Headset and bb too, and only one ball bearing short of a full set! Maybe those weird brakes will restore OK - they're "Monitor Sheerline" and basically are just filthy.

Looking forward to seeing this progress
Interested to hear what Langsett reply with.
Looks good to me and it is these almost salvage more than restoration efforts that bring such satisfaction.

Jamie

Thanks Jamie. Yes, salvage it is! I've done severa lso called restorations over the last few years, all of which I think are recorded on RB, but nothing on the scale of this. Not to mention it's probably around 25 years older than most I've done before.

I did email Langsett Cycles (the current owners of Smith's old shop in Sheffield) but they have not responded. I also have a copy of the book on the history of Langsett bikes but what was to be the useful section - an appendix of frame numbers 1952 onwards - proved too late for my old thing which I suspect is probably late '30s.

I've also tried to contact the book's author but so far to no avail, and just now the publishers in case they have up to date contact info...

I think I am close to being in touch with the author of the definitive Langsett book, so may be able to get one or two answers. In the meantime there's this ad in the book for a 1939 model.

It seems to bear a strong resemblance to mine but likely as not a different. model. I was a wee bit concerned that the head and seat angles of mine look to be slightly different and was concerned that it may have had a "front end" at sometime in it's long life ...but there is no evidence at all of this - bulge under down tube etc and the forks are as straight as can be (for curved forks!)
And then I read that usual set up is 73 head 71 seat or "any Angles to order" so that's OK.

My old thing came with Bluemels "Noweight" 'guards. In a very poor state but likely rescuable. I'd never heard of this variant - "Featherweight" certainly but not these. Browsing through one or two of the ads in the Langsett book I bought (still no response from the author - he'd be 77 by now) I find a few refences to "Noweight" mudguards but...these are all catalogue entries for 1931 or 32. Those from 38 or 39 are specified with "Featherweight", so it may be I have an even older model than I first supected.


The front has a nice taper. I thought it was a mod but now i believe this was standard. And a lovely old precision repair!
Of course, I'm aware that bikes from that era have likely had many changes over the decades but why would you fit 'guards from an earlier period?

Anyone heard of "Noweight" Bluemels?

Now that is a challenge! An old colleague of mine used to race for the Langsett racing team here in Sheffield. I'm not too confident the current shop will have that much info on the more historical stuff, though you never know...