I thought I'd share me & my girlfriend's impulse buy off eBay last year as I've finally got round to stripping it for a good clean!
Apparently it's from 1972 and it appears to be pretty much original so we've decided to keep it that way wherever possible, with the exception of tyres/tubes/rim tape, cables, grips and a few nuts/bolts/washers. The head badge is a sticker from "Tensor Cycle of Darlington England" who, it would appear, had a close relationship with the West German Velo Schauff factory.
As it had no front wheel (the one in the photo is 27" just fitted for the photo!) for the time being it's using one borrowed from the tired old Hercules that's also sitting in my shed. I would like to fit a better pair to be honest but the bike is only going to be ridden over short-medium distance at a gentle pace so it'll do for now.
We bought it off nice fella who delivered it to us for a reasonable sum and after a good luck around his shed, found the original pedals for us. Nice touches on the solid-but-nothing-fancy steel frame include an 'S' shaped seatstay bridge and pump mounts. The drivetrain consists of Shimano supposedly infamous 3S internal gear rear hub with matching shifter. The brakes are Weinmann 730 and 890 but I'm going to swap the rear 890 for another 730 as the former has far more drop than is needed. Unfortunately we don't have the matching rear mudguard so, despite living in Manchester, we are going are going to do without - though it would clearly look more finished and handsome with!
Was really lucky to find a copy of the original bell in a local cheapo shop in Chorlton, so we can have matching ringers! Here it is as we bought it, expect some rebuild photos soon as I've finished the wheels and most of the cleaning now. Next comes polishing and the rebuild itself
Apparently it's from 1972 and it appears to be pretty much original so we've decided to keep it that way wherever possible, with the exception of tyres/tubes/rim tape, cables, grips and a few nuts/bolts/washers. The head badge is a sticker from "Tensor Cycle of Darlington England" who, it would appear, had a close relationship with the West German Velo Schauff factory.
As it had no front wheel (the one in the photo is 27" just fitted for the photo!) for the time being it's using one borrowed from the tired old Hercules that's also sitting in my shed. I would like to fit a better pair to be honest but the bike is only going to be ridden over short-medium distance at a gentle pace so it'll do for now.
We bought it off nice fella who delivered it to us for a reasonable sum and after a good luck around his shed, found the original pedals for us. Nice touches on the solid-but-nothing-fancy steel frame include an 'S' shaped seatstay bridge and pump mounts. The drivetrain consists of Shimano supposedly infamous 3S internal gear rear hub with matching shifter. The brakes are Weinmann 730 and 890 but I'm going to swap the rear 890 for another 730 as the former has far more drop than is needed. Unfortunately we don't have the matching rear mudguard so, despite living in Manchester, we are going are going to do without - though it would clearly look more finished and handsome with!
Was really lucky to find a copy of the original bell in a local cheapo shop in Chorlton, so we can have matching ringers! Here it is as we bought it, expect some rebuild photos soon as I've finished the wheels and most of the cleaning now. Next comes polishing and the rebuild itself