yorkie1956
Old School Hero
Re: c1952 BSA Tour of Britain - too far gone to restore?
Mike, just a thought. I know that you think your frame strength could be compromised due to corrosion and you may well be right..
Looking at your photo's. The one of the seat tube shows the Reynolds 531 sticker. That sticker apparently signifies that only the frame's main triangle is made of plain gauge 531 tubing. The forks and rear triangle something else. I would think that whatever these tubes are, they may be okay because they won't be thin walled, the bike being built to a price. So back to the main triangle. If plain gauge 531 has an outside diameter of say 28.6mm. Internal diameter I don't know, I can't measure the seat post size on mine because it hasn't got one yet and I'm nowhere near the bike anyway to measure the internal tube diameter, but I'm guessing 26.5mm ish... That would give a main triangle tube wall thickness of about 1mm. So not fag paper thin like Reynolds 753 and certainly thicker than 531 butted tubes, I don't know but maybe enough 'good' metal left to still have good frame strength?.... Maybe.
A cautious idea... What about brushing one or two of the badly corroded areas with a toothbrush size hard wire brush to establish how far corrosion has gone? Individual tubes can be replaced, but of course the cost may be prohibitive.
If it were mine, I think I would coat the frame and forks in Evapo-Rust for a while and see if it's still in one piece after then rinsing it off with water, but only you can decide that.
Just my ramblings.
Mike, just a thought. I know that you think your frame strength could be compromised due to corrosion and you may well be right..
Looking at your photo's. The one of the seat tube shows the Reynolds 531 sticker. That sticker apparently signifies that only the frame's main triangle is made of plain gauge 531 tubing. The forks and rear triangle something else. I would think that whatever these tubes are, they may be okay because they won't be thin walled, the bike being built to a price. So back to the main triangle. If plain gauge 531 has an outside diameter of say 28.6mm. Internal diameter I don't know, I can't measure the seat post size on mine because it hasn't got one yet and I'm nowhere near the bike anyway to measure the internal tube diameter, but I'm guessing 26.5mm ish... That would give a main triangle tube wall thickness of about 1mm. So not fag paper thin like Reynolds 753 and certainly thicker than 531 butted tubes, I don't know but maybe enough 'good' metal left to still have good frame strength?.... Maybe.
A cautious idea... What about brushing one or two of the badly corroded areas with a toothbrush size hard wire brush to establish how far corrosion has gone? Individual tubes can be replaced, but of course the cost may be prohibitive.
If it were mine, I think I would coat the frame and forks in Evapo-Rust for a while and see if it's still in one piece after then rinsing it off with water, but only you can decide that.
Just my ramblings.
