My Winter play things

[stevevw]

Finally finished the Claud on Saturday ready for the Boot and Back VCC meeting on Sunday. I had arranged with my son for him and his girlfriend to come down with their two Raleigh's for the ride over. Luckily for them they looked at the weather forecast and rang late Saturday to cry off. My daughter and her husband where not so cleaver and turned up at my place early Sunday. What could I do? I just had to ride a newly restored bike in the pouring rain to see other old bike nuts standing round looking at old bikes in the rain.

Finished bike just before the sky's opened.

What a lovely bike to ride the Claud is, smooth, quite and very comfy. Only down side was the gearing is a bit high with 18 - 50 oh and it is now filthy.

I have a few shots that I managed to get before the water got in the camera, which now refuses to work. It will have to spend a few days in the airing cupboard.

Not the most effective brake ever made! Note the pegs on the forks these are not for stunts as my daughter suggested but to put your feet on going down hill with the fixed chainset flaying round. Scary stuff.

 

[Old Ned]

I just LOVE the curved cranks on the gold coloured bike. Pity about the rain. If you'd have been playing cricket or tennis they'd have called it off :roll:

 

[stevevw]

Ned
The Gold coloured bike was made from Copper tube and lugs. I tried to find the owner to get further details but he must have been in the Pub and was gone when I came out after a warming cuppa.

Weather could have been worse it started to snow soon after I got home, did not stop me rinsing most of the muck off the Claud before putting it back in the workshop.

A few more pictures.

Do you think this frame would be as stiff as a modern Carbon job? Look at the lack of Head tube.

 

[stevevw]

Some good news and some bad news

First bit of good news is I have finally managed to strip the anodising off of the Veloce chainset and have started the polishing, which is looking good so far. The cabling is all done and so is the bar tape. So the Dyna Tech should be on the road this week depending on the weather of course.

Second piece of good news is my 1946 Maclean Featherweight frame has just come back from chroming, looks like they have done a very good job. Which brings me on to the Very Bad news. The forks for the Maclean are now scrap. When I went to the chromers I asked for the tips and crown to be re chromed as they where originally. In hindsight I should have gone for tips only as so much material had to be removed to get a polished finished that the lugs have virtually all but diapered which will have severely compromised the fork leg to crown joint.

I do not know what I am going to do about this yet. The possibility of finding a replacement is pretty remote, using as is would be very dangerous and I do not want to use a fork from another make. The possible answer may be to have a fork made using the existing stem and legs with a new crown filed to resemble the original. What are your thoughts on this?

Pictures when I bring the camera in to work later in the week.

 

[Kevinwulf]

What a shame about the fork! A good plater is sooooo hard to find. I've more than once had maker's names removed from parts by over-zealous workers trying to get a perfectly smooth surface in spite of my aleays saying at the start that I'd rather a few spots than have overly aggressive smoothing.

It seems that every time I've used a plater it's been the last time and I've tried a new guy for the next batch.

Before paying for a new forkcrown to be built into the old legs/steerer, i suppose you should ask yourself how much you love the bike. I've had extensive work done on a frame I hadn't ridden only to discover I didn't really like the ride so much. If you haven't ridden it, maybe fit a fork of similar dimensions and find out how much you like the bike.

 

[Kevinwulf]

Love the Trivelox, by the way! I bid on one last year and had I not had a whole bunch of expenses that month, I think it might have been in my shed right now. Please let us know how you like it when you've had a chance to try it.

 

[stevevw]

Oh what fun the Dyna Tech is up and running at last. I still need to fit some more appropriate pedals and change the crank arm bolts to the newer cap head version. The ride is very nice comfy and fast although I will be needing to fit a shorter stem as the reach is a bit long, other than that I am well happy.

 

[Goldie]

Looks grand. What chain are you using?

 

[stevevw]

The chain is either Veloce or Sram I can not remember which one I used in the end.