Youngs 531 step-through restoration

JN23

Dirt Disciple
Its not strictly a road bike but it certainly isnt an MTB. A hybrid prototype, I guess?

My wife bought this bike in the early 1980's from a shop in South London called Youngs. When we went to choose the bike, they didn't have the one we wanted in the right size so they built it for us from Reynolds tubing and we collected it a month or so later. Those were the days! Sadly I had to replace everything apart from the headset, which only needed new bearings, as most parts were either badly worn or perished, having been stored in the shed for decades. It originally had 26" wheels which I replaced with 700c, managing to get the rear 130mm axle into the 126mm wide dropout spacing, with a bit of gentle stretching. The only tricky thing was the respray which I did in a homemade 'tent' in the garden - never again!!
 

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Its not strictly a road bike but it certainly isnt an MTB. A hybrid prototype, I guess?

My wife bought this bike in the early 1980's from a shop in South London called Youngs. When we went to choose the bike, they didn't have the one we wanted in the right size so they built it for us from Reynolds tubing and we collected it a month or so later. Those were the days! Sadly I had to replace everything apart from the headset, which only needed new bearings, as most parts were either badly worn or perished, having been stored in the shed for decades. It originally had 26" wheels which I replaced with 700c, managing to get the rear 130mm axle into the 126mm wide dropout spacing, with a bit of gentle stretching. The only tricky thing was the respray which I did in a homemade 'tent' in the garden - never again!!
Well done, very nice usable bike.
👍
 
Its not strictly a road bike but it certainly isnt an MTB. A hybrid prototype, I guess?

My wife bought this bike in the early 1980's from a shop in South London called Youngs. When we went to choose the bike, they didn't have the one we wanted in the right size so they built it for us from Reynolds tubing and we collected it a month or so later. Those were the days! Sadly I had to replace everything apart from the headset, which only needed new bearings, as most parts were either badly worn or perished, having been stored in the shed for decades. It originally had 26" wheels which I replaced with 700c, managing to get the rear 130mm axle into the 126mm wide dropout spacing, with a bit of gentle stretching. The only tricky thing was the respray which I did in a homemade 'tent' in the garden - never again!!
great work there - so good to give new life to a unique and interesting bike, and a far better way to spend the money than on a mass-produc ed alternative devoid of individuality
 

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