early Harry Hall rescue mission and build thread...

[pwebb]

... an epic tale of adventure, grit and missing knuckles.

- was lucky enough to borrow the Banana Industries marine salvage vessel for a spot of magnet fishing off the Lancashire coast a few months back when the sea was calmer than of late.



We managed to land a rare piece of local NW history that had been languishing on the sea bed for some decades, judging by the corrosion and general condition , this was going to need something more than just a quick spray of WD40


looks like it was made from the good stuff at least , but at a guess it was going to need a new chain and a little TLC






off to the workshop to extract the stem and BB - a workout we all know and love

 

[pwebb]

... bare frameset stripped and ready for another dip


and then off to Cheadle for the experts at Cyclone to work their magic

 

[pwebb]

Back from the powder coating treatment (prismatic shocker yellow)


some frame details showing lugs and dropouts




my guess is this frame is from between '75 and '83 - who knows , cant find anything about any other HH 'romany' bikes out there , but the suntour dropout and weinmann brakes are giving me a clue at least

 

[pwebb]

Decals on this week - sourced from H Lloyd this time as I wanted that old typeface rather than anything more contemporary

 

[pwebb]

Next up - the fun part - sourcing all those period parts and waiting for those ever so friendly and efficient delivery people to make their drops to Retro Steel Bike HQ



and not wanting to upset any of the die-hard purists on the interwebs who may be offended if the incorrect parts choice is inadvertently made or traditional assembly methods and tools not observed correctly



...to be continued

 

[widowmaker]

Awesome write up

 

[PhillB]

I feel like we are only 'mid-journey' with this tale!!

 

[Old Ned]

The 'Romany' name rings a bell - but not necessarily Harry Hall's?

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

The 'Romany' name rings a bell - but not necessarily Harry Hall's?

Was it an Orbit or Revell?

 

[pwebb]

Was it an Orbit or Revell?

Yes Revell's Romany was a much lauded 80's tourer, but I didn't find any record of HH marketing a bike with that name and it did cross my mind a previous owner may have retrospectively added it, however they opted to place the decal on the top tube and not on the downtube like on Revell Romany bikes I have seen.
Meanwhile there doesn't seem to be a record of any other HH edition s named Romany , so maybe it was a one off, abandoned after Revell introduced theirs? I am hoping I might find someone who can remember it's origin or accurate date, there were other HH touring frames made.