Recent content by focomat 1c

There seem to be several small detail changes to the Kirk frame during it's production life . 1 The 'top tube' ' I ' Beam has potentially five cutouts/windows along it's length . It appears that some versions only have the rear window/triangle ' open ' and the rest left ' closed ' , While...

Well spotted about the cable runs , they are dummy cables at the moment just to see if it works out and it seems to be ok . The frame was chemically/physically stripped by hand , keeping chemicals well clear of the many bonded parts . It was then etch primed and wet painted using air drying...

Thought you might like to see my Kirk project that has been in store for a number of years and is now being built up . The frame cost £ 4.99 and the forks were £ 2.50 ( ebay and boot sale )

Check out ' Gun Blue ' , a chemical finish commonly found on ........................ guns !

Interesting comment , with one exception all the cantilever brakes I have come across have had a small amount of play at the brake pivot . However the Suntour/Pedersen Self Energiser brake ( shown above ) in both it's front and rear versions does not depend on the brake pivot to guide...

I have a similar Alpina with AMP F1 forks , however when out riding one day I happened to look down at the front cantilevers when braking , only to see a surprising amount of twisting of the fork legs . I fitted a brake booster to solve the problem . Considering the loads that you are...

Having just discovered this advert on the back of a cycling book ( dating to around 1950 ) it is hard to understand how this revolutionary design has been overlooked by the major bicycle component manufacturers ? maybe the ' world patent applied for ' has discouraged them ? Come on Shimano ...

Looks like 1985/86 , however the front and rear Sturmey Archer hub brakes will have year and month of manufacture marked around the outer surface of the brake drum , the front mech will have a two letter date code stamped on the inner surface of the guide cage . This will give you a starting...

Shimano did not make much of a fuss when they announced 'their' new brake design To find out why , check out ' V - Brake evolution ? an unlikely original source '

Would be interested to know the date codes on these as March '95 is considered to be the date that Shimano first produced their version/copy of an already existing ' Wie-brake ' design by Florian Wiesmann

This 35 year old Shogun has a very small frame , however using most of the standard seat post and fitting a riser stem ( Suntour copy ) with some riser bars has resulted in a very comfortable riding position which is easily adjusted to suit a smaller rider if required

Reading through this has cost me 15 minutes of my life that I won't get back ! What a complete waste of time and wind up

The simplest way to date this bike is to look at the Sturmey Archer rear hub . You will find the date of manufacture stamped on the body of the hub between the spoke flanges . The bike would have been built slightly after this date but will at least give you some idea . The bike looks to be in...

Interesting find , this is certainly an original Parabike and is probably one of many that were sold off at the end of the war to businesses like Gamages in London . They replaced the original sliding pedals with those you see here and fitted mudguards . Being government surplus they were...

It appears from your comment ' does it have a spring ' etc that the spring and elastomer bump stop are missing You may have a problem as the springs were specially made for AMP ( in three ? body weight/stiffness sizes ) and there do not appear to be any stock springs , metric or imperial , that...