Recent content by RobLoasby

Few years back I went to a main Kawasaki dealer to get some parts for the GPZ500 I had at the time. Stood at the parts counter in my (admittedly well-worn from year-round commuting) bike gear waiting for ten minutes while being studiously ignored by all three of the staff who were too busy...

Can’t remember the brand of my first bike, which I got aged 11. Only standout was that it had a Benelux derailleur, which somehow malfunctioned leaving me with bottom gear only. Despite coming from a family steeped in cycling, nobody knew how to fix it! Fortunately, a growth spurt saw me...

“No, I said blow it up to 30 psi, not 30 bar!”

Could you actually use the front changer with that setup?

You’d soon find the limits of how much steering you can put on left turns.

Only once you reach 208rpm.

What happens when the batteries go flat, or it loses the wireless signal?

Only if you’re the hindmost.

Sadly not. But it, like dad’s 1936 Andy Bone Paragon, are still around and both still roadworthy. As and when I get the chance to visit my brother, I’ll get some snaps.

My brother has our dad’s 1948 red RRA. It featured in many of his touring articles for Cycling in the 60s and 70s, including one in North Wales where I rode it up Bwlch y Groes, and cooked the brakes descending down towards Bala. He wasn’t best pleased! It had been upgraded to derailleur gears...

Anyone do an inch-pitch derailleur?

Very tidy. The kitchen, as well as the bike.

Back in the 1960s, the GPO (later BT) brought out the Trimphone. One of its selling points was a luminous dial, containing tritium. The central stores, where thousands of them ended up being stored, were told to take radiation precautions, and they were soon withdrawn and the dials passed on to...

I seem to remember people using glued-on plastic bottle screw-tops or rubber bands wrapped around to try to improve contact back in the 60s/70s.

That 1740FFr for the Campag-equipped Lejeune equates to £1630/€1975 in current values.