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As some of you may know, my father-in law Alvin Smith passed away last year. He was a big noise on the local veteran cycle scene, and among other things was the VCC's marque enthusiast for Paris Rensch bicycles. Much of his collection has now been sold off (it's all gone to good homes!) but...

I was given this by a mate, who was given it new for his 14th birthday 42 years ago. It's a Fred Williams, built in plain gauge Reynolds 531. When I got it, it had been refinished in yellow (it was originally black) and fitted with straight bars. Sadly, whoever fitted the straight bars and STI...

I've just bought this beastie off Ebay (mostly because I wanted the forks for another project) and I'm wondering what it is. It seems to be 531 - seat tube internal diameter is 27.2 and there's a 531 sticker on the forks (not that that means much as it's been refinished at least twice) - but...

Just a short message to let people know that Alvin Smith - VCC marque enthusiast for Rensch-Paris and Major Nicholls, author of "Rensch and Paris Cycles" and avid collector of vintage bikes (and incidentally my wife's father) - sadly passed away suddenly on Tuesday morning. He was a very...

This was an accidental Ebay purchase. I found it while browsing for a pair of Reynolds forks for my Fred Williams rebuild project, and just happened to stumble across it with about ten minutes left on the auction. £200, no bids... I bid with four seconds to go and got it for £200. I feel I...

I've just been given a couple of bikes, one of which is a 1980 Fred Williams 531 road bike. I have a bit of a tenuous attachment to this since I spent a great deal of time and money in Fred Williams' shop in Wolverhampton back in the 1990s and early 2000s! It's been refinished, the original 531...

I've been looking everywhere for a pair of brake hoods to fit some old ST-R500 8 speed brifters I bought on ebay. The shifters work fine and it seems a shame to bin them for want of new hoods. However, it seems that Shimano don't make them any more and I can't find anywhere that sells them. I...

So, this happened on Thursday. I work for a small brewery and Thursday is my delivery day, when I potter around the Forest of Dean in a van delivering beer. At one point I went past a house with a pile of stuff on the driveway, obviously destined for the tip. Atop the pile was an elderly road...

Looks to be in more or less as new condition and is complete with its original sales tag! Collection from Leicester, currently £100, no bids and no reserve, just over an hour to go ... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Claud-Butler ... 1438.l2649

I have a Dawes Audax which I use as my regular ride. It's the bike I'd keep if I had to limit myself to one ... I can tour on it, it will do fast road rides and if I stripped off the rack and mudguards I could time trial it, if that was my bag. Anyway, what I was wondering is, how old is it...

I like my elderly film cameras. The pic below shows about half of my little collection. They're all in regular use and the main thing I like about them is that they're very tactile, tremendous fun to use and they inspire curiosity rather than hostility if you take pictures of strangers in a...

I bought this as a project, spent a fortune (and lots of time) building it up, then completely lost interest in it and realised I'll never be a mountain biker! It's a 2004 (I think) Kona Stuff. Marzocchi Bomber forks (someone has butchered the disc caliper mounts), front and rear Hope M4 8 disc...

My beautiful Isaac Force carbon bike is for sale. It's a lovely thing but I'm more of a touring bike kind of guy and I don't really use this. It's in lovely condition apart from minor marks on the forks where a computer sensor was fitted (see last photo). From what the bloke who sold it to me...

Dura Ace 10 speed STI shifters (pair), model no. ST7801. These date from around 2008, I think. Both work well, both are a bit battered cosmetically. Looking for around £75 including postage.

Bought for my wife who doesn't get on with the drop bars! This is scruffy but original - Weinmann centrepulls and original levers, Suntour VX derailleurs and original drivetrain - and sound. New bar tape and new cables all round. Everything works well, it could just do with new tyres and a...

This is my Cougar, which I think is from the late 1980s and was build by Terry Dolan. I bought it off ebay with a stuck seatpost, which I extracted with a hacksaw blade; fortunately I had an identical Campag post in the bits box. I've upgraded quite a bit of the kit since this photo was taken...

I've got a Felt F2 carbon frame in the shed. The aluminium shim which pokes out of the top of the seat tube for the seatpost clamp to fit on has broken and I'm struggling to find anyone to fix it ... my local bike shops recoiled in horror when I showed them it and the carbon repair specialist I...

Cannndale T600 touring frame with original steel forks. Includes Shimano 600 headset in good order as well as seatpost and clamp. Generally scruffy condition but structurally sound with no known defects. Selling to help fund my Kona Lavadome project. Looking for around £30, must be collected...

I've had what I think is an early Kona Lavadome kicking about the place for years. I bought it as a complete mountain bike, discovered fairly quickly that mountain biking isn't really my thing, sold it to a colleague who refinished it very badly, bought it back, built it up into a stripped down...