Any idea what this is? - 1920s Radior
- Thread starter PhillB
- Start date
Lovely. The red rims make it "pop out". 
If there's one item that's a struggle it's old headsets. NOS dried up years and years ago, and the only ones I've seen advertised are actually cobbled together parts mixed between bicycle, Solex, and mobylette headsets which I would not trust.
Thank fully most if adjusted right seemed to have survived OK but probably lost their (nickel) finish. The very very old one seems to be of various standards and slightly undersized or oversized diameters. There are at least two common crown race sizes and potentially three different lock-nut mechanisms. Another one to watch for is imperial vs. metric ball bearing sizes. Not really found any logic, distinct periods or branding to these differences.
My advice would be to get like a 60s / 70s / 80s Pug and/or Motobecane or similar doner bike for peanuts and pull the headset off it, mount using loose balls and not caged ball bearing. Chances are the low stack height and diameters would be fine for even something 100 years old.
One that didn't survive:
If there's one item that's a struggle it's old headsets. NOS dried up years and years ago, and the only ones I've seen advertised are actually cobbled together parts mixed between bicycle, Solex, and mobylette headsets which I would not trust.
Thank fully most if adjusted right seemed to have survived OK but probably lost their (nickel) finish. The very very old one seems to be of various standards and slightly undersized or oversized diameters. There are at least two common crown race sizes and potentially three different lock-nut mechanisms. Another one to watch for is imperial vs. metric ball bearing sizes. Not really found any logic, distinct periods or branding to these differences.
My advice would be to get like a 60s / 70s / 80s Pug and/or Motobecane or similar doner bike for peanuts and pull the headset off it, mount using loose balls and not caged ball bearing. Chances are the low stack height and diameters would be fine for even something 100 years old.
One that didn't survive:
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Nabeaquam
BoTM Winner
Or, you can go to extreme measures and have a frame builder replace the head tube so a modern headset fits. I had that done on his bike. It was worth it because he had to do a lot of other work, filling dents, replace the steerer, replace the drops and do a track alignment.Lovely. The red rims make it "pop out".
If there's one item that's a struggle it's old headsets. NOS dried up years and years ago, and the only ones I've seen advertised are actually cobbled together parts mixed between bicycle, Solex, and mobylette headsets which I would not trust.
Thank fully most if adjusted right seemed to have survived OK but probably lost their (nickel) finish. The very very old one seems to be of various standards and slightly undersized or oversized diameters. There are at least two common crown race sizes and potentially three different lock-nut mechanisms. Another one to watch for is imperial vs. metric ball bearing sizes. Not really found any logic, distinct periods or branding to these differences.
My advice would be to get like a 60s / 70s / 80s Pug and/or Motobecane or similar doner bike for peanuts and pull the headset off it, mount using loose balls and not caged ball bearing. Chances are the low stack height and diameters would be fine for even something 100 years old.
One that didn't survive:
View attachment 988119
The less brutal approach (which I can already here shouts at the back of the class to wash my mouth out with La Petit Marseillais) is basically swap out the forks for something 1" and take the joy ride of messing about matching fork a-c and fork rake. Internal headtube cup diameter should be the same and you will get a bonus of being able to use a more standard quill stem and handle bar set too.
Horses for courses. But, by far the best advice I can give is above especially if you've got most of the original parts in OK condition.
Someone like @bikeworkshop ideally should routinely be taking weird sized candle stick seat-posts, headsets and BBs off any knackered / junk status French bike
Horses for courses. But, by far the best advice I can give is above especially if you've got most of the original parts in OK condition.
Someone like @bikeworkshop ideally should routinely be taking weird sized candle stick seat-posts, headsets and BBs off any knackered / junk status French bike
bikeworkshop
Old School Grand Master
Luckily most French bikes stayed in France
Until the 2006 hipster boom,
that saw young Englishmen in flat caps swarm through the brocantes buying up "bien charmant" but "totallement knackered" old bikes with funny threads and diameters, at a few euros each, buffing them up and selling them on to clueless students for £200+.
Given the headsets and bbs were already shot and the posts and stems seized (which is why they had been dumped in the barn in 1980 anyway) most ended up scrapped within a few years.
I can assure all present than there's never been a usable 24 or 25mm post in our scrap bin.
Worth more than the frame it came out of in Bristol for sure - due to the preponderance of saddle thieves
Until the 2006 hipster boom,
that saw young Englishmen in flat caps swarm through the brocantes buying up "bien charmant" but "totallement knackered" old bikes with funny threads and diameters, at a few euros each, buffing them up and selling them on to clueless students for £200+.
Given the headsets and bbs were already shot and the posts and stems seized (which is why they had been dumped in the barn in 1980 anyway) most ended up scrapped within a few years.
I can assure all present than there's never been a usable 24 or 25mm post in our scrap bin.
Worth more than the frame it came out of in Bristol for sure - due to the preponderance of saddle thieves
bikeworkshop
Old School Grand Master
The bikes go in the furnace because the bb and headset are shot, and the seat post has been stolen.
I have skimmed down a fork steerer to release a valuable stem, and Causticked out a stem to save a nice fork, but not being a charity, if the job don't pay, we can't do it.
I have skimmed down a fork steerer to release a valuable stem, and Causticked out a stem to save a nice fork, but not being a charity, if the job don't pay, we can't do it.
bikeworkshop
Old School Grand Master
...
All in jeste mon ami - one day only cockroaches and French bikes will be used for transport in the future.
Although the French cockroaches will have saddles too high, bars a little on the piss, cranks a-wobble, and be swerving all over the post- apocalyptic landscape with they sticky gallic headsets
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