Any idea what this is? - 1920s Radior

[Woz]

It's all a bit sad.

Back to the OP and sharing his hard work for saving and doing a great job.

They will never be reproduced as a whole nor on any quirky detail component level and the special ones are really worth saving.

Even if it's just to remember and have a glimpse of what-if-maybe history turned out different. The wrenching journey also counts like a ride

 

[Nabeaquam]

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

Yeah, that’s what I’d do. I forgot I did this in 1975 on a French bike my brother in law crashed. I straightened the frame and replaced the fork. I don’t remember how I did that as the bike had smaller diameter tubing. Perhaps the head tube was big enough, don’t recall. I replaced the stem and bars, painted it and retained the cottered crank. It was a wonderful 10 speed. I must have dumped it when we moved. Good idea.

 

[PhillB]

All good ideas, although for me the fun is in trying to salvage what I can, so l will pe-rsevere With this one for now. I like the crown and rake on these forks too.

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

Rims made from Hickory in Italy...so not completely French now :-D although I did lace them to the original French hubs...

I'll think I'll persevere with this headset, I cleaned and replaced the bearings that were in it, but I think they might actually be a little too large... I might try some slightly smaller ones.

Otherwise, I'll think I'll see if I can find something that looks similar....

 

[Nabeaquam]

All good ideas, although for me the fun is in trying to salvage what I can, so l will pe-rsevere With this one for now. I like the crown and rake on these forks too.

Rims made from Hickory in Italy...so not completely French now :-D although I did lace them to the original French hubs...

I'll think I'll persevere with this headset, I cleaned and replaced the bearings that were in it, but I think they might actually be a little too large... I might try some slightly smaller ones.

Otherwise, I'll think I'll see if I can find something that looks similar....

Watch the spoke tension. They’ll get soft as the washers slowly sink into the wood from spoke pul. Even carbon lined ones do this. Stutzman wood rims are built around an aluminum rim so spoke tension says. In my experience, either this fall or over the winter the spokes will get too loose for safe riding. This is why you order short spokes with wood rims. They’ll need truing then anyway.

 

[PhillB]

Watch the spoke tension. They’ll get soft as the washers slowly sink into the wood from spoke pul. Even carbon lined ones do this. Stutzman wood rims are built around an aluminum rim so spoke tension says. In my experience, either this fall or over the winter the spokes will get too loose for safe riding. This is why you order short spokes with wood rims. They’ll need truing then anyway.

Yes, the guy who made them mentioned that I'd need to re-true after the first couple of rides and probably twice a year... a bit of a faff really, but I'd wanted to build some for a while and this bike presented the opportunity

 

[Nabeaquam]

Yes, the guy who made them mentioned that I'd need to re-true after the first couple of rides and probably twice a year... a bit of a faff really, but I'd wanted to build some for a while and this bike presented the opportunity

Yes, they need a lot of attention. If they toco out they’ll never stay straight, they go back to bent in the same place, stubborn. So keep em true. New ones I tension and true them, release the tension and true them again and then every day until they stay put. Generally about a week. They aren’t ridden during the week of truing. The ones I just rebuilt yesterday are from the 1920s and were warped. I got them pretty straight but from previous experience I know that they’ll never be or stay straight. They’re steel clad wood rims. No use truing them every day, they’re bent permanently. I’ve even cable tied tocoed wood rims to a true wheel and tossed it in the snow bank for a few days. Went back to bent right after I spoked and trued it.
Front wheel.
Rear wheel with inch pitch drive. Tubular tire has to stretch and seat until tomorrow before I can glue it in place. These rims were in bad shape, slightly bent, one rusted through spot on the cladding and wood cracks. I have five of these. One has a broken wood joint and two have some rotted wood. The two I used are the best of the bad.