Fixing a Victorian

Looks good. Very good in fact. So is it official then?

The frame is technically saved for another 130 years?
 
The grips and pedals are kid sized. My son is 6’1” and his feet are too big for the pedals. I’m 5’7” and I can use the pedals. The grips are also not long enough and smaller in diameter than modern grips. I used cut down and ground down rubberized cork replacements so the brass caps would slide over the cork, like original. I made the grip marginally longer than original and it’s still too short. If you make the cork longer than I did the curvature of the bars makes the brass fore cap crooked, which looks dumb. This is as long as you can go without that problem. I did a fishing rod builders fuerell wrap with cotton string to extend the gripping area. You really can’t reduce the diameter of the rubberized cork to fit the brass fittings more flush. It’s like trying to sand or file a tire. An angle grinder takes off chunks fast but you don’t have enough control. The grinder did reduce the diameter so the brass fitting slid over the cork.

Original grip length. 96A921E3-805F-4EB5-90FE-A7F4B772A3D8.jpeg D489591D-6070-4457-9855-DD42C14AA831.jpeg
F6B06C7A-4C05-437E-90BD-00B1D7A8EB23.jpeg
I was able to save and reuse one of the original wood dowls that the end cap screws into. The other one fell out in pieces once the screw was removed. Done is better than perfect. A2588608-6B2C-4075-BE8F-198475059B91.jpeg
 
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When I saw that advert you posted on the other thread stating 22lb for an all steel bike total weight my eyes lit up.... aluminium was around then but it was twice the price of gold and more rare!
Ive been scratching my head since quite a bit too!
I've also googled that tubing with no luck either 😊
I'd get all the other stuff on the other thread on to this one chap....this is a special bike you have.....
That tubing is very clever and wouldn't of been cheap to buy or to tool up to produce! I know bicycle's were a huge booming business back then but that tubing really is something else surely it was used in other products....part of me says aviation.....but .....the Wright brothers hadn't even got off the ground then....that was 10 years later!
I don’t know how to move the other posts over. I’m too old to learn to speak geek. If I can’t figure out how to do a computer move in one minute I’m done. After all, a minute is waisting a lot of valuable seconds of my life and there aren’t that many left. Last thing I need is to waste seconds being frustrated by a stupid computer. I’m such a bitch.
 
I don’t know how to move the other posts over. I’m too old to learn to speak geek. If I can’t figure out how to do a computer move in one minute I’m done. After all, a minute is waisting a lot of valuable seconds of my life and there aren’t that many left. Last thing I need is to waste seconds being frustrated by a stupid computer. I’m such a bitch.
You can’t, but an admin can. Just have a chat with @Jamiedyer
 
You can’t, but an admin can. Just have a chat with @Jamiedyer
Good thing then that I didn’t waste valuable seconds trying to figure out the impossible. By the way, we had the old Claud Butler track bike out a few days ago for a five mile ride. It wants to go fast, it’s got a happy cadence, where it settles down and works with the rider.
 
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I don’t know how to move the other posts over. I’m too old to learn to speak geek. If I can’t figure out how to do a computer move in one minute I’m done. After all, a minute is waisting a lot of valuable seconds of my life and there aren’t that many left. Last thing I need is to waste seconds being frustrated by a stupid computer. I’m such a bitch.
I'm with you there chap...don't have the patience for it so many better things to do! I did try to teach a laptop how to fly once...it didn't learn quickly enough..
 
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