Freddie Grubb

[keithglos]

Although I can't remember a Freddie Grubb with butted tubing, I would suspect the frame was hit and bent in the front and then pulled forward. Sounds bad, but is not necessarily unsafe.
The cheap way is to lie under the front wheel holding some part of the wheel, with feet on the chainring or bottom bracket. Just pull it forwards. You need an assistant to tell you when to stop. This is not perfection, but will enable an unrideable bike to be ridden, which must be an improvement, especially if you are 50 miles from home.

 

[BerthaPog]

That sounds mad as a box of frogs. Was it a smooth transition to fat butted tubing to skinny un-butted? I'd love to see that.

FredC - your dad's Tourmalet looks tidy as you like. That green leather bar tape sets of the colour scheme a treat. Those seat stays are walking a fine line between steel rod and wire - it must be a lovely comfy ride

Ta muchly. It looks better from a distance - forks have been touched up with nearest colour, not as close as I'd like. The frame was cleaned up, rust spots treated and then clear coated - the scratches and bits of missing paint are part of this bikes history for me.

It doesn't get ridden that much - the bike was hung up in various garages for as long as I can remember (back as far as '75 at least) - after the first two rides the front wheel needed re-spoking - front spokes sufficiently rusted that "truing up the wobble" was not going to be an option - the rears have benefited from years of a fine spray of oil from the chain. The rear needs the bearings doing, but no amount of gentle persuasion will get the freewheel off, so will keep riding it gently until it has to be replaced.