LEACH MARATHON

Hi Terry, The Leach was clearly a good find. I have seen another one of similar date and it will be a nice guide to the finish. I am hoping that my contact has got decals for it as it will be difficult to reproduce them otherwise. I like the Allin also. I have just become Allin ME at the VCC - so any details for the records would be welcome
Cheers, Steve
 
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By way of an update on the Leach Marathon :
I have slowly been accumulating period correct parts for this one and am almost there. I am working on 1948/9 as a date for this. and have most of what I need to complete the project. Fortunately I have been able to source original Leach Marathon varnish fix transfers. Quite a find given how long ago Leach ceased trading.
The hard part is deciding what colour to have the frame enamelled. The decals are mainly red, gold and apple green.
 
This scan has been made through the tissue carrier paper - which is why the image is a little 'milky'. These are original decals - not reproductions
 

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No - another contact of mine has a pile of the decals - plus some others that are of a different style. I think that Bates acquired them when Bill Leach packed up - and he got them from Bates (not certain of this though) I bought 2 sets. Never applied varnish fix though - so I will probably mess up the first set. Love your Marathon. Looks to be earlier than mine (clip headset) - which leaves me baffled as my frame number is 22291 which should make it an earlier frame than yours. However, Bill Leach probably made these to order and what the customer wanted - the customer got. Both are post war though. I find yours interesting as it clearly has a pre war Brooks saddle. The stem and brakes are almost certainly original to the machine although the pedals don't seem to be (CL introduced the sprint design in Spring 1954)
I see from the VCC handbook that your Leach has not strayed far from home !! What rims did it have - i can see the hubs are Harden - and almost certainly original but I presume it had tubs - were they Fiamme ? Love the photo outside Epping station. I was born in Epping. Congrats on an excellent restoration. Mine is in the queue behind a number of other frames. I am gradually acquiring components for the Leach and hope to get it done this year.
 
VeloFellow54":2oiez14v said:
Forgot to ask. Which Ray ? - Ray Etherton ?

Yes, that’s right—amusingly, Argos recognised his handwriting on the envelope when I sent the decals for the repaint… It is nice to hear there are more of those out there, it would be good to get a hi-res scan before they are all used.

The Leach was built for my ex next door neighbour in E15; he dredged it out of his cellar after a long hiatus and gave it to me before he died a couple of years ago.

The hubs are indeed Harden—the originals showed signs of serious corrosion and I didn’t trust them, so replaced with a matching pair from eBay. The wheels—spokes rims etc were completely shot; replaced with 700C for practical reasons. The tubes and tyres were not that ancient, and although v perished did hold air for a push a mile up the road. Brakes were also past their best, but replaced like-for-like; they have enough reach to work just fine. The paint had degraded beyond hope, as had the chromed ends, but Argos did a nice job with new paint (colour matched from a bit shielded under the fork light braze-on) incl. box lining & Ray’s decals. I replaced the saddle with an equivalent current Brooks. He rode it for ages before it was relegated to the cellar, so I’d be unsurprised if pedals and other bits weren’t contemporary, but it’s interesting that you think the saddle is older.

I’ve kept the saddle, and all of the other “left over” things, hubs brakes etc, including a ’60s “Starlite” front light (found a NOS one and converted it to LED, which is great!) and a 80s EverReady rear light (converted to LED too, but no way of attaching it without spoiling the paint)

I’ve done a bit under 400km on it post renovation, and still haven’t got the knack of getting into toe-clips on fixed wheel…

What else to say? The handlebars are cool, Stratalite South of France with a Reynolds girder stem, it’s comfier to ride in the drops for any significant distance. It was built to a high standard, with some nice practical touches like the mudguard mounts & wingnuts and pump pegs. Chris told me he rode it from London to Wales & back when courting, and the Mile End Road was cobbled at the time; it’s seen some adventures.

It feels good riding a bike a couple of doors down from the man who had it built just a mile or two away the best part of 70 years ago. I’ve since had a more modern machine made by Stayer, also just up the road, in something of a homage (pic attached, if I’m doing this right).
 

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Interesting reading this. I may mount a set of the decals (and obtain the others that I can get) and let the Tony Bush at the VCC have them. That way there will be an accurate record for future reference. I suppose that the shop is under the tarmac now as part of the one way system that goes round from the station to Maryland Point ? Curiously a mate of mine used to do a disco above the Two Puddings pub way back when (Opposite Stratford church but most likely long gone), and I remember that the back streets around the area were still cobbled as late as the early 70's (I used to visit Stanley Road where we had a warehouse). I am not sure that I would wish to cycle up the Mile End Road these days though !! A long time since i was in that part of London though. I am something of a fan of Strata components - see my article on Classic Lightweights on them. It proved difficult to find out very much about them and they were gone by 1955. My frame is yet to be enamelled. I will get it done soon and plan to add some really fancy box lining myself. Done a bit before and the result was quite good this time i will do something a bit special with spear points and maybe even curves. I will probably post pictures on here when I have done the frame. The Leach was a good find on my part and I nearly have all I need for the restoration. Here's an advert from Cycling from July 1950.
 

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It must indeed be a while since you've been around here! The Two Puddings closed in 2000, and the gyratory was restructured in 2018 as "normal" two-way roads, with excellent cycle lanes. Stratford to Mile End is now navigable on fully segregated cycle facilities, although Bow Roundabout is still an accident hotspot. Hope your restoration's coming on well too.
 
Just picked up the thread again. It is a very long time since I was in Stratford. The Leach is still in the queue awaiting re finishing although I have most of the parts i neded to complete it. I have also acquired another one from about 1960 - this time with Nervex pro lugs and it sports some of the original paint underneath a later dulux job. It is in a curious shade of green !
The leach is in the next batch of frames to get done - COVID has interrupted everything though so I have n o idea how long it will be before it is done.
 

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