Who rode a gas-pipe bike in the 70s?

[bikeworkshop]

I'm surprised the Gravel adventure market hasn't gone with good rugged galvanised.
The coating protects the steel electrically - looks rough as old boots.

I always meant to do it, but found working in a cloud of hot, toxic gas unappealing and sold the frame jig during the hipster boom.

The reason might be that some people react to zinc, and it doesn't feel nice to the touch.

 

[dubbledude]

I had one of those clunky steel ten‑speeds too when I was a kid, mine rattled like crazy and felt like riding a tank

 

[Freeman]

The cheap European stuff was made
"on The Hearth"

The lugs would be in the furnace until red hot, the plain "gaspipe" tube ends held in the heat until likewise, then pushed into the lug along with (maybe) some flux and brass, which would melt and flow from the heat.
Just a few seconds per joint.

The whole main frame would be assembled like this, almost no need for movement from the assembler.


The back end would have the stays crimped onto a stamped dropout, 3mm? The dropout jaw slope allowed for inaccuracy.

The top of the seatstays squashed flat and back in the hearth with the front end for another blob of braze.

The whole thing put onto a flat table and bent into "alignment"
Job done.
I heard some people could make a dozen or more a day - dirty smelly work.

That is how the Brits made most motorcycle frames too back in the 60s and earlier.

 

[Reiver]

my first 'real' geared road bike was a new Raleigh Arena, had it a while then went onto a BSA/Raleigh which I upgraded the running gear
Reiver

 

[RobLoasby]

Can’t remember the brand of my first bike, which I got aged 11. Only standout was that it had a Benelux derailleur, which somehow malfunctioned leaving me with bottom gear only.

Despite coming from a family steeped in cycling, nobody knew how to fix it!

Fortunately, a growth spurt saw me getting too tall for it so I instead acquired the Langsett my brother had long since abandoned to the back of the shed.

 

[Woz]

I had a handbuilt 531 frame to do a paper round on. It was a track frame lifted from a skip - 23" and far too big being a late developer.

Especially on Thursday Chronical day requiring two outings on the longest of the paper shop / news agent round.

6 of those UK miles on the nutcracker. Cinelli plastic saddle narrow as fcuk. Bunched up toilet paper would have been more comfortable.

It had lug lining and grease nipples for the headset and bottom bracket. It was modified by my own hands to fit brakes and derailleurs.

It's who you know and not necessarily what you know in the course of history to get rolling.

I will always be a bike snob though. Once bitten forever smitten.

 

[SirLurkalot]

I had a Raleigh Nimrod 5 speed racer. All steel included brakes and rims in a metallic purple. It was my route to freedom. Rode it to school and it took me to the New Forest and coast with my mates. Then I passed my driving test and it sat in my parents garage unloved with a buckled wheel.

Years later after we moved to our house with a garage I thought I'd restore it, only to find out my dear brother had been nicking bits off it to repair my nephew's bike! He took what was left to the dump.

 

[Woz]

Thing is - of a certain age, we probably all had gas pipes to start with. Fair enough cast offs and "hand me downs" etc.

Think I had my first 2nd hand Cro-Mo MTB around the late 80s. Later was a second hand AL Kona which was equally thrashed.

It's sort of when you get the first job and some time it just goes stupid. When I say stupid, look at this whole site.

When you've stuck around a bit it goes even more stupid.

When I say stupid, look at this whole site. Move slowly, don't talk to anyone, touch nothing, and leave.