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

[bagpuss]

Yep I had a gas pipe framed bike,boy did I get a bollocking from my dad when he saw what I had done to our heating system.

 

[pigman]

Look at this forum - @Woz - yes, lives (in a good way) , we do move slowly , we'll talk to anyone, I believe we touch each other fondly - and stay...

I'll draw the line at touching each other fondly thank you

 

[hamster]

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.

My father in law worked exactly like that in a bike factory somewhere in West London in the mid 1950s.

My first almost decent bike was a Halfords Olympic, bought secondhand on the Caledonian Road in 1984. It was gas pipe of course.

 

[Harvo]

My first bike was a hand-me-down Mk1 Chopper. A purple one which somehow I wish I still had.....
All my other bikes were unknown as they were fixed up and resprayed by my dad but all had weight to them. When I got my 531 Banana it was like pedalling a feather.

 

[Woz]

Yep I had a gas pipe framed bike,boy did I get a bollocking from my dad when he saw what I had done to our heating system.

On a lighter note. Did anyone fcuk around with Humbro paint on their gas pipes and get a bollocking for it?

 

[bagpuss]

Three speed BSA first real sense of freedom followed by a Sun plus purchased from Mercians London road shop Derby in the early 70's . Never really stopped riding a bike since .

 

[bagpuss]

On a lighter note. Did anyone fcuk around with Humbro paint on their gas pipes and get a bollocking for it?

Nope , but I did a lot of damage to the shed with a pellet gun .
Tin cans became a favourite and you could get a right bang from an aerosol can