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@Quiet_Mike
Back to the restoration ...
How do you restore a very tatty, but very original machine? There would seem to be two main avenues here ...
Renovation, simply "to make an object look like new." ...
Total strip down, send the frame away to completely renovated, send all the rusty cranks, chainwheel and gear parts away to be rechromed ... I would have a truly stunning ride after all of this. The frame is obviously very well made, with it's chrome ends and filed lug work, it deserved this high level of detail surely?
Conservation,* "the absolute maximum amount of the original material, in as unaltered a condition as possible, is preserved." ...
*
Well, I had a pretty rare piece of local history here ... an early machine from a small bicycle shop. I hadn't seen another before, it could be a very lonely survivor ...
My general rule of thumb though - if it is still original and untouched after 60 years, it can stay that way. I'm not going to be the one to change that. It's earned it's scrapes and scratches and patina. I had entertained the thought of getting the chainset re chromed, but after advice from an old friend I changed my mind. I would just overhaul and clean everything, and replace any mechanicals that were worn.
Conservation rather than Restoration.
I went down a few dead ends with the wheels and hubs. I did find an worn out old Gnutti rear hub with a 3 speed in my junk box, but it was too far gone. Removing the stuck freewheel involved a welder ...
Bicycle restoration head scratching ... by zombikombi1959, on Flickr
Then I bought a pair of Bayliss Wiley hubs at great expense
http://rover.ebay.com/roverimp/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?pub=5574889051&toolid=10001&campid=5336525415&mpt=5737540http://rover.ebay.com/roverimp/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?pub=5574889051&toolid=10001&campid=5336525415&mpt=4627531http://rover.ebay.com/roverimp/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?ff3=2&pub=5574889051&toolid=10001&campid=5336525415&item=181447528821&mpt=2852996 )
(£77 - they are back on ebay now - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181447528821?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
Bayliss Wiley hubs on ebay by zombikombi1959, on Flickr