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Hi Eric, sorry for delayed reply, I've not logged in here for a while. (Sidetracked with issues keeping a 55+ year old vehicle on the road. Outside of this forums sphere of interest of course!)
Thank you very much for the excellent nuggets of info on Jim Guard, all very much appreciated.
And being a Rotrax rider, you may appreciate this belated post.The Jim Guard has been out and about often, it's such a lovely bike to ride! Although it did chuck me off a couple of weeks ago. I have occasionally been caught out by the longer cranks than any of my other bikes, and scrapped the pedals a couple of times on speed humps. This time I made a rookie mistake and leaned into a right turn on a busy crossroads on my morning commute, and the inside pedal clipped a bump in the centre of the road. I ended up flat on my back in the middle of the road. Luckily it was so busy the traffic was moving slow enough to stop. Meant my stupidity had an audience though which is never nice. Most importanly apart from a small scuff on my poor Chater Lea pedal the bike was fine ...
Had a much better ride this weekend, with my mate Ben on his similar vintage and also original conditon Rotrax. Great to see these two Southampton machines out together enjoying the good weather we're currently having.
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The BSA lives again. After not turning a pedal for several years it's back on the road. New Kenda tyres, new Britannia repro grips, and £15 car boot Brooks B17.
It's still a pig to ride, but tightening up the head stock has made it safer. I can now take one hand off the 'bars without risking a trip to A&E.
It doesn't look right without the mudguards, but they need more work. -
I have just picked up a bundle of pre war CTC Gazettes, and have spotted a couple of adverts for these spearpoints. They always seem to be shown on their own, no other guards in place?
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I would LOVE to do Eroica again, but at the moment funds are too tight. I can't see myself being able to drum up the dosh until after Christmas at earliest, if at all.
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Ignore, just saw someone else posted up the ebay link to the lytaloy bits on ebay .... (And I can't delete post)
But a lovely frame there 7ven! Fantastic original condition!
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Lovely frame!
And seeing as this is the place to come for ant Hobbs 'porn', I just spotted these on ebay.
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Can't wait for this to come together!
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There might be one in this thead from last years Eroica. I shout about it enough on other forums, so don't bother on here ...
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One of the regular email notifications I got from Eroica Britannia this year made mention of a 'Best Bike in Show' competition, not something I’d usually consider, especially with the stunning quality of bikes there, but ‘Best Preserved Bicycle’ obviously caught my eye!
http://eroicabritannia.co.uk/headline/best-bike-in-best-in-show
*BEST PRESERVED BICYCLE
CLASS 1 – Pre 1949
CLASS 2 –1950 1987
a) Must have the original paint, decals and chrome if any.
b) components can be replaced as long as it's the same type and age.
c) Modern replacement can be used for the tires and brake shoes (safety reasons) as long as they have a vintage look to them.*So, I gave the JG a good clean and polish entered and entered in the Pre'49 category (even though we're not sure the exact date of the bike and it's probably a little later. It's more Pre '49 in its paint choice and componenets though.) There was some very tough competition on the field, soI left the judges - last years winner Lance McCormack, Tim Gunn, and Wesley Hatakeyama from Eroica California - to it, and mooched around the cycle jumble for an hour. When I came back to collect my bike I was surprised to be handed a raffle ticket by Tim Gunn, and assumed it was for taking part, to claim a bottle of beer or a bakewell pudding ... No, I had to bring my bike to the stage at 5pm for the ‘Best Bike’ presentations. I was flattered to hear how much the judges liked the bike, Tim said the only thing that let it down was the later Weinmann rims. I had to agree. I was more than chuffed to be a runner up though, and the praise from the judges was very much appreciated.
Anyway, we all squeezed up on stage a few hours later, (there wasn’t much room up there!) and I naturally assumed the winners had already been chosen. There was a lovely 1943 Bentley(?) rescued after many decades in a barn, with perfect original paint! An obvious winner for me.
Well, it turned out the judges were actually still deciding, and when they called my category out, it was the Jim Guard they had chosen, despite of the wrong wheel rims. (When the judges were having their on stage conflab, one was heard to exclaim, "sod the rims!", so I'm guessing that was about me ... )
Well, I was very shocked. The Jim Gaurd definitely deserved to be up on stage, it's a rare survivor, but to actually win as well? I was expecting a bottle of Eroica beer as a prize, and not the Brooks Oxford cycle cape, and a EH Works tool roll …
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/EHWORKS
http://www.brooksengland.com/catalogue-and-shop/clothing/john+boultbee+clothing/OXFORD+Roll+Up+Rain+Cape/The bike proudly wore the rosette for the rest of the day ;-) And for the start of the ride as well! But it fell out of my bag halfway round, I was gutted when I found out at Chatsworth it was missing :-(
The selection process ...
And at the start of the 55 mile ride. I rode with some friends on similar vintage machines, all from the late '40's. A Holdsworth and a Bates. We all had gears that weren't suited to the terrain!
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Great to see you mate, hope you had a nice day, and sorry to hear your awful news. I've forwarded you Simon Turners details, hope he can sort out some missing parts for the build!
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Well, almost ready. Even gave the bike a polish last night, and going to enter it into 'best preserved' at Eroica on Saturday, wish me luck!
And off topic, but my nipper saw this in the back of the bike shed, looking a little forlorn. I've just recommisioned it, dropped the saddle, fitted a much shorter stem, should be good to go for Eroica now. Aitch has used it as his school hack and reported back favourably! I'm not sure what model it is, I was given it recently by a Belgian mate as a 40th present. I think a C132, 1970's vintage? Goes like stink, Reynolds tubing, and light as a feather.
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Looking good! Serious Hobbs envy here now! (Oh, wait, I have a Hobbs too ... ;-) Using it for my work commute at the mo, it's such a lovely bike to ride ... )
See you at the weekend. We'll be arriving late Friday I think, still have to work/school in the morning. Hopefully the Kombi will get us there by the 10.00pm cut off! Just finished giving the Jim Guard a last polish, and I think I'll enter it in one of the competitions on Saturday, for 'Best Preserved Pre-1950'.
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Time to move this on. The nippers are now 12 and 14, so definitely outgrown this!
I picked this up 13 years ago, and used it for both our nippers. Good up to toddlers. I mounted it on a period roadster rear carrier and it will fit most 26" wheel bikes.
The wooden dowel frame was riddled with woodworm when I got it. All treated straight away obviously. For the gentle rides I was doing it didn't bother me, the wicker is strong enough to hold it all together securly.
Not seen many others on my travels!
Obviously will be a pain to post, but I am going to Eroica Britannia this weekend.
Collection from Southampton would be ideal. -
What's hammock camping? I'm intrigued ... (Went lightweight camping in Normandy last year, always keen to see what solutions other people have)
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We're nearly ready here ... Got the bikes up and running, but the kombi is haemorrhaging gearbox oil at the moment ... tomorrow nights job.
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Yep, me and the nipper booked in again this year. Very pricey weekend for us, with two tanks of petrol for the camper, on top of the £165 for the ride and camping ... Just hope it is as good as last year ...
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Popped over to a local bike shop in town in my lunchbreak today, as I heard he had a Jim Guard. Rumours were true! Gary had a a very late Jim Guard frame, from the 80's. I took a few snaps of the transfers and headbadge for reference. Super light frame, and looked original too.
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Me and Aitch have booked in the 55 miler, but I'm in the same quandry as last year ... I have a Great War MkIV Army Cycle, and all the kit to go with it ... Very tempted to drag it out and recommision it after rusting at the back of the bike shed for well over 10 years. Especially as we in the Centenary. I may just take it for a pootle on the Saturday.
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That Osgear looks fantastic! Looking forward to progress on this build, and hopefully we'll catch up at Eroica, as I'm taking the Jim Guard with the Cyclo Ace gear again.
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Pulled my finger out and booked me and my nipper little Aitch in. Was one of the highlights of 2014 for me. Looking forward to it. Will either be on the Jim Guard I did up last year, or maybe take the Hobbs ... Last year I was most impressed with the guy doing the ride in Army battledress and a BSA folding 'para-bike'!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/29051501@N08/sets/72157645370333785
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Nice pre war bike!
I wonder if something a bit more unusual would look good for a set of brakes ...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Bicycle-1930s-Bsa-Brakes-Parabike-/261758226438?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3cf2019006
You fitting front and back brakes? Or just a single? -
I've updated my previous post Philip, in light of your reply ;-)
Genuinly interesting results. Our frames are very close in date if your theory is correct, and it makes total sense to me. Also interested in the differences in our frames as well. The different fork crown caught my eye - mine has spearpoint ends. And both different to 7VEN's! Also your lugwork has cleaner lines too. -
I'd love to do Eroica again, and my nipper Aitch is super keen too! I'm just struggling with the £165 for both of us this year ... Not that it's overpriced compared to last year. If I'd got in early 2014 would have been way underpriced, cheap as chips! I think I'm just going to have to stump up and find the money from somewhere :-/
Frame number for the Hobbs. Philip, we're in the middle of a garage demolition here, so forgive the photo but all the crap that a 60+ year garage tends to accumulate is all shoehorned into the bikeshed at the moment. I just managed to squeeze an arm and torch in to get this shot!
46 09 13 14
I wasn't bothered about sharing the whole number, but you got me worried when you said about hiding the last two digits. I've no idea 'whats the worst that can happen' from sharing a bike frame number. But anyway ...
*edit - updated after Philip posted his frame number ;-)I've been told my bike could be a Raceweight ... Here's a slightly better view of the lug work. This is a shot I took when I first got my greasy mitts on it in 2003.
1946 Hobbs of Barbican GB brake lever detail by zombikombi1959, on Flickr
1946 Hobbs of Barbican front brake by zombikombi1959, on Flickr
Hobbs of Barbican, 1946 by zombikombi1959, on Flickr -
That's in wonderful original condition Philip, very envious!
I took my '46 on a wild camping micro tour of Normandy last year. It performed like a champ, even though it was weighed down with kit.
Normandy Fields by zombikombi1959, on Flickr
Normandy Cycle Tour by zombikombi1959, on Flickr
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Hi John, just catching up on an old thread :-) You still have the 40 rim?