1950's Steel

buddy_club

You may or may not have seen this in the 'Road Beginners' section a while back, so im going to copy the important posts in and then add what ive done most recently at the end 8)

Post 1: Alright fellas,
My grandads just given me his 1970ish steel road bike, he used to ride for an Italian team back in the day and as such the bike is what I believe to be quite a high spec, it's been well looked after but as I normally ride mtb and this is my first road bike I don't really know what's what, but I just though I'd say hola.

Post 2: Right picture time, tried to keep in order with the OCP thread but its an iPhone camera so not brilliant.







Looking a bit tatty at the moment, but she rides like an absolute dream and after a little clean up and some touch up paint i'll hopefully have her looking better this weekend.
(Sorry about the dog in the last pic :roll: )
((If anybody could try and identify the stickers as well i'd be grateful as i would love to get a new set))

Latest update: Right so a few updates.... (sorry its been so long)

No 1 is some new bartape, so i know everyones is going to go "argh look at that bartape" but i was quite proud of it, and you might also say its wayy to modern but by god it is comfy! I wrapped over the existing 'tape' (if you might call it that) and then scraped off the rest from the areas that weren't covered. This took an absolute age to do and was quite frankly a right PITA! It took me a few hours, lots of swearing and bizarrely enough some limescale remover until it was all gone. The bar underneath was a right state, and there was rather alot of rust on it, but i attacked it with varying grades of W+D paper until the rust was gone, the brake leavers got the same treatment. I didnt polish it completely and left it still a little bit messy to be in keeping with the rest of the bike.

No 2 is not really an update as such, just something i want to share...
Basically i found a really old saddle attached to a bike in a skip. It is similar to the Brooks saddles i have seen, with the springs at the back. Its in a bit of a state at the moment but i'm hoping with some more W+D paper on the rails, and olive oil in the leather i'll get it looking a bit nicer. No pics of it yet as its still attached to said bike but i'll post some in a few days.






Sorry about the bad light in some photos, but its getting dark and my camera is an iPhone :oops:

Matthewfalle

Whatever you do, please don't touch the paintwork and original bits that don't need replacing on use/safety grounds: the patina of age is what really makes some bikes, this one included.

I'd also get rid of that modern tape and put old style stuff on - ok, not as comfy, but nothing a pair of those string backed leather palmed retro gloves won't solve.

buddy_club

Matthewfalle wrote:

Whatever you do, please don't touch the paintwork and original bits that don't need replacing on use/safety grounds: the patina of age is what really makes some bikes, this one included.

I'd also get rid of that modern tape and put old style stuff on - ok, not as comfy, but nothing a pair of those string backed leather palmed retro gloves won't solve.

It will happen but the stuff on there before was peeling off and getting stuck in my hands, and a mate had this lying around so i thought why not - cheers though!

buddy_club

Right, I want to convert the retro road bike to a singlespeed. It has 5 gears at the back and 2 at the front. Would i be able to replace the screw on 5 speed block with one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270933565644?var=570107480115

The chain with one of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231096929072?var=530445791596

And then leave the inner chainring (its a 48t or 47t iirc) and just remove the outer as i imagine finding a new chainring to fit such an old crankset would be a big PITA?

Also what size would you recomend the cog be at the back? With a 48t up front and a 17t at back the gear inches would be about 75 (according to sheldon browns gear inch calculator) - does this sound reasonable for someone not particularly fit but in a reasonably flat area?

KoenM

buddy_club wrote:

Right, I want to convert the retro road bike to a singlespeed. It has 5 gears at the back and 2 at the front. Would i be able to replace the screw on 5 speed block with one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270933565644?var=570107480115

The chain with one of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231096929072?var=530445791596

And then leave the inner chainring (its a 48t or 47t iirc) and just remove the outer as i imagine finding a new chainring to fit such an old crankset would be a big PITA?

Also what size would you recomend the cog be at the back? With a 48t up front and a 17t at back the gear inches would be about 75 (according to sheldon browns gear inch calculator) - does this sound reasonable for someone not particularly fit but in a reasonably flat area?

Please don't do it, it's a piece of (family) history don't change it! Better find a 70's bike (many of those around) and convert that, though i really don't get the fixed gear bike trend.
What team did your grandad ride for?

buddy_club

KoenM wrote:

buddy_club wrote:

Right, I want to convert the retro road bike to a singlespeed. It has 5 gears at the back and 2 at the front. Would i be able to replace the screw on 5 speed block with one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270933565644?var=570107480115

The chain with one of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231096929072?var=530445791596

And then leave the inner chainring (its a 48t or 47t iirc) and just remove the outer as i imagine finding a new chainring to fit such an old crankset would be a big PITA?

Also what size would you recomend the cog be at the back? With a 48t up front and a 17t at back the gear inches would be about 75 (according to sheldon browns gear inch calculator) - does this sound reasonable for someone not particularly fit but in a reasonably flat area?

Please don't do it, it's a piece of (family) history don't change it! Better find a 70's bike (many of those around) and convert that, though i really don't get the fixed gear bike trend.
What team did your grandad ride for?

I'll have to ask him when i next see him, although he was only a semi professional. It seems like finding a newer cheaper bicycle is the way forward at the moment.

ugo.santalucia

So you want to remove a Campagnolo Gran Sport, the first parallelogram derailleur ever made, to make it into a single speed? No way...

Leave it as it is... maybe replace that ugly plastic saddle with a battered leather one. I actually have one which has seen enough use to start looking decent on that bike, if you want it, just PM me... some matching leather tape would be nice too. Re-cable if needed and that's as far as I would go in terms of restoration

buddy_club

ugo.santalucia wrote:

So you want to remove a Campagnolo Gran Sport, the first parallelogram derailleur ever made, to make it into a single speed? No way...

Leave it as it is... maybe replace that ugly plastic saddle with a battered leather one. I actually have one which has seen enough use to start looking decent on that bike, if you want it, just PM me... some matching leather tape would be nice too. Re-cable if needed and that's as far as I would go in terms of restoration

Yep it's staying as it is - i really could use that saddle so will PM you right now. I'll also try and pick up some leather bar tape.