The Imperfectionist – My Repco Traveller :

on a test ride

Repco is a long standing name in this country, mostly known nowadays for its automotive products, and as far as cycling goes they once had a range of 10-speed bikes ranging from this model right up to superlight and triathlete chro-moly racing bikes. Of course the exotic models are much more rare, though there are plenty of Travellers still getting around.  The Traveller was the basic “pressed steel everything” model, and exists today in name as a vastly different freewheeling single speed commuter – a cheap, aluminium framed, department store bike selling for around $100.

This bike was bought for twenty bucks with a straight 58cm frame, a lot of component rust, and without me initially knowing what I would do with it …

a nice touch

So then, thinking how to approach a rebuild, given that I already have both a ten speed light roadbike and a heavy-ish commuter that I’m reasonably happy with. Keeping things simple I have opted for a five speed by removing the front deraiileur and small ring, sacrificing low gear but retaining simplicity and some flexibility.

wall flower

I have to confess, I like my gears, I can only ride single speed for so long before I start to pine for them. I’m not greedy about it, I mean, an uphill gear, a neutral gear, and a downhill / tailwind gear and I’m pretty happy. A few more than this is a bonus but only until overkill is reached …

With my resto’s,  a lot depends on the parts that I have on hand… and my ‘semi – conservation’ style may not appeal to the perfectionists … I like to keep some character or imperfection here and there.

These are roughly the steps involved in this case :

Frame : Basic lugged hi-tensile “1020″ steel, some surface rust, some scrapes on the paint and decals though the overall condition is not bad. Finish is a slightly metallic black with silver lettering on the decals which have started going opaque. I personally dislike new paint jobs on original frames, as uniform “perfect” paintwork lacks character and the bike can easily become prettily anonymous.

another person’s take on the humble traveller – as a commuter

Removed all fittings and bearings for overhaul or replacement, and to access, clean and inspect the frame. Fish-oiled the inside of tubes, steel wool and phosphoric acid converter on the rust spots, lined the lugs gold (always nice on black) and touch-up the worst scratches by hand, including the silver decal lettering where scraped off.. Clear coat the paint areas to regain some lustre and conserve the finish.

Wheels : Original Femco steel rims, very rusty chrome on the front one, replaced with a Shimano/Araya overhauled steel 27″ Q.R. Nutted rear cleaned up nicely with some TLC and I fitted new gumwall tyres.

Stem : Heavy chromed steel stem swapped for Nitto Dynamic 10 alloy 100mm – a beautiful looking stem makes such a difference. I overhauled the original headset as it was reasonable.

synthetic cork is comfy but lacks the looks of leather

Bars : Unappealing rusty chromed drop bars replaced by the unused steel drop bars from my Malvern 2-star coaster braked bike. These have an old-fashioned deep drop and an unusual dappled finish, courtesy of some brutal rust removal and clear coat. I had some Serfas brand spongy black bar tape which I twined on the inner end and fitted with home made “shellacked wine cork”  bar end plugs. These give a bit of character and don’t cost.

Luckily the frame is relatively large so the bar drop relative to the seat height is not too bad for me, though I am stretched out a bit.

Cranks and bottom bracket :  Removed the bolts holding on the small chain ring and guard, keeping the original 52T chain wheel and crank. Replaced the original square BB with a slightly shorter used square tapered to help with the chain line. Tried to get the chain wheel as close to the chain stay as possible so I could use first gear 28T cog with the large ring. It works well without chattering. New SunTour 5-speed chain fitted. MKS Sylvan pedals fitted to replace steel rat-traps.

team pro – hard, but a free pedalling shape

Saddle and seatpost :  I kept the original chromed 25.6mm seatpost. I find the variation in seat post width really amazing on older bikes e.g. 25.4, 25.6, 25.8 then into 26′s and 27′s, unlike say, with 1″ quill stems, there are so many slight variations  … and you really need a snug fit with these. The saddle was a throwaway plastic  item on base model bikes of this vintage, and a Brooks is always called for, of course ! I happened to have a spare team pro model on hand. These are as hard as rock to begin with, but even then, they are still more comfortable than plastic…

Brakes :  As I have no suitable light replacements, the heavy steel callipers have been retained for the time being, fitted with new basic Jagwire road pads. New cable inners fitted. Recycled Dia-compe alloy road levers of a similar vintage with the “suicide” levers removed.

Derailleur :  Original Shimano “Skylark” rear derailleur replaced with a better quality used Shimano. (The models were all named after various birds at one time ).

living green

A Quick Ride :

The bike is heavy-ish, but fairly comfortable, and much more stable than my smaller, lighter Cecil Walker.

Sure, it would be better if a little lighter – alloy cranks, brakes, wheels and bars would have helped here. The 5 gears work well on the flat, but are a little limiting on steeper hills.

The ride is rough, but I think softer tyres would help here. More testing to do … well, someone has to do it !

night ride

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A Fisherman’s Friend – The Road Chief :

Here’s my latest classic 27″ wheeled acquisition, for your enjoyment :

note the later huffy cheapo upright saddle

 

I love hard rubbish season – it’s full of surprises …… this is a typical converted “fisherman’s bike” of the ten speed era, before the ubiquitous MTB took over, lovingly equipped with zip tied and taped drain pipe rod holders, and with the drop bars up-ended no less, in that dawn of time style invented by the men who bought (or were sold) sports bikes when they should have had uprights.

 

PVC fishing rod holders – they are so practical you’ve gotta love them

 

Single speed, three speed, ten speed sporties — Hey, come to think of it, aren’t there lots of guys still doing that sporty image thing, buying today in carbon fibre 22-speed ?  (lol)

 

I don’t think many carbon frames will outlast this salt water special, at least not with the same amount of abuse and neglect…

 

features rusty  front sports fender and rear zefal plastic MTB mud flapper

 

I’ve concluded that any road bike brand that sounds like a macho truck name and is fitted with ‘suicide’ brake levers is most likely a heavyweight clunker, e.g. Road Chief, Road King, Road Master, etc.  - but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun riding (or messing around ) with it !

 

these old style non-original platform pedals can be overhauled 

 

Probably use this one for parts, it’s so far gone, and of low quality components, but who knows ?

The bottom bracket is shot, but the old style pedals will be just about perfect for my classic ladies Speedwell once they have been de-rusted and overhauled – as they still have most of their yummy diamond tread intact.

 

Happy Cycling !

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Missed It, By That Much :

decisions, decisions …

This rather anonymous looking grab shot of hard rubbish shows some remnants of a once loved Apollo 3-speed ladies bike (model Geneva?) that I came across on a recent ride. It was one of those solidly made steel frames with the attractive enamelled metal  Apollo head badge. I was able to save the wheels and guards but they were all I could safely carry in one go.  That’s the downside of finding such things while riding your bike. The upside, of course, is that you can cover a lot of ground this way without wasting petrol.

 

Sadly, when I returned not too long after, the garbage crushing pickup truck had only just beaten me to the frame, making me then wonder if I had made the right choice.  Well, you can’t argue with a council garbage engineer, so there was really no point further asking !

Hard rubbish days here really are a matter of luck and persistence, what with the amount of scrap metal trucks circulating well before the official pick-up, and I don’t often have free time for this kind of fun nowadays either. A bike with cargo trailer would be ideal for this activity, even if a little slower in the ‘search’ mode.

 

The frame was minus forks but the classy looking cotterless steel crank set had been neatly wrapped in plastic for storage and was rust free. Anyway, the rims are an interesting 27x 1 & 3/8″ size that will also take 1 &  1/4″ tyres.

 

Made me think that those wider 27 inch tyres could have been nice riders, were they still available, like the 26″ x and 28″ x 1 & 3/8″ still are. The rear hub is a good Shimano 3s that may yet come in handy, though the shift apparatus and selector rod are missing. The shiny steel guards will also be usefully recycled…

 

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Needless … and Pins :

I’ve spent a fair amount of time and money (but no more than a cheap bike shop model might cost) bringing my old Road King up to speed as a practical commuter – guards, saddle, bars, rack, lights, pedals, etc.

on a multi mode commute

I didn’t mind doing this because the basic bike was in such good condition for an almost 30 year old ride, even though some cycling forum threads cruelly describe Road Kings as low end clunkers fit for the rubbish  tip ! Tsk tsk …

I take the different view, however, that a well set up straight framed and properly maintained bike like this is well worth keeping and improving upon if you can accept its few basic limitations – which are mainly the weight of the steel frame, wheels, and also of other components along with the slightly clunky drive train (mostly things that can be improved).  I even think it has quite a bit of classic style – so there !

Just don’t pay too much for one if you are thinking of buying it – I’ve noticed “buy it now” prices rocketing on ebay lately for this sort of thing :

a repco traveller – a similar low-end ’80s 10speed

I have almost always disliked cotter pins as they can be imprecise and fiddly things that have a tendency to wear out and loosen prematurely, which is a hindrance on a long distance commuter when you’re “pressing on” or pedalling hard. Maybe they are OK on “high end” classic bikes where the components are more accurately machined, but not on this old Woolworths beastie. These steel cranks and chain wheels are quite heavy as well as looking inaccurately made :

cheap pressed and riveted steel crank-set

For the sake of originality on a genuine collectable classic bike I wouldn’t change  the cottered bottom end unless I really had to, but this bike arguably isn’t one of those. Anyway, you can always hold onto the original parts for the future if they are in working condition or repairable.

with mks sylvan alloy pedals

So it wasn’t a difficult decision to replace the cottered crankset with the square tapered one from an old Ricardo 12 speed MTB – a Tracer brand that has also done some brief service on other bikes. It has alloy cranks with steel rings, and surprisingly fitted in and worked without even needing the derailleur stops adjusted !

You may need to adjust the height of the front derailleur to fit the new ring size however. As long as the new crank axle is the right width and you have non-indexed friction shifters this kind of mod. is easy. The down side in my case is a slight reduction of top gear chain wheel teeth from 52 to 48 without a corresponding drop in low gearing – they have the same sized 40T lower chain ring – oh well, it was a freebie I suppose.

old and new (size difference exaggerated by perspective)

It doesn’t look too much different to the old set either, and the alloy cranks seem to visually match the newer pedals as well. Most better quality bikes in ’84 were beginning to have this type of crank/axle set-up anyway.

it’s a gradual process of improvement

Hopefully there will now be no more squeaking and creaking…

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Feeling Mixt-e Motions :

 

Well, actually, not yet, ’cause I haven’t really ridden it properly, I just couldn’t resist the pun …

swoopy, huh ?

I probably could have / should have re-painted this one while I was at it, as it’s not really collectable, but then I would have used a different colour, wouldn’t I ? And spoil the overall pink effect, probably …

The bike has been overhauled as a 3-speed, using my well worn Shimano 3s hub and somewhat battered Araya rim, because Cecil stole the 5-speed for himself, so let’s see what we can make of the remains.

These are the other parts alterations :

half a “mo”, guv

Tange moustache bars with reverse Dia Compe levers replace the original randonneur style drop bars. I used Berthoud leather bar tape with twined end supports ( more about that in another post ). Plenty of hand position options without the deeper drop, and I had already bought the levers and bars for a different bike restoration that didn’t work out. I’m really not a great fan of road drop bars, sorry to say.

hands free …

Velo Orange hammered alloy guards (fenders). These come with lots of fitting parts, and are reasonably easy to install.  Extra washer spacers were used to fit the 3-speed hub to this 125mm OLD frame.

the brooks “champion flyer” is simply a sprung b17 saddle

Longer 25.8 mm alloy micro style seat post with Brooks sprung B17 “Flyer” saddle – I’m collecting quite a few Brooks now – they are surely the best saddles of all – in my humble opinion, at least.  The pedals from my Gazelle may be temporary ( I replaced them with MKS3000r a while back).

my diy head badge

Everything has been dismantled cleaned and re-greased, the new chain is 1/8″ single speed, running on the smaller 42T front cog with a 20T rear cog. I’ll be keeping the large front cog just in case it doesn’t stay this way forever. And new cables too, I also had to shorten the hub gear inner cable to fit the frame design. The trigger and bell are on the quill stem to free up the handlebars.

pink flash

OK, so who wants a ride then ?

but it’s too hot to ride now…

See Ya !

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Last Minute X-Mass Shopping :

it’s ho-ho-hot in this get-up, hey santa ?

Those who live in the southern hemisphere truly understand the irony of Christmas, where overdressed Santas inhabit chilly air-conned shopping centres, while outside the mercury is in the mid 30s Celsius. The land bakes under a burning blue and white sky, and most people are wearing as little clothing as is publicly decent.

To get into these centres, one usually drives around and around in a crammed carpark, looking for the telltale signs of departing fellow motorised consumers, all quietly adding to the global buildup of greenhouse gases while morphing into grumpy old Christmas hating people. At least the SUV has airconditioning … ( cough ).

So, how otherwise might one stay relatively sane when doing last minute small item shopping ?

a stealth shopper with anti-sunburn gloves

Easy ! — by using one’s shopper bike.  The Elswick Cosmopolitan is a perfect example – with its front and rear carry racks over small wheels giving a low centre of gravity and an easy low speed manoeuvrability. One simply locks it to an immovable object right out front of the shops and heads on inside ….

It’s a little bit ratty and not very steal-able so that one doesn’t have to worry too much about theft while inside the shops. The re-cycled budget Italian plastic fruit crate makes riding this bike a truly Euro-Brit-Aus-Cosmopolitan experience (tee hee).

now, load it up …

So then, the Elswick is finally operational, despite a missing on-line parts order which has since been replaced by the supplier. There are a few details left to finish, as well as the usual “post-resto” bedding-in-and-tweaking adjustments. Oh yes, and first gear is not working – so one day this may be my first hub gear re-build ( gulp! ). Two speeds are OK for now, but a bigger sprocket again may be called for meanwhile  - (22T ?).

midsummer stripes

de-rusted, pre-aged and hand-painted guards (lol)

All this makes me wonder if there will ever be ride-through shopping, (or at least indoor bike parking) in our supermarkets…

Have a Happy Cycling Christmas!

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A Cheap and Cheerful DIY Head Badge :

a small detail ..

Once upon a time long ago, ( when I didn’t know better ) I repainted my original old Speedwell bike that had become very rusty from living near the sea. To help do this I removed the “S” insignia head badge so I could paint underneath it, but sadly my efforts at reaffixing it were a failure and it was lost on the road somewhere in my misspent youth …

the ladies’ popular

Since then I’ve missed having it there and the steering head has looked kind of empty after refurbishing “old faithful” for the umpteenth time. So, just for fun, I tried a cheap and cheerful solution, and I don’t mean trawling ebay for an obscure bike badge. I had a roll of thin Aldi aluminium tape on hand plus some strong double sided sticky that I use for shellacking ( btw, how come shellac doesn’t have a “k” in it ? ).

empty headed

I took a pencil rubbing off my Speedwell ladies’ popular and transferred it by tracing to the aluminium, cutting out with an Olfa cutter and scissors. The final touch was to use a concave nail punch head and thickish gold paint to simulate the rivets.

Sure it’s only cheap embellishment, and professional restorers may chuckle, but it has at least  given back a bit of nostalgic identity to my old childhood bike and I don’t see the point in spending on Speedwell repro. decals when this bike is so non-original anyway.

the transfer

The tape will need clear coating to help preserve it as it’s quite flimsy. The badge could be coated with amber shellac to give a bit of rustic visual warmth if so desired.

these concave punches are great for making painted dots

ta-daa … positioning is very critical though , this is a bit low

Actually all this experimenting started when I tried to make an original head badge for the “empty headed” generic Pink Mixte that I’m refurbishing. Using the same process I cut out a “PM” badge – coincidentally my initials also …

no more “turbo”

This frame will have the lugs lined and some more detailing and coating yet, but you get the idea….

Depending on your patience, this process could be used to DIY decorate other parts of your restored bike provided it’s not done in a vulnerable location where a scrape is likely.

Also, shiny soft aluminium pet food containers could be cut up and recycled in lieu of the alu tape. Thin copper craft sheets also come to mind for head badges.

Happy Decorating !

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A Recent Sighting of “EL” :

That’s “El-swick”, folks not “El-vis”… there has been some work going on since the previous assessment, piece by little piece. We are now waiting on some cotter pins and white rear brake cable outers to complete the work.

a sneak preview-not finished

This bike was never going to look new without replacing everything, and I’m not doing that for any old practical shopper ! Despite that, I like its quaint and homely look, and think it will be a useful alternative to the Dahon for short trips.

a city slicker’s sticker

What I want is a fully maintained and preserved rust free bike with character – and everything else is  secondary. So far it’s been 6 new spokes, a chain, a fibreglass patch kit (mudguards), some white shoe polish and a lot of rust converter and steel wool, with a can of “Rustguard” epoxy silver paint thrown in. And a lot of fiddling about …

What I call that silver is a “poor person’s re-chrome”. I’ll leave the expensive stuff for the next person, if they wish. I think you’ll agree though that it’s a big improvement, despite much detailing still to go.

 

I found two N.O.S. wheelchair tyres for $10 each at a local mobility store, co-incidentally the same as fitted.  Patched 5 holes in one tube. A salvaged 19T rear cog should give near perfect gearing though the 16T original was still OK. I find that most 3-speeds are a little over-geared as sold, and can benefit from a reduction in final drive.

The dry Sturmey Archer AW rear hub was flooded with machine oil, spun regularly and excess oil allowed to drain for several days without the tyres and tubes – so they weren’t perished. The front hub was reassembled with new 3/16 ” bearings.

 

gears working, despite the past neglect-note also the dodgy looking weld…

I am thinking too that the 451mm (imperial 20″) wheels look more elegant on this bike than the more common 407mm (decimal 20″) with fatter tyres would have. The rear mudguard had to be patched up and the lower section cut away and replaced with a thick rubber stay, as it was so rusty.

well, it’s cheerful anyhow..

The original bell sounded like a pathetic toy, so I fitted a new “ding-dong”.

I am now looking forward to riding a fully laden shopper past Graceland at Christmas

…  I hope it stays together !

 

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Relief at Last -The Cyclus Bottom Bracket Tool :

If you love working on old bikes you’ll know the feeling of stripping them down for overhaul and finding that the old style fixed cup won’t come out no matter what. These have two flats on a vey narrow flange that needs a large size spanner, and even purpose built spanners alone tend to slip off.   The cup has a tendency to freeze into the threads of the bottom bracket because of water ingress causing rust, and also from the BB generally being neglected for years. Even “PB blaster” fluid has trouble penetrating these threads successfully.

The solution is not brute strength, as this increases the chances of a dangerous slip causing an injury to the hands, damage to the spanner, cup, or even to the bike itself . Instead it is the better grip offered by a tool such as this Cyclus extractor.

a stubborn cup released

The tool clamps the cup from the inside with a heavy clamping bolt, making it impossible for it to slip off.   The adjustable cup needs to come out first, along with the locknut, axle, and all the bearings – in my experience it’s rare that the adjustable cup is badly stuck but quite usual that the fixed one is.  If the fixed cup still doesn’t come out using the tool, the temptation to put a pipe on the handle should be resisted as it may damage the tool. I prefer then to leave the cup where it is and clean it in situ as best I can (assuming that the bearing surface is OK ).

cup removed with tool

My only gripe is that the plastic end caps come off the tool too easily, otherwise it’s a godsend.  The long term solution – once the cup is out – is to use an anti-seize compound on the threads when replacing the cup ( I use Penrite “Copper-Eze” ), and also by servicing the BB more often – famous last words !

all disassembled

And remember, the fixed cup is usually a left hand thread….

This tool was purchased from Wiggle (UK site) and arrived by Australia Post in 7 days, as usual. If you do more than a few resto’s on old bikes, it’s worth getting.

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The Elswick Cosmopolitan Refurbishment – Part 1 :

rust in peace …

My method of refurbishment is to fully disassemble the bike to determine what can be recycled and what is to be replaced, then to hop between the various cleanup and maintenance tasks back and forward until ready for re-assembly, and while sourcing or repairing parts.

I like to work out what the cause of abandonment is, and in this case it relates to the rear wheel, which is buckled and has a spoke broken, as well as a damaged tyre and punctured tube. The bike has been stored unused for quite a while, finally being disposed of as a rusty basket case. The rims are in terrible condition rust-wise and most of the chrome has flaked off or is blistered. There’s nothing for it but to scrape the loose stuff away and hit the rest with rust converter .

wire brush, phosphoric and steel wool – an improvement – some chrome has gone west though

I’ve also done the same with the racks, they’ve come up a little better, and here’s the seat adjuster clamp cleaned up too. Small parts can be soaked in the phosphoric acid ’til all rust and even some metal is eaten away, but converter works best if there is a thin layer of neutralised rust to remain as a blackish protective coat.

maladjusted & de-rusted

With the frame, I neutralise any spots of surface rust and clean out the bottom bracket threads of rust and grease. The BB is the “sump” of the bicycle, and a collection point of water related nasties. I make sure the little pin hole air vents in the forks and some frame stays are open and inject fish oil via a spray can with tube nozzle.

This frame has a myriad of hidden welds where rust has begun, all fish-oiled too.

mmm … chocolate

The paint work is cut back with metal polish paste ( e.g. “mothers” or “autosol” ) which brings back some shine, staying away from any decals or vulnerable surfaces. Sadly, the head badge has lost most of its detail already.

“she is – almost a mirror”

Here are the markings I have found so far, for posterity :

Frame No : E4C00611 on rear of BB shell

Seat tube sticker  : “Hand Built by Elswick Falcon Cycles Ltd.” – conforms to BS6102, blah, blah …

Fork : Akisu 84

Bell : Made in England by C.J. Adie & Nephew Ltd. ( ! )

Quill Stem  : I.T.W.

Hubs : Sturmey Archer, Rear is AW 3-speed dated 84 – 3

Rims : Rigida Superchromix (not any more!) 20 x 1 & 3/8 “

Cranks : marked ” Made in France ” ( no name ).

Pedals : Union U50 white platform.

Grips : White ” Plastiche Cassano”

Kick stand  : Royal – Made in Italy

Levers : Weinmann alloy marked “7 83″

Calipers : Weinmann Type 810 – alloy.

BB races  : “Phillips – Made in England”

Saddle : unbranded moulded white vinyl padded, on rigid metal base.

The saddle is unstitched and has no gashes in the vinyl, so has lasted quite well except for a horrid brown spottiness – looks like it was left under a tree for years !

basic, but it’s lasted

Seat Post – so rusted it’s unreadable !

Tyres : Deli Tyre  Indonesia (off white)   20 x 1 & 3/8 ”  ( as found ). These are actually grey wheelchair tyres, and that may be the only option available now in colours other than black. It seems this size was sometimes used on BMX bikes too, but they are mostly 407 mm now (vs. the 451 size here ).

The head badge has barely readable Elswick Cycles – est. 1880 – Barton on Humber ( I Think ! ).

———- Next !

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