Retro thoughts

[drossall]

Here's the 1983 Mistral I mentioned. Pretty-much original equipment, except the obvious brake blocks, chain etc. Oh, and I had to fit some toe clips and straps that I had in the spares box.

[drossall]

I bought this Dawes new in 1990:



It's gradually acquired slightly newer equipment, latterly 8-speed Campagnolo. I had it resprayed a bit back, and I really should get around to rebuilding it:



The colours are a reverse of my Mercian (9-speed Shimano):

[robc02]

I can't understand that advice from your bike builder. I run old steel bikes with modern gearing. They don't need any welding at all.

+1. Here's my mid - late 1960s Woodrup mainly kitted out with late '90s / early 2000s 9 speed Campag parts. I cold set the rear ends to 130mm and realigned the mech hanger. I did add a few braze-ons but this was because I wanted to and could, rather than because it was necessary. When the frame was built clip-on gear levers, bottle cages and full length brake casings were the norm and are still perfectly OK if that's what you fancy.

DSCN2289 by SturmeyRob, on Flickr

[bigjim]

Love my Woodrup

[willcee]

Nice retro theme,we should ave a bit more of this type of thing, everyone today trying to reinvent the wheel so to speak.. While i have an esoteric collection i always try to keep my feet with some good steel. The latest is a Gazelle 531 Tour De L'Avenir.
.A good friend, car body shop owner & a great painter.. had found it dry stored as a frameset not a bubble or chip or sign of rust in a chalky sort of Ivory, he sold it to me and that was the deal as long as he painted it,he took pics and measured all the decal sites took his time and its turned out absolutely magnificent in its Skoda pearly flam Green..same as some of their hi end sports saloons..he did it justice and this finish would have cost the earth from Mercian or some of the other good refinishers,. i have built it with early dura ace and shimano 600 sti's 8 sp and a blingy gold chain, rides really well, sharp, comfortable as good steel is..strange thing about it is the brakes were set for allen type nuts, yet absolutely no downtube cable stops or bosses.. yet there are other frame brase ons for brake cable stops and rear c/stay stops and it hasn't been got at as we would have seen that in this bare steel refinish..
Gazelle were among the best if not the best of factory 531 frameset builders, a local race team owner would source nothing else , now dead, he said that if i ever came on a good one to get it bought..Wallace its here..will

[Brucey]

Here's the 1983 Mistral I mentioned. Pretty-much original equipment, except the obvious brake blocks, chain etc. Oh, and I had to fit some toe clips and straps that I had in the spares box.

nice. A chum had one like that and it had somewhat wonky BB threads (like a lot of holdsworthy frames of that era).

BTW it looks to me like your weinmann brakes are already well through their travel, presumably because the rims are narrow and the brake blocks are slim. I dunno if you can actually run out of travel this way (e.g. because of the centring pip).

However I have found that the brakes work better if you space the brake blocks away from the brake arms. There are various options for doing this using modern parts. The limit is usefully/practically when new brake blocks just let the tyre through the caliper when the caliper is fully open.

cheers

[drossall]

Thanks for that. I'm actually a bit baffled how you can see that detail, and it's not jumping out at me what you mean by centring pips. Should be blindingly obvious, given that I was building bikes before this one came into existence.

I can see how the position of the levers on the bars might be thought to reduce available travel, but my mind's blank on the rest of what you mean. And how do you space blocks away from brake arms, when one is bolted to the other.

Sorry, it's Friday night...

[richardfm]

Do you remember Dame Edna Everage's "half timbered car"?

No - but I guess he/she was referring to the Traveller?

Yes.

A genuine half timbered Tudor car

[Brucey]

re the weinmann brakes; between the two brake arms you will see a pip that runs in a groove (behind the sausage-shaped decal). This pip or nub keeps the brake centred, but the groove is not of infinite length and may restrict the brake travel eventually.

When the arms are too high (worn/skinny brake blocks, narrow rims etc) the brake looks a bit like this;


and starts to lose MA. Old centre pulls were designed for brake blocks that were about 17mm thickness and with the cable disconnected they would open wide enough to let a ~35mm tyre out. Modern brake blocks are thinner to start with and it is likely that a skinnier rim will be used too; both make the brake likely to be more than half-way through its travel before the brake comes on. BITD I made my own brake blocks with extended studs that were about 5mm longer than normal. These days there are more choices.

Any modern 'road' brake block that takes a screw (rather than a nut) can be fitted with a longer screw and spacers, and thus make the caliper only open to (say) 32mm max and therefore have a slightly better MA when the brake is applied.

Other options include V-brake blocks and the brake blocks from BR-CX70 brakes, amongst others.

cheers

[drossall]

Interesting, thank you. I'm amazed you could see that from a small image.

I'll take a look. The rims are original, but you're right, the blocks are not the original design - they are those Shimano ones that are a solid block with no shoe. Quite large though compared to the latest designs.

[millimole]

( If Tapatalk is behaving) These are my Hetchins and Dawes mentioned upthread

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly using hovercraft full of eels.

[cycle tramp]

This has to be one of my most favourite threads ever... there's some wonderful cycles here

[millimole]

re the weinmann brakes;

How on earth did you get them to that degree of shine, and how do you keep them that way?
Mine - admitedly older GB brakes - are constantly dull, and I'm wary of using anything too aggressive on the ancient alloy.

[Brucey]

mea culpa, those universals are not my brakes....

However many older brakes have arms which are not anodised and will therefore benefit from a good polish using a suitable method. I would expect those universals to have been buffed on a wheel but if they are not too bad to start with then something as simple as a piece of rag and some solvol autosol can work wonders. Weinmann brake arms usually polish up beautifully.

cheers