1951/2 RUDGE PATHFINDER - DROP HANDLEBARS

[DeepdalePete]

The only non original part on my Rudge are the handlebars. They currently have a period set of straight bars. Does anyone know the correct drop handlebars bars that this would have come with when new? I've tried the internet but can't find any precise information on them. I've got a feeling they were GB maes but can't confirm it. Any image(s) would also be appreciated.

When new it was gold with red piping. They didn't make very many of these as the gold was unpopular at the time so they changed the colour. Unfortunately the previous owner who bought the bike new in 1952 masked off all the detailed scrolling on the frame and the 531 decal, rubbed it down and then sprayed red oxide and finally re-sprayed it dark silver. He did this about 10 years ago. It's still a lovely bike to ride and I'm out on it three or four time a week. I love it!

[531colin]

I'm pretty sure they aren't GB Maes.....or at least not the incarnation of GB Maes I remember secondhand in the sixties.
The stem has no forward extension, all the reach comes from the forward bit of the bars. A bit of Googling turned up these.....
http://janheine.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/handlebars-old-and-new/...talking about "Maes parallel"....
http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/834067-vintage-drop-handlebars-comfort-2.html...talking about VO copy bars.
Neither is as long reach as the ones in your photo, which may be a case of Rudge being a bit traditional and still using bars in '52 from a previous decade

[Audax67]

A bit of Googling turned up these.....
http://janheine.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/handlebars-old-and-new/

OT: The second bike there is called a Diagonale after the French practice of riding from one point of the hexagon formed by Dunkirk, Strasbourg, Menton, Perpignan, Hendaye and Brest to an opposite one. Nifty to see the idea had already caught on in the early 50s: it was invented in 1930 but WW2 intervened. I'm off on Strasbourg-Brest in 2 weeks.

[Brucey]

from classic lightweights. The rudge ones are a bit like the triumph bend?

cheers