SOLD - Chrome Legnano Track bike

Chrome Legnano track bike
 55cm center to center seattube
55 center to center toptube.
Chrome is in good shape, with some areas of rust- around the seat binder and such.
I believe it is mid 1960s.
The headbadge is held on by improper screws, see photos.
Campagnolo pista 165mm track crankset, bottom bracket and pedals.
Campagnolo headset and seatpost
Unicanitor saddle, with rainbow decal underneath.
Cinelli steel track stem(rusty)
Cinelli chrome steel track handlebars. in excellent condition. #19 model- Track.
Campagnolo track hubs. Mavic tubular rims. Modern green tires.

SOLD

Puncture on the path

It happens. Even to the fanciest bikes.

(fun tip- whenever fixing a puncture, it is good to find a place to prop your bike up so the chain and derailleur are not placed on the ground. Notice the way I positioned my pedal on the fence to keep the back end of the bike up. It just makes working on it easier and it keeps grit and dirt out of your drivetrain!)

Elite light for British bikes

 After posting photos of the lamp brackets for the Raleigh, I thought it might be inclusive to then also post pictures of the light that would fit on it. It slides onto the bracket. It is battery powered, not that bright. This is new old stock. $45

Raleigh Lamp Bracket stampings

I quickly grabbed out a lamp bracket drawer we have at the shop and saw quite an array of stamping differences on the headset lamp brackets for Raleigh. The heron is sometimes more defined, other times less, and the font size also changed. Of course, tooling stamping these brackets over the decades of productions wore out and were replaced, it would be an interesting study to try and define and date the differences. That would be in the world of banal minutiae, well at least to most. 

Saddle supports

Stayer, or motor-pace, bicycles have some specific parts from the custom geometry to allow a smaller front wheel and reverse rake fork to the large front chainring to provide the gearing to race closely behind a motorcycle. Another addition is the saddle support. Affixed to the top tube and then to the nose of the saddle, it offered support to ensure the saddle did not shift an any direction, especially then the bicycle encountered some steep banks at some velodromes.

Below is a beautiful unrestored early 1930s Malvern Star Stayer bike from my friend's blog. We sold it a couple years ago.  I highly recommend following it if you like old track bikes, and stayers. -
http://vintagetrackbikes-corbettclassics.blogspot.com/

from http://vintagetrackbikes-corbettclassics.blogspot.com/

Here are for different saddle supports. The two bottom examples are manufactured by Cyclo(UK) from the 1940s-1950s. I am unaware who made the other two. They are not for sale.

Raleigh's Monopoly on 'English Racers'

I recently found this illustration a publication Raleigh put out in the 1950s. It illustrates how Raleigh Industries owned most of the manufacturers of British built bikes that were imported in the United States, and as much as one might have thought it was cool to have a Rudge or Triumph rather than a Raleigh, they were all owned by Raleigh Industries.

Rudge was acquired during wartime in 1943. Robin Hood was in 1906, Humber was 1932 and Triumph was 1954, and after this publication, they also bought Hercules, Carlton, and a couple more names. (ED. BSA and Sunbeam were also acquired in the late 1950s). It was forward thinking of Raleigh to acquire the manufacturer of one of their main parts, the internal geared hub, early on. Sturmey Archer became part of Raleigh Cycle Co. in 1903, a partnership that proved a perfect match, as the internal 3 speed is forever linked to British bikes that Americans dubbed- English Racers, compared to the cumbersome Schwinn balloon tire bikes.

Lightweight bikes seen at Trexlertown swap meet

There were some cool lightweights at the Trexlertown swap meet this spring swap meet. There seemed to be more interesting bikes, than interesting parts. I wonder if the current trend of only bringing bicycles to swap meets rather than parts is prompted by sellers reluctant to sell the complete bikes on Ebay because of the hassle of buyers and then of shipping a complete bike. I hope sellers bring some parts back.

Early 1970s Mondia Special with full Campagnolo Nuovo Record.

Rare unrestored early 1960s Gitane. A mix of Campagnolo gear,  and Mafac brakes, and Stronglight 49d cranks. I just noticed it on ebay HERE

San Rensho track bike.

Rare late 1980s Colnago Carbitubo, twin downtubes like the Colnago Bi-titan. Developed with Ferarri Engineering, produced by Alan, this frameset has a history of failure.

Repair on a Trek roadbike that had the wheels changed from 27"(630mmERD) to 700c(622mmERD). This "dropbolt" design doesn;t look that bad, compared to some repairs I have seen. and it somehow didn't destroy the paint in the area, too bad.

Gold Alan aluminum frameset with gold Galli cranks.

Junior Hill Cycle Shop track bike we bought. Shortened and tapped Stronglight 49d cranks. 24" tubular wheels.