How Bicycles are made (in 1945)

[Tmuir]

It never ceases to amaze me what you can stumble across whilst looking up something else on the web.

I was looking for help on replacing the failed hydraulic disc breaks on my 15 year old mountain bike, but instead discovered a gem of a video on how bicycles were made in Britain back in 1945.

Enjoy the video if you have nothing better to do for the next 17 minutes and 22 seconds.

 

Edited August 5, 2020 by Tmuir
fixed link

[nad]

They built them to a different standard to modern day bicycles. My brother in law still nips down to town on his pre ww2 Raleigh, leaves it out side the bookies unlocked as he's always done. Weighs a ton with rod operated brakes so doubtful if anyone would "borrow" it. Looks a little tired now but rides lovely for its age.

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[Tmuir]

I cant afford another BSA motorcycle to restore, but want another project so I'm on the lookout for a BSA bicycle now, preferably 1940s to early 1950s and in particular I want one fitted with a 3 speed hub, but they are not that common where I live.

[nad]

With lockdown there's been a mad rush for bicycles over in the UK so you can't find a decent bike at sensibly price at them moment. (Good news if your selling of course [emoji3]). Give it 6 months and things may be different.

Picture of my hack attached, one of the last of the Nottingham built Raleigh's from the mid 90's on our usual post work stress buster.





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[yankeedog]

I have always had fun with bicycles. I Appreciate  the geometry  of the English roadster. I think it is probably  the best  design for a bike ridden  every day. 26×1 3/8 Tires  with thorn resistant tubes  are also a good  choice. They won't  go flat  easily  like the skinny high pressure  things ,and they aren't  a bear the peddle like mad and go nowhere  like the tires on a mountain  bike. For those of us who refuse to wear  spandex. The roadster is just the thing.

[KarlvonKoln]

Bicycles are another fixation of mine.  I like to work on them almost as much as I do watches.  I tend to make my tools and skills available to the neighborhood kids who nedd work done on their bikes.  

I also always wanted an early motorbike, like from the 'teens to early twenties. Being tremendously expensive though, I had to find another way.  So I built one.  This here is "Tempus" (because time flies).  It has the frame of a 1948 JC Higgins balloon-tire cruiser, to which I bolted a 50 cc two-stroke engine.  I fabricated the tank, the headlamp (which is actually electric) the clutch lever, and a number of other little parts.  It has a leather saddle and a little leather-covered trunk.  It's not very fast, maybe 30 mph tops, but for in-town it does very well.  And it's almost theft proof, in that nobody has anything vaguely like it for miles around.

[JBerry]

I love steel bikes too. Here is one of my recent acquisitions. A Concorde Colombo in team PDM colours, just like Sean Kelly used to cycle

[AndyHull]

If bikes of all kinds are your thing, and you find yourself in Glasgow then I highly recommend the Riverside Museum (actually even if bikes are not your thing).

 

 

Click the links for a little more of a flavour of the place.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186534-d214166-Reviews-The_Riverside_Museum_of_Transport_and_Travel-Glasgow_Scotland.html#photos;aggregationId=101&albumid=101&filter=7&ff=390872885

You can easily spend a day in the place.

The Riverside is second (in my opinion) only to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh as must see museums round here.

The NMS also has some interesting cycling exhibits.

https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/science-and-technology/bicycles-at-national-museums-scotland/

 

Edited August 12, 2020 by AndyHull

[ro63rto]

Bicycles are another fixation of mine.  I like to work on them almost as much as I do watches.  I tend to make my tools and skills available to the neighborhood kids who nedd work done on their bikes.  
I also always wanted an early motorbike, like from the 'teens to early twenties. Being tremendously expensive though, I had to find another way.  So I built one.  This here is "Tempus" (because time flies).  It has the frame of a 1948 JC Higgins balloon-tire cruiser, to which I bolted a 50 cc two-stroke engine.  I fabricated the tank, the headlamp (which is actually electric) the clutch lever, and a number of other little parts.  It has a leather saddle and a little leather-covered trunk.  It's not very fast, maybe 30 mph tops, but for in-town it does very well.  And it's almost theft proof, in that nobody has anything vaguely like it for miles around.

Looks very similar to Peewee Herman's bicycle [emoji106]

[ro63rto]

I was lucky and bought mine in February. Not used it much yet. Got it marked for free by the police in conjunction with Bike Register for what good it'll do.
Cheap & Cheerful
Btwin Rockrider ST520