Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.Ed Holland
06-24-04, 04:35 AM
Well, finally I have a legitimate excuse to post in the classic and vintage section. I was talking to our neighbour in LA a couple of weeks ago and he mentioned that he had an old racing bike after we got talking about cycling. He ventured that it probably needed some attention and I offered to take a look - thought it would make a good holiday project.
Not sure what we were going to find as we wrestled to extract the old bike from a dimly lit garage, at first it appeared to be a rather dusty unspectacular early 70's 10 speed with flaky tires. The frame was made in Italy by "Cycles Lygie", chrome finished, but had seen better days. Then I began to notice things, a faded Reynolds 531 badge, A faded Campagnolo badge, Campy hubs, Nuovo Record derailleurs. In fact it has full NR equipment, except for Weinman centre-pull caliper brakes and appears to be in original condition. I am not able to post any pictures at the moment, but this is one lovely bike, despite the surface rust on the frame.
A little research showed that these bikes were imported into the USA by I Martin Imports in LA - A store I happened to frequent already when I'm over there. I talked to them about it and they have the Campy tools for some of the jobs (freewheel, bb etc.) that I would not be able to tackle with my kit.
So far I had time only to replace the old cables, tyres and give her a quick clean and lube to ease the stiff chain back to life. A more extensive strip-down will follow when I next have time, followed by a ride.
There may be a chance that I can "adopt" the bike in the future, but I don't want to build up too many hopes. In that case I would be sorely tempted to do a complete restoration, have the frame re-plated and restore the finish on the parts. This does beg the question about how far one should take a restoration...
Cheers,
Ed
Not sure what we were going to find as we wrestled to extract the old bike from a dimly lit garage, at first it appeared to be a rather dusty unspectacular early 70's 10 speed with flaky tires. The frame was made in Italy by "Cycles Lygie", chrome finished, but had seen better days. Then I began to notice things, a faded Reynolds 531 badge, A faded Campagnolo badge, Campy hubs, Nuovo Record derailleurs. In fact it has full NR equipment, except for Weinman centre-pull caliper brakes and appears to be in original condition. I am not able to post any pictures at the moment, but this is one lovely bike, despite the surface rust on the frame.
A little research showed that these bikes were imported into the USA by I Martin Imports in LA - A store I happened to frequent already when I'm over there. I talked to them about it and they have the Campy tools for some of the jobs (freewheel, bb etc.) that I would not be able to tackle with my kit.
So far I had time only to replace the old cables, tyres and give her a quick clean and lube to ease the stiff chain back to life. A more extensive strip-down will follow when I next have time, followed by a ride.
There may be a chance that I can "adopt" the bike in the future, but I don't want to build up too many hopes. In that case I would be sorely tempted to do a complete restoration, have the frame re-plated and restore the finish on the parts. This does beg the question about how far one should take a restoration...
Cheers,
Ed