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New Kid on the block

Old 02-22-08, 01:00 AM
  #1  
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Location: The beautiful Southern Highlands of N.S.W. Australia
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Bikes: Carbine [5 of them, 1936 to '49] SJH track bikes [2 of them late 50's & early 60's] Morgan Custom tourer [1985] Olympic Road racer [c 1951] Malvern Star 5 Star, [1939 & '51] Unknown [c1910 to c1920] plus about 12 others.

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New Kid on the block

Greetings to all from Australia. I'm just cruising the threads & finding that I like what I see.

I might be new to this forum, but I'm not new to forums generally, so hopefully I won't make too many faux pas with images, protocol etc.

I'm currently retired, over 55, & have been involved in Street Rods & hot cars since I was 14, ... still am. I also have had bicycles for many years & now have a chance to do something with them.

I'm one of those Ludites that firmly believes that the industry discontinued bicycle manufacture when they started building MTB's & BMX instead, that aluminium is for cycle components & coke cans but not frames [except Caminargents & ALAN's], that carbon is just a passing fad, & that Brooks makes saddles, ... but I'm not sure what you call those other things people sit on, not that I'm biased or one-eyed you understand.

My particular interest revolves around the Classic Lightweights from about 1937 up untill the early 60's, but I have an earlier bike or two as well as some late model examples, i.e. 1972 & '85.

For those still awake, hopefully I will get to meet some of you online soon.

Regards
Chris
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Old 02-22-08, 08:28 AM
  #2  
Lanky Lass
 
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Location: Take a deep breath, and ask--What would Sheldon do?
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Bikes: Nishiki Nut! International, Pro, Olympic 12, Sport mixte, and others too numerous to mention.

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Hello Chris, there are quite a few Australians who visit the Classic & Vintage forum, so come on over and bring photos with you, we'd love to see them!

One of our members has his Stella as the start page for the new Brooks website--check it out!

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/390195-how-did-my-bike-become-brooks-site-front-page.html

Welcome to BF!

East Hill

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Old 02-22-08, 11:00 AM
  #3  
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Location: L.B.N.J.U.S.A.
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Bikes: Raleigh, Rudge, James 3spds., and a cast of many

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Welcome to BF! Sounds like you've got a real love affair with wheels and machinery.
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Old 02-25-08, 04:17 AM
  #4  
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Location: The beautiful Southern Highlands of N.S.W. Australia
Posts: 13

Bikes: Carbine [5 of them, 1936 to '49] SJH track bikes [2 of them late 50's & early 60's] Morgan Custom tourer [1985] Olympic Road racer [c 1951] Malvern Star 5 Star, [1939 & '51] Unknown [c1910 to c1920] plus about 12 others.

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Thank you for your welcome.
The Kid part of the name is really a joke since I haven't been a 'kid' for quite a while, but what the hell, it starts with the same phonetic sound as Carbine.

Now Carbine was a horse, a very famous horse as it turns out & he was the winner of the 1890 Melbourne Cup, the race that stops a nation. It's the longest continuously run horserace in the world. [Since about 1863]

Back then, bicycles were really starting to come into their own & of course, to capitalise on a famous name was simply a business decision, so in 1895, Carbine cycles came into being.

In all it's history, from then until its demise in the very early 60's it had 3 owners, but was never really more than one bicycle depot, later called a bike store or bike shop & in the 30's there were either one or two outside dealers.

Sometime between the late 20's & 1932 the business was taken over by an employee, ... Fred Walcott. It was he who created the stamped medallion that was brazed to the head tube & propelled the name to prominence within the greater metro area as well as making the name well known throughout the state up to the war years which for us had been going on for over two years when Pearl Harbour was hit.

This little bike shop had frame building & painting workshops upstairs & sales were conducted in the showroom downstairs. They could not afford to hire big name riders, but instead offered some sponsorship to up-&-coming riders who managed to keep the name 'Carbine' in the winners circle often enough for everybody to be well aware of the name.

In fact, for such a small operation, the winners were disproportionate to the number of cycles that they made.

I have 5 of these, although only one is ridable, another is close to being ridable, one is ready for paint & assembly & the other two frames await their turn.

The pride of the group is the "built to customers order" 1937 Pacemaker.
For us, Reynolds 531 Double Butted tubing did not become available in any quantity until 1937 & for Carbine, & new frame was listed as being built from it, but it was not produced as a ready made frame or bike, but instead, the frames or bikes were built to order & built to measure.
My example was built new in August 1937 & ridden in both the 1937 & '38 'Goulburn to Sydney' classics [still run, & it predates the TdF] This is actually two races at the same time as the Professionals & Amateurs both raced on the same day. The starts were separated by an hour or more & they took turn about, year to year, to start first.

1937 was the banner year for Carbine with 6 bikes in the winners circle that year taking the first three places in the professional event & first place plus the two fastest times in the amateur event, & result with no precedent, & never duplicated.

My example was in the Pro group, but not one of the 'six', although the original owner, who I found & interviewed, claims he could see the winning bunch lust ahead.
Completely rebuilt in 1963 it came to me as little more than a frameset with stem & bars [original] & one BSA crank [not known if it was original but currently thought not to be]

I have currently tracked down the correct 'REX' wood rims [after about 12 years] & almost all of the correct original components where known, & a few bits that are 'probably' right.
I still need a couple of bits for the Super Champion Osgear three speed dérailleur system before I can put it all together.
I could use a rear Airlight low flange hub with a freewheel thread too as the ones I have are for fixed gear.

This LINK to an overlong thread will give an insight to another recent acquisition, an SJH.

Last edited by Kid_Carbine; 02-25-08 at 04:22 AM. Reason: Spelling, grammar & syntax corrections.
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Old 02-25-08, 08:22 AM
  #5  
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Hi Chris, Welcome to Bike Forums!

Wow. It seems like you really know your stuff!! I bet you can be a wealth of information to us over in Classic and Vintage. I think the people there would just love to learn from you! Thanks for joining. It's nice to have people like you aboard!
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Old 02-25-08, 11:01 AM
  #6  
Lanky Lass
 
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Aye, we definitely need you in C & V .

What a great nugget of information!

East Hill
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