est 20's-30's Legnano bicycle??

[Noddy347]

Hi all,

I have my grandfathers Legnano bicycle, serial no. DD2163. I have spent a few hrs on the net trying to source some info on this bike without any luck. I have guessed that the bike is 20's or 30's by the non cable brake system. I may be wrong, as I said it's a guess. It has had a paint job of sorts some time in its life.

I'm also guessing that it has very little monetary value, it has some sentimental value.
Is something like this worth restoring? Or will it be a money pit?

If anybody can supply some links to images or litriture of what this looked like originally it may spur me onto a resto project. There are some parts missing so information on this bike is what I need.

Here are some pics, please let me know your thoughts. If its nothing more than a junker please say so. Sorry about the pic quality.

Thank you in advance for any help.

[randyjawa]

Welcome to the Bike Forums and your grandfather's old bike is truly cool! I hope you clean that old girl up and take her out, now and again. All I did to this old Raleigh was clean, polish and tune...



Spend some time cleaning, polishing and tuning the bicycle. You might be very surprised at how nice it will look, once cleaned up. Resist the urge to restore, for now.

Also, since you are new to the interest of vintage bicycles, perhaps a bit of time spent looking around MY "TEN SPEEDS" will help you get started in your interest.

[wrk101]

A very worthy project. Bike is old, but it does look quite a bit newer than your date guess. Rod brakes continued to be used for quite a while. I have a 1961 Gazelle with rod brakes. Would love to see a close up of that front brake lever. I have not seen that design before.

[Noddy347]

A very worthy project. Bike is old, but it does look quite a bit newer than your date guess. Rod brakes continued to be used for quite a while. I have a 1961 Gazelle with rod brakes. Would love to see a close up of that front brake lever. I have not seen that design before.

Thanks for the quick replies. There you go, I thought cable brakes would have replaced the rod setups many years ago. So correctly dating the year of these bikes is difficult?

I will get a better photo of the levers tomorrow.

[wrk101]

If your bike has a Sturmey Archer rear hub, most date them from the SA code.

Here's a pic of my 1961 Gazelle, as found. Looks like it is 100 years old.




bill

[blilrat]

Here's a pic of my 1961 Gazelle, as found. Looks like it is 100 years old.

Not the threadjack, but wow, the head tube and seat tube angles on the Gazelle are wild. It looks like the bike is falling backward.

[Noddy347]

Couple more brake system pics. Hope thats what you wanted.

[due ruote]

[edit] Mods, this doesn't really seem like a valuation thread and deserves to be in C&V imho.

That is super cool. Is that a cover tied over the actual saddle?