Hello, gang!
When MiamiJim put up this frame & fork for sale I knew it was something I had to attempt. My wife has found the regular 49cm mixtes we've had too small, and so I found her a Shogun 400 in the 54cm/21" size. But she wanted me to change it to an upright/comfort mode, and before I got around to doing so, the Jackson appeared, and it's much more interesting, besides being her size. Not necessarily objectively *better* either, but more interesting. And I've not worked on an English bike other that our Raleigh Sports, nor done a ground-up build either. So...this is what my wife gets...I hope she likes it!
Pics:
As you can see it's in slightly rough condition (and MJ's price reflected that). The superficial rust spots will yield to a bit of lubricated 0000 steel wool, I think, then touch up paint, but the area behind the seat cluster is pretty ugly. I have not done OA on it for fear of messing up the decals and paint...which actually looks okay, once rubbed out.
I am going to go beyond my usual nail polish and try to find an automotive touch up color that will match. At this point though, it's much more important to get my wife riding the bike than having it perfect.
The bike looks to be from the 70s, though I think it was a model that did not change much. It's shown in the early 80s Jackson catalog at the bulgier.net site as the 'Lady Mixte,' and original equipment included (at that time anyway) Stronglight crankset, Huret derailleurs, Maillard hubs with 27" Wolber Champion 58 rims, Weinmann centerpulls, a GB stem with 'all rounder' bars. Jim sent it to me with what might have been the original crankset though sadly worn, and the original stem and bars. The crankset I traded to Bibliobob for several other useful things including a Sugino setup with 44/34 rings and some clean Wienmanns. The bars were bent, but the GB stem polished up nicely and I expect a VO 'Tourist' bar later this week. I have a Suntour Cyclone RD from Stien, and a FD coming, and will either use Suntour thumb shifters or stem shifters...we don't shift that much around here. I had a 27" Maillard/Wolber 58 I'd just gotten on another bike and easily found a matching front, and with Pasela Tourguards that is all this bike is likely to need.
Chicago's favorite basement mechanic did a slight adjustment to the frame and installed a new BB and headset for me after some chasing of the BB threads. MJ had removed the previous BB which was apparently kind of a kludge job. This particular mechanic's favorite bikes are English, so he liked the frame quite a lot.
I have a white Ladies' Turbo saddle to try but I think it is going to be too racey for my wife so am hoping to find one of those red B67s that were being sold so cheap last year, or perhaps just a honey version of that or the VO equivalent. It would be nice to use red and white in keeping with the Jackson badge...I plan on red cable housings.
While this is WAY beyond what I intend to do, this bike is kind of an inspiration:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodsto...7622628861551/
There was a Jackson Sport/Touring bike from 1974, being sold by the original owner, on eBay last week. It had the same little pinstripe motif on the seatstay cap, so might be contemporary to this bike. It was spectacular, Moltemi orange, and I was kind of tempted...but not at the $800 the seller apparently wanted.
Sorry for the prolix post, but I think you all will understand...any thoughts and suggestions are welcome!