I've written a bit in a couple other threads about this 1949 Rotrax I came into owning and I figured I need to do a little recording of the process of bringing it back to life.
This actually started with a pre-WWII Wastyn track frame posted in the "are you looking for..." Craigslist/FB Marketplace thread. I missed out on that one and then started harmlessly looking at old path racers and track frames on the web. Up pops this link to an ebay UK ad with a dirty, nasty, stove black Rotrax track frameset, with a headset. I checked it out and began a discussion with the seller. He offered me a lower price, and I made the mistake of looking at his other items. There was also a 24" touring frameset identified as an A.S. Gillott, built by Ron Cooper himself. Anyway, the seller "made me an offer I couldn't refuse" and then TWO British lightweights were on the way.
When I received the frames, the Rotrax was ugly, having been brush painted in possibly black tempera paint. Here's a couple photos as it was advertised, hanging on the old owner's fence:
So, I pulled the fork and there was a nice rich blue on the steerer tube with matching number to the frame. According to Tim at Rotrax, this was produced in the first couple months of 1949 and is a Shirley track frame.
I took a sponge with a bit of rubbing alcohol and wiped off the black paint from the bottom bracket, and it came off with only a couple wipes of the sponge, revealing the same blue, so I set to carefully removing the rest of the black paint.
Here's the frame about an hour after I received it and began the removal of the brushed paint.
The build of this bike is intertwined with the build of the Gillott, as well as a bit of parts swapping with my R.O. Harrison. I say parts swapping, because I initially built the Harrison with a Stronglight Competition 55 crankset, Stronglight bottom bracket cups, and an unnamed French spindle, which was just too long for single chainring duty. I got a Williams C1200 and swapped the French spindle with a nice hollow one I have from my old Rudge Clubman (which has since moved on). So I have gone back and forth about which bike will receive the Stronglight crankset and which will receive another Williams, and decided the Rotrax will get the Stronglight, and the Gillott will get a Williams with a Chater Lea ring, but that is for a different thread.
The headset that came with the Rotrax doesn't look like anything special, but it is in fantastic condition, aside from the black paint, so it will stay. Bottom bracket will be the Stronglight cups from the Harrison, and a yet-to-be-found Stronglight spindle.
As this bike will be actually ridden, I am not shoeing it with 27 x 1 1/4 tyres, instead choosing to use a set of 700c Mavic MA2s laced to some high flange British hubs. I have a set of Racelites, but they are a bit later than 1949, so I think I'm on the lookout for yet another set of Airlites, or Bayliss Wileys, though if I find the right set of built wheels, I will definitely entertain the possibility of rolling on tubulars. I should, but the roads and even MUPs here in and around Philly can have way too many flat hazards, I swear kids shatter bottles on the Schuylkill path just to purposely flatten tires. Saddle is probably going to be this BIM 39 that I just got, unless a Swallow finds its way into my garage.
I'm not sure about the stem and bars yet, but I do have my old shorter Titan stem and a couple sets of GB Maes bars, though a criterium bar would be more appropriate. Again, since this bike will be ridden, it's gonna have a front brake, probably GB Hiduminium caliper pulled on by this old French lever which currently resides on the Harrison.
Night before last I filled a dent in the top tube where a handlebar had impacted. I actually popped out a little chunk of bondo or epoxy, as the same procedure was done years ago; this time I used JB Weld. Smoothed and leveled it today before painting.
The frame and fork just got a respray with a matched blue as there was way too much original paint sanded off of the head tube lugs and a few other places when I received it. Photos of the first coat coming soon.
Phil