Or just your display of parts. I know some how you have groups in display cases with glass coverings. I am thinking of making one myself to mount up an XT 735 group with cooks cranks and syncros controls. A little lame, but the frame I collected them for might end up being an SS beater, for a while and I am not sure I want to go through with the full restore, but collecting the parts has been challenging and I really like them so it would be nice to put them in a display for my bike room.

Looking for ideas.

Thanks

Hi, a mate's Dad used to have these really nice shelves set up on one wall of his work shop with the complete groups he had displayed with the cranks in the middle smaler parts around the outside in sort of a circle, similar to some shops . . . it was like a wall in some sort of forgotten bike shop, really neat to just stand and look at stuff.

Watching him assemble a bike when the last piece arrived in the post meant a 100 yard dash to keep up with him then this flurry of parts tools etc BOOM bike.
He had everything at his finger tips all together. If I had more room . . . . .

Here is my collection of vintage saddles 1930's - 1950's.

Mainly Brooks but also some vintage French saddles.

Great collection, Realsteel.
I have managed to collect a few of the old barrister book cases through the years. A couple in old oak. And some in mahogany.
As you can see, I collect a lot of different do-dads.

Very nice indeed, rootboy. What are the objects just below the planes: penknives? I see that you have some unused Nuovo Record parts: any plans for them?

Here is my collection of vintage hubs:


Mostly Airlites and Hardens but also some more unusual ones like Chater Lea, BSA, Blumfield (lower right with green track nuts) and a pair of Bayless-Wiley freehubs which were far ahead of their time. The best of these will be restored and built into wheels, with the others cannibalised for parts.

Like to see some more from my collection?

Yes, realsteel. A small Case pocket knife collection. No plans really for the NOS parts. Just like having them but if I found the right frame, who knows? Yes indeed. I for one would love to see more of your collection. Very nice hub collection you have there.

Here is a set of derailleurs arranged approximately with age.
To the right are Cyclo Benelux coil-spring type derailleurs. They went through several design changes from the 50's - 60's and were based on earlier French efforts. In the middle is the nicely-named Resilion Crimson Star which was both inexpensive and worked quite well, next to which is a Cyclo rod-type front derailleur. To the left is a mid-1950's Campagnolo Gran Sport, an early 1970's Nuovo Record (soon to be on a bike) and a second-generation Campagnolo Rally. At the extreme left is a second generation C-record and a 1980's Chorus.

True fans of Case need to go to Bradford PA and visit the Zippo/Case Museum. We tripped over this a few years ago during a camping trip across the top of PA along Route 6. Short detour north to the town and well worth the stop.

Finally here are some cranks:


They include French Durax and Stronglight cranks with Simplex chainrings. Simplex made both steel and alloy chainrings: the box on the left contains the alloy variety, they are of excellent quality. BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) made some highly regarded cranksets both pre- and post-war. In the middle of the upper shelf are later BSA double chainrings, also both steel and alloy, but not as high quality as Simplex. At the back are the famous Chater-Lea chainrings (I have several Chater-Lea cranks stored away in boxes). These were made in both 1/8" and 3/32" types.

On the bottom shelf are 1980's Campagnolo Chorus and Athena (I think) cranks, as well as a 1971 Campagnolo Sport. I think this was the last steel crankset that Campagnolo made and, in my opinion, the most elegant. This will be used on a 1973 Holdsworth Professional which I'm putting together.

The last set of cranks on the lower right is the most interesting. They are a set of unused 1950's Lytaloy aluminium cranks, manufactured for bike maker Hobbs of Barbican. They are rare in any condition, let alone unused. There were a few manufacturers of alloy cranks in the early 50's: Allez! (by Holdsworth, an example of which is in the upper left shelf), Granby and Lytaloy. They had a tendency to break and were not a great success, in fact I think Granby recalled their alloy cranks.

That's it! I have a few more shelves with brakes, pedals and miscellany but they're not so interesting.

Ummm ... I like to put them on bikes. Actually, nice parts are a perfect excuse for the acquisition of a nice frame to go with them.

Wow! Realsteel, your collection is amazing. Rootboy, those cabinets are amazing.

I was hoping to get some ideas for something more like a narrow box on a wall with one group in it. Like how companies photograph their groups.



anyone have anything like that?

[MENTION=304131]realsteel[/MENTION]: Yowza!

Thanks cyclotoine and gaucho777!

The pedal display is also quite interesting, so here are some pedals which span about 50 years:



Top right are my favourite pedals: Webbs. These were made from the 1930's to the 1950's. They are very robust with 5/16" bearings and cast Mazak metal (a.k.a. pot metal) barrels. The cages are also quite gracefully curved with a large 'W' cut-out. Some of these examples were beautifully restored by Peter Brown.

Top left are NOS Boa pedals from the Constrictor company. These were made by BSA and were the most expensive pedal you could buy in 1954 at 27 shillings and 6.

On the bottom shelf at the right are a pair of un-restored Chater-Lea tommy-bar pedals, so-called because you would tighten them up with a bar inserted into a hole in the axle. Next to these are Holdsworth Allez! pedals also restored by Peter Brown: the cages are new and were laser cut from sheet alloy. In the middle are the most collectible of all pedals from the 'golden era' of British cycling: Lytaloy pedals made for Hobbs of Barbican. Exceptionally well made and as good as any modern equivalent. They have a HoB cut into the cages. These are not perfect: the ones at the back have had their tabs cut off.

To the left of these are 50's - 60's Sheffield Sprint 673 Pedals. These are direct descendants of the Nolicattaneo pedals (Nolicattaneo pedals) which were supposedly used by Fausto Coppi. I think they are both attractive and very well made. I don't know why the Italians called them 'Sheffield', perhaps it was the exoticism of the north of England.

To the left of these are Nuovo Records which will soon adorn a '73 Holdsworth Pro., and finally there are some late 1980's Croce d'Aune pedals.

... here are the above Webb pedals with Dougherty toe-clips on a 1947 Hobbs of Barbican Supercourse in Tuscany, Italy:

Well now. Fantastic stuff realsteel and rootboy. The Webb pedals are lovely.

Cyclotine - one option to get you where you would like to go would be to find or make an appropriately large shadow box or display case and create shelves (wood, maybe plexi) to mount within the case to rest the pieces on. Lots of options there. Assuming the Cook Bros. cranks are three piece, that will help keep depth to a reasonable dimension. Create your layout on a table for rough sizing first. Just an idea, so no pics. Sounds like a fun project.

Here's mine: