my Pathracer
 

A few weeks ago I posted some pics of an old BSA I had bought.

I have rejuvenated it in a period but inaccurate way to resemble a pathracer. It has "lazy" frame geometry rather than racing. It has a brand new Brooks B66 (luxury), new handle bars (inverted North Roads), new rat-trap pedals (no block rubber ones available in NZ), and a set of good-condition secondhand 28 inch wheels. The rear hub is an ancient BSA coaster brake. Unfortunately when I stripped the hub at midnight last night I discovered a large crack in the component that rotates backwards to expand the brake band inside the drum. No spares at my local Shimano dealer...
The brakes are fairly ineffective. They probably halve the stopping distance that you would expect if you coasted to a stop. Maybe that is the origin of the term "Coaster Brake"... muse on that a while.

It is a revelation to ride a long-wheelbase steelframed bike with a sprung seat. It is what I grew up with until I was 24 and could afford my first mountain bike. It is supremely soft-riding and the flex in the front forks can be seen.

My only problem is I am 6'3" and the reach to the handlebars is too short. The forward offset of the stem is about 2 inches and needs to be more. The handlebars need hacksawing off by a hand's breadth and the seat needs to go back an inch. I will try this shortly.

Soon I am having the 3 speed Sachs Torpedo hub re-spoked to the 28" rim which is off at the sandblaster's. this will give me ratios and, hopefully, brakes! Also need a couple of vintage Sachs shifter parts and a new Sachs rectangle-lugged sprocket from the very helpful Heinz in Germany who has these NOS, for a price.

I am loving it.

Just need a name for the beast.... any ideas?

I can't upload the other photos - been trying for 90 minutes. Will try again later.

here are the pics

Very nice.:thumb: I like the creme Delta Cruisers.

To get a bit longer reach for the North Road bars you may want to look out for a Major Taylor stem. I don't have a spare one as I sold it to an American who was over here for our vintage cycle tour.

It should roll nicely. once you get it up to speed it will just want to keep going. The problem with most of the coaster brakes nowdays is that they are just worn. Unless you get a NOS one, they could be up to eighty years old (for an old Eaddie).

Sorry I can't help with any names as I am not particularly inventive in that regard.

I would love to get a Major Taylor stem for my path bike...

That BSA looks marvellous.

They are interesting bikes to ride at speed as the slack angles make for a very nice ride and the fork rake makes for some very subtle handling... they do not turn quickly at all.

what it looked like a week ago, also the dismantled/cleaned/reassembled Sachs hub I will get spoked up

Since this thread will go into the archives, where it will doubtless live for ever and be periodically resurrected by C&V newbies, I'll just mention that a "path racer" is the exact same thing as a (pure) track bike. The OP's bike appears to have rear-facing dropouts, which makes it a nice example of a "road/path" bike (which is what many people appear to mean when they use the term "path racer.")

^
And to add to Picchio; the bike shown above is a conversion from a roadster - that is, an upright-riding frameset with slack angles, such as a Raleigh DL-1.

-Kurt

I've been thinking about a set of those creme Deltas.

I'm going to keep saying it (sorry) - it's not a "path racer." A "path racer" is a "pure" track bike. Saynig "path racer" is the same thing as saying "track racer." It might qualify as a "road/path" - which would require rear-facing rear fork ends, and also the ability to pass inspection at a track to be entered into a track racing event.

Picchio and Kurt, to quote myself, "I have rejuvenated it in a period but inaccurate way to resemble a pathracer"...

It is a bit of fun, and I am not trying to pass it off as something it isn't. I even posted the picture of it in it's dishevilled "correct" roadster configuration

But it is now an old bike that is being used and looks presentable. I have put NZD$185 into a new Brooks seat, $66 into some creme tyres, etc. So in my small way I am contributing to the industry.

My first love is vintage cars. That is a field where you can add a few zeros to the values, compared to classic bikes. There are the unscrupulous who try to tart up road cars into racers, and pass them off as the real thing. I abhor that. But to recreate something and label it as a replica, etc, is perfectly acceptable, as long as you are open about it.

The classic example is the 1920s vintage Bentleys. They won le Mans 4 or 5 times. The handful of original team cars are now worth millions, but these days there are hundreds of "le Mans replicas" built from staid old saloons. Accurate but not authentic.

I know a path racer is a racing bike. I am not actually suggesting this roadster is now a Path racer. But I am lucky to live in a beautiful corner of the world (Hawke's Bay, NZ) where there is a flourishing network of flat chalky cycle paths constructed on river stop banks (levees for you southerners), passing through vineyards and orchards. I will ride this bike on these paths. Perhaps I should have been more accurate in the thread's title, calling it "My Path Racer replica"...

But I am glad I have stirred up some discussion, because that is good for everyone.

Got any other pics of real pathracers in your collections?

AL NZ, you have done great things for that bike. Be sure to keep all the original parts. bag and tag them and put them away. You may just want them some day. In the mean time, good job!

thanks, Mike. I am a hoarder, so only chucked out the seat which was beyond redemption. I have all the mudguards, dynamo, etc. The gears are Fichtel and Sachs, Torpedo Dreigang (3 speed) made 1938. I am going to get a new lever and rear sprocket from Heinz at Velo-classic, Germany, for 30 Euros, then re-fit the 3 speed coaster brake hub. I hope it will stop better than it does now (virtually no brakes). I will keep all the touring fittings together, though.

I love the way this bike rolls along, and absorbs the little bumps. Very Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost - wafting best describes it.

People seem determined to misread me, perhaps because they can't wrap their brains around the central point.
Your bike is not a "path racer replica." It's a "road/path" replica. Asking to see pics of "real path racers" is exactly the same thing as asking to see pics of "real track bikes." People tend to confuse the terms "path racer" (i.e. track bike) with "road/path" (i.e. a bike with rear-facing rear fork ends, braze-ons (path racer would have none), lower BB for riding on the road (path racer would have a higher one for ease of use on more steeply-banked tracks), and slacker angles (path racer would have steeper ones for quick handling). Your bike does not resemble a "path racer" even remotely. Not even as a replica. Because it is completely different from a track bike, and no one would confuse the two. You bike is instead, as I wrote previously, a nice example of a "road/path" bike (assuming it has the rear-facing dropouts, which it appears to).

Just fixed it. Can't believe I worded it like that.

-Kurt

OK, point now taken.
Some of this confusion perhaps not helped by Pashley introducing their Guv'nor. It is a lovely retro bike, but they claim it is based on one of their 30s Pathracer models. They don't show a picture of the original, and I cannot find one floating in the Ether, so I don't know what the original looked like - maybe it was a road/path bike.

Since we are getting semantic, I would disagree with you w.r.t. asking to see pics of pathracers. My understanding is that pathracer is an old term for racing bike, when tracks were called paths. Since that term is not used now, and this is the Classic part of the website, that my asking for pics of pathracers would be interpreted as asking for pics of members' old racing bikes, etc, as they are really interesting and great to look at, with different characteristics to the more-modern racing bikes.

But a good robust discussion is worth having.

"Path racer" is an old term for a track bike, when tracks were called paths. The corresponding term for a road racing bike would be - brace yourself - "road racer."

Cool, I never knew that. I thought it was a term invented by the Raleigh marketing department (or some such).

Path racer = track bike

Road racer = road bike

Got it.

And what many people mean nowadays when they say path racer is really the hybrid (usable for track racing, training, club runs, etc.) properly called a "road/path." As AL NZ points out, Pashley has contributed to the confusion with their contemporary "path racer," which is really a "road path" bike. I did enjoy their L'Eroica" videos, though.

cool bike, whatever ya calls it

I've just had another great little ride with my 6 year old. A flat 6-7 km on gravel and concrete paths. Again I was impressed at the ride of the long wheel base and springiness of the front fork, which acts like an almost-vertical half leaf spring. But the bike is heavy, and this weight is mostly in the wheels, i think. When I had the frame apart for painting I was amazed at how light it is. But those big heavy wheels at each end combined with the long wheelbase, give the bike a large polar moment of inertia, making turning a leisurely affair, this not being helped by the shallow angles. But it makes for a very nice ride, even over bumpy gravel and tree roots, etc.

I have also cut off about 9 cm of bar end which really helps.
But I need a Major Taylor type of stem, as suggested by my compatriot Gnome. Nice one on ebay for 60 GB pounds. That is $150 of my monopoly $$

Hey AL NZ, an unequivocal "nice bike" from me!

I don't know if the weight is in your rims, spokes, tires or all of the above. I have a pair of Schwalbe Kojaks on my bike. They are truly "balloon" tires, with that cushy ride. But they roll really well and are very light, despite their large profile.

They don't have the cool factor of your cremes, but I bet they are a TON lighter.

"Allen" ?





That is a great looking bike. I'd like to see pics after the Sachs installation.