bereng

Hi all,

I want to start giving a big thanks to everybody that helped me during my bike's restoration.

The story:

In 1962 my grandfather bought my father a racing bike for his 14th. birthday. My grandfather was a serious hobby racing biker and I guess he wanted to do sthg special.

The bike he bought was around 50 euros in 1962, which apparently was a small fortune, custom made, brooks seat, zeus gears and brakes, seefab custom built frame, super-akront aluminium rims, etc.

I was quite surprised to see aluminium bits in a bike of that age (disclaimer: I'm no expert in classic bikes) and apparently the frame tubing thinkness is not constant, it is thinner in some places to make the bike lighter.

The bike weights 11 kilos and checking some bikes running the Tour the France of that same period those where upwards f 10 kilos. Not bad I guess...

Anyway restoration was aimed at preserving as many original parts as possible instead of replacing them with NOS. I was trying to preserve the same EXACT bike my grandfather bought. In the end this was more expensive but worth it to me. Only the pedals that were too far gone, the wiring, the tires, brake bits, chain and thumb protectors have been replaced. Everything else is the original my grandfather bought in 1962, down to the ball bearings.

I have failed at finding the original decals. I have browsed the internet for hours to no avail. I can't see them anywhere. Is there anywhere I can send the pictures of the decals and get them reproduced?

And here are the pictures. I hope you like them. I've spent like 30 minutes trying to upload them with no luck. I hope picasa albums are allowed in the forum:

Slideshow: https://picasaweb.google.com/1006692...07290832622450

Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/1006692...55979/Bici1962

Regards.

eschlwc

good looking bicycle.

plodderslusk

Holy Zeus ! Very nice bike and impressive job. Please level that Brooks and all is well

SparkPlug

https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-me...le-pedals.html

Oooo-me-gosh. Bike Pron. I am not worthy.

Having said as much. As well as a bit of adjustment to the seat you might also consider moving the brake levers further up the bars. At the risk of being laughed at,



It'll make it more comfortable when riding on the hoods and the cable transitions will be more gentle. I suppose the down side is grabbing the levers when you are in the drops.

Phlorida

There are lots of places to have those decals reproduced from pictures. Hopefully someone from the forum can make a recommendation based on experience, I cannot. You can search the Internet for "reproduction decals" to get an idea of what services people are offering. There are lots of decal vendors on eBay as well.

Well done on the restoration, that is a nice bicycle.

rootboy 

how cool was that?

cny-bikeman

You'll unfortunately have to shorten the front cable housing if you move the levers, but I agree they should be moved up. Rear cable housing is typically routed behind the handlebars, same as the front.

JGM411

Very enjoyable read and pictorial. Congratulations on a successful restoration.

JerrySTL

Very nice!

bikemig 

That is a lovely bicycle and you did a great job on it. As others have said, you can have decals made.

SparkPlug

I might be wrong but I sense a bit of Classic & Vintage Bike Forum 'jealousy', I might hunt for a worse word. Having said as much I would not wish to go handbags at dawn with you.

4 posts and the man has a 52 year old bike, I was born in 1962 so I do not have to do the math, back in order and as close as he could get it to original. Let him do the rest, perhaps help out, then give the bike until its 104 year anniversary and it will have rediscovered its 'patina' again.

Sheesh, you only get better at doing things if you try. No doubt he should have asked you first before 'destroying' it or assuming he did not discover you in the first place not have bothered. I guess you will have to blame the Mechanics forum for not redirecting the project into your comfortable hands

Still, 'tis the season.

Apologies for the rant.

Oh... As before. I am not worthy but I am impressed.

The Golden Boy 

Incredibly beautiful bike- I hope your grandfather is around to see the care taken in his bike's restoration.

Out of all the cool things that this bike is- my favorite is the name plate on the top tube with your grandfather's name on it.

repechage

I would have taken a different route on the frame but I cannot fault the concept.

The chrome plating appears outstanding, I would have been fearful to take so many small parts in.
The cleaning up of the rims is just right.
I have never seen Zeus cutters before.

As others have mentioned I would level out the saddle and consider moving up the brake levers on the handlebars, reference some old pro racing images for a guide. To keep it period, I would go with cloth tape in white or red. Source some toe clips and straps to finish off the mechanics.

non-fixie 

Beautiful bike! Well done!

fettsvenska 

Bravo!...Drool...

rootboy 

Well, OK. Point well-taken.
I was merely commenting on how cool and beautiful it looked,
before it was painted.

Looks nice now too.

Hudson308 

Freakin' wow. Gorgeous resto on a very rare bike!

bereng

Thanks everyone for the nice comments and suggestions.

If my memory serves me right yes, it had cloth tape, which I just didn't consider sourcing after all the million things I had in my mind. Maybe this is the perfect chance to remove the current modern replacement it has and relocate the brake leavers.

Well, I was 17 when I had my first 'go' at restoring the bike. I disassemble it, painted the frame and ran out of money :-DD Now I am 38 and finally finished it. At 17 I was silly silly silly to go for a full blown restoration. I should have preserved most of the parts, like the frame, in it's original state. Nice patine, nice aging, nice everything. But as my 17 good-intentioned disaster had already been done, I had no other choice but to move forward with what I did already have. I would have done otherwise now.

Thanks for the decals tips. I will pursue it and report back.

Regards

Ciufalon

Beautiful bike! Hope it brings many years of great riding and great memories. You did a really nice job of putting it back in like new condition and I am sure it is much appreciated by your family. That bike is certainly something to be proud of and cherished. Hope it stays in your family for generations to come. Very cool that you thought to restore it when you were young and eventually got around to it.

juvela

hello bereng -

thanks so much for sharing this fine project here at the forum.

that is one beautiful job you have done; and a fine job also of documenting with the photos.

the nameplate on the bicycle's top tube reminds me of my first adult bike my folks got for me when i was about ten years old. the shop had a display of those name plates with boy's and girl's names and my name was among them so i got one of those plates for the bike. the bike's frame was a bit large for me but i guess they figured "he will grow into it." a phrase many of us have probably heard at one time or another...

the cycle's crank arms appear to have the name EROIA or EROTA on them. are you able to tell which it is? i have not seen this name previously, is anyone familiar with this maker? i notice that the chainwheels are Triplex.

there is a name which can be seen on the bicycle's handlebar stem but i cannot quite make it out. is it legible to you? was thinking it might be an Akront since the rims are from this maker.

what make are the machine's hubs? something like Super Olimpic perhaps?

thank you again for sharing this bicycle with the forum!

am posting a small note on the pedal thread mentioned above.

OldsCOOL

Incredibly handsome bike. 1962, wow.

79pmooney

The old "rule" on brake levers (mid '70s, when I was racing and bars and levers looked a lot like yours) was to place a ruler along the bottom of the handlebars and lower the levers (in your case, raise them) until the lever just touched the ruler. I always liked mine lower, about half an inch below that height.

The bars should also be rotated down a bit, until the bottoms are close to horizontal (but never past). One "rule" was that the bottom of the bars should be aimed at the rear brake pivot.

Great job on your restoration! Your dad would be proud.

Ben

Bad Lag

Those pedals could be easily polished with buffing wheels in a Dremel tool. You could get in all the nooks and crannies with the various different shaped tips they have - cones, cylinders, etc. Put some polish (Mother's Mag Polish for aluminum or some other for steel) on the wheel and they will come clean quickly.

bereng

Juvela,

thanks for the nice comments. It is a very sentimental project to me.

I think it is a rare bird as the frame is Seefab (haven't been able to read about it much googling around), brakes are heinmann, gears change are Zeus Gran Sport (the very first version without teeth), Simplex and Super Akront. The bits you are referring to are the Seefab writing in the frame and handle bar stem and RICLY and EROTA on the cranck arms. Hubs are marked with a partial illegible 'EX CE OO' and 'SUPER COMPETITON'.

A curiosity: All zeus pedals I have seen so far are marked 'Zeus patent pending'. The ones mounted are a replacement, the original ones I might be able to restore with the new comments on how to restore them, are unmarked so are probably the very first issues of the Zeus pedals.

I am really enjoying this. Maybe some experienced members can shed some light and let me know if this is really a top of the line bike or not, or if it has some rare parts etc

70pmooney thanks for that 'old rule'. I will try to follow it. Sounds interesting to be period correct :-) Now I need to source some cloth tape and deal with the handle bars.

Regards

juvela

hello bereng,

thanks so much for the additional information, much appreciated!

the hub name is EXCELTOO, a French brand:

VeloBase.com - Component: Exceltoo Super Competition

VeloBase.com - Component: Exceltoo Super Competition (slot drilling)

wonder if perhaps the EROTA name could be an acronym. could it be that the letter E stands for Eibar?

beautiful job there bereng.