ColonelJLloyd 

Dawes-man, thanks again for such a cool thread with fantastic photos!

I have seen several of the Stronglight 49Ds with those chainrings so I never doubted they were made by Stronglight. But, perhaps not.

I'm looking forward to more of your project.

Dawes-man

Thanks for posting that pic, rhm. That's just the sort of thing I was hoping to see. That is a fantastic result! And a LOT of work. It goes with the Constrictor crank perfectly.

Just read through the thread you linked. Made me think of a friend's RRA. He bought it as a complete, rusty wreck - rusty areas after blasting:
[IMG]
RRA rust holes by Dawes-man, on Flickr[/IMG]

After he treated, brass brazed the holes and prepared it for painting:
[IMG]
RRA Frame by Dawes-man, on Flickr[/IMG]

And built up:

RRA - restored by Dawes-man, on Flickr

He has complained about the scarcity and cost of parts, too

I once sent him the URL of an eBay auction for a chainwheel and he told me it wasn't the right one. He sent me back this pic of the one now on his machine - it's a 46T and he'd really like a 48:
[IMG]
Raleigh_S46_sml by Dawes-man, on Flickr[/IMG]

The only tools I have are an electric drill and a Dremel, no jigsaw or router. I might have to confine myself to the largest drill bit I can find, and lots of filing. Or, I wonder if my RRA friend has any tools... hmm, have to ask him. He works in the R&D department of Honda Racing.

BTW, in the thread you linked, you posted an RRA parts list and it struck me the crank looks very like a Chater Lea with the hidden 3rd bolt in the arm.

rhm

Dawes-man, if your Dremel has this attachment


you can use it as a router. But if you're starting with a chain ring that already fits the TA-style crank, you won't need it.

My neighbor gave me the electric jigsaw; it's a pretty nice tool, but he gave it to me mostly as a challenge, it's like giving a Yamaha motorcycle to a guy who rides a Cinelli. I almost never use power tools, but in this case I used it because I had it, and I couldn't find my coping saw, which would have been my weapon of choice.:


A big drill bit makes a lot of metal shavings, which uses a lot of time and energy. With the coping saw you can make a very thin cut very close to where you want it, so even though you are using your muscles rather than electricity, it will be almost as fast, and a whole lot more pleasant. Well, I'd enjoy it more; I won't speak for you!

Dawes-man

Great advice, rhm. A coping saw would give me more enjoyment, too, I think. Nice tools usually do.

Many thanks! I think this might come together sooner than I thought...

And yes, the blank is already drilled for a 49D, and several other makers from the 50s. You've just added Constrictor to my knowledge of those others. Till now I knew Constrictor for rims, pedals and hubs.

noglider 

Man, this is great stuff. Dawes-man, my favorites are your pictures of the bike shops there. I'm glad to see some shops there collect old junk, and I mean the good kind. They're true bike nuts there. I don't know for sure, but I think it's a dying breed here.

How's the coffee? I've never heard "coffee" and "Japan" in the same sentence before.

Dawes-man

This is a chainwheel I like very much, from Mark Stevens' Flickr pages - he keeps a Gillot register and has lots of nice stuff. He says it's made by a company called Hurtu and he found it in Portugal. Looks pretty 'artisanal' to me:
[IMG]
1949 Gillott with Osgear by Mark`Stevens ModelCrafter, on Flickr[/IMG]

Doesn't look to me like it'd be too difficult to make...

My favourite cotterless Stronglight Competition crank, too

Dawes-man

Used to be so so, 30 years ago, but now you can get excellent coffee here.

rhm

The crank I have is strange. I got the two arms in two ebay sales from the same seller; drive side is marked CONSTRICTOR as in the photo, non-drive side is marked BSA and if I recall correctly has the three rifles logo. They seem to be the same design, same size, same finish, same flute, &c. So I would assume they were made by BSA and some were marked Constrictor. They are very nicely made, at any rate, with the spider and crank arm forged from a single piece of steel.

I don't actually know whether they will fit a TA ring. I also have a pair of Williams arms of the same design. Nice thin arms, quite light (the left arm is seen in this thread). I don't have a photo of the drive side arm with me now, but will try to remember to post it tomorrow. The spider is swaged to the arm, though. I bought an Electra ring for this crank, and it didn't fit; the hole wasn't quite big enough. But the same ring fits TA, Lambert, and Milremo crank arms (I tried them myself). So it could be the Constrictor arm is, like the Williams, a slightly different pattern. It was close enough that after a little work with a half-round file I got the Electra arm onto the Williams ring.

dbakl

With a jeweler's blade. Aluminum cuts pretty easily.

I'd be interested in a 47 Sugino if you could manage and post to California. PayPal?

lostarchitect 

Awesome thread guys, looking forward to seeing more.

Alex Moll

Rosa made some interesting 50.4 bcd rings:

(**From Spokesniffer on Flickr)

I've come across other interesting Rosa chainrings.

I have a coping saw, labelled as a "deep jeweler's saw", that I picked up at a hobby shop. Mascot brand.

rhm

You know what would be really cool, would be to do some primitive animation in the chain ring like what this guy did in bicycle wheels. You wouldn't see anything in sunlight, but in artificial light it might be pretty cool.

Dawes-man

A note to everyone who has expressed an interest in getting blank chainwheels:

When I was at Hasegawa's the day before yesterday they only had the Sugino blank that I bought and one TA. I'll call them today for them to keep the TA and to ask if they'll be getting more, and if so, when. In the meantime, dbaki is first in line for the TA as he asked first.

And PayPal is fine. It'll be a few days before I can get over to the shop, a 40 minute ride from home.

Dawes-man

It is strange that the Constrictor doesn't fit a TA ring. You would think that they would have made to crank to catch a bit of the Stronglight 5-pin market, given that it was a great favourite among riders in the 50s...

ftwelder

Even $100.00 would be a great price for a custom chain ring. There are some amazing parts on this thread.

I have a CNC mill that does simple patterns with ease. The teeth are not simple however.

cudak888 

I've been in Coral Way Bicycle Shop. That place will make an Army man blush.

-Kurt

P.S.: Fantastic work here. You'd think the 50.4 BCD crank would have had greater international popularity over the 144's, if only out of sheer ability to customize them.

rhm

I don't know if the Constrictor fits a Stronglight ring; it was the Williams that didn't fit the Electra ring. It was very close; didn't take long with a file to make it fit. But this non-fit made me wonder whether there was a defunct English pattern that was similar, but not quite the same, as the French one. I don't know the date of either the Constrictor or Williams cranks I have, but I presume they're earlier than the 50's. I realize Stronglight came out in the 30's, and these are probably not earlier than that.

BobHufford

This looks very much like a Stronglight Touriste. I had one on a mystery bike that was converted to a three-speed. Even w/o the inner ring it sold for $250 several years ago.

Bob



https://homepage3.nifty.com/ClassicBi...htouriste.html

Otis

This is a very cool design, reminds me of Squiddley Diddley. But this is also good one to take a lesson from. When you do your design you should incorperate the crank arm into the overall picture, not just do a symetrical design that will be blocked at some point by the arm.

Captain Blight

Wow. Just... wow, all of it. Wow.

I think I might have a new hobby.

repechage

I like the pattern Except, the pattern should have been rotated to look its best in relation to the chainring bolts and the crank arm.

Dawes-man

You wouldn't have to worry about that as the blanks come with the teeth already milled. You could get a completely blank alloy disc somewhere and do the teeth if you felt like a challenge

Dawes-man

Okay, gotcha! I misread. In that case, I would assume the Constrictor is the same as a TA/Stronglight 5-pin. I have a cottered crank from France, no-name, that fits a TA wheel. It came with one on it.

I would think the Constrictor was a 50s crank. As I said before, I only knew the company for rims, pedals and hubs. I've looked a bit on the net and see that I'd forgotten that they also made a derailleur but I cannot find any mention of a crank. Nor in the 1939 or 1952 Brown Brothers catalogues. A mystery!

Had another look at your chainwheel - very nice, indeed! I look forward to you detailing the herons' heads.

Dawes-man

No doubt in my mind that they are the same. I see the crank has the very sought after 3-hole centre cap, too... nice! Thanks for posting that, Bob.

Dawes-man

I think repechage has got it right on this particular chainwheel but that's certainly good general advice. Thanks! It would be easy to forget that you were going to have an arm in the way.