a 1953 Gillott road/path 22 1/2" frame, RJB twin plate fork crown with round tubes, TA 45t single chainset, Brooks Swift saddle, Milremo bars and stem, GB brake lever, ribbed cable with Gloria "Iseran" sidepull caliper. This is believed to have belonged to the late John Cherry, of Southampton Wheelers.

well after a bit of searching, it could appear that the Arragain has Nervex Legere serie 110 lugs, although i now think that the twin plate fork crown is from Wagner or Oscar Egg, as the gear ends are definately Osgear, which would mean the set up should really be like the red frame photo as above. guess im going to have to search out some Osgear products and get the frame restored now!

well, it's done, well...almost! it's all set for the St.Crispin's Day Night Ride, the shakedown night trial went well, with just a few small adjustments needed, but it's all set. I will seriously consider stripping the whole thing down for a complete colour change and rebuild to as new standard afterwards, new spoking, the desired parts and it will all be as i really want it. The MaxiCAR hub finally being used!

St Crispins Day NIGHT RIDE, London, 2012

Im taking part this year, the Arragain porteur will be there too! If you are too, get in contact! It will be a great experience!

Miroir Des Sports 1963 - 1965

A great advert from August 1963

Scintilla SA/ AG "X" 3UB 3 speed gear hub, Swiss-made Sturmey Archer-style?

Well, I happened upon this lovely piece of NOS, it's a Scintilla 3UB 3 speed hub gear, it has "X", could that be Brand X? It has "Scintilla SA" and "Suisse" stamped into the hub body, it's 36 spoke hub, all complete in it's original box, all fixings, cables and levers, with instructions in German and French. I know nothing about how old it could be too. A bit of searching has found absolutely nothing about this Swiss manufacturers bicycle hub gears, so, if anyone knows anything about them, please let me know? Even old Sheldon Brown and Classic Lightweights don't mention anything about them!

Happy Birthday!

as today is my birthday, I feel it fit to share with you, a tribute to Francois Truffaut, the French film director, as it's also his birthday too. In particular, his short film, Les Mistons. Bon Anniversaire!

Rossin Verandalux 1985 Team

Kuiper, Bogaert, van Vliet, Verlinden, de Beule, Demol, Jacobs, Luyten... the van Houwelingen brothers. My team frame was NOS bought in 1986 from Mike Perry from Weilersport, in Sussex, UK. It's a 56cm Columbus frame, it has an old stock Campagnolo pantographed seat pin. It has a metal race number tab on the underside of the top tube. I have never seen another like it, as most Rossins i see via the web don't have this. It's all Campagnolo, and all Italian except for the Look pedals and Conti tyres. I remember seeing a guy on the train on my way home home school with an amazing red Rossin, this memory stands out still, even from 1985, as he looked like Neil from The Young Ones (same long hair and sweatshirt-look) but his Rossin had chromed lugs which stood out against the bright red paint on the frame.

Cycles Arragain period-"Porteur" UPDATE

the Arragain has waited to be worked on long enough! I guess I just needed the right parts to commence? It has been updated with the MAFAC Racer centrepull calipers, NOS MAFAC brake components to go with the already fitted MAFAC inverse brake levers. I used the old outer casings with the calipers as they seemed to be in good shape. The seat post was changed as the previous one was a bit undersized and the binder bolt could not hold it well enough! The addition of a Stronglight 49D 5 vis double chainset alongside the 1953 Campagnolo Gran Sport derailleur, Valentino front mech and the band-on gear levers have now made this French bike a lot more usable. The cables are routed through NOS Huret chromed guides. It now has TA alu quill pedals and Christophe clips. I am using a stainless Velo Orange "porteur" rack as the bike has taken on more of a Criterium Des Porteurs des Journaux-look, of the period 1940s to early 1960s. I have retained the narrow leather Pearl saddle and I have learned a bit more about the frame's features. It appears to have Nervex (of St.Etienne, France) "Legere" series 110 lugs and the dropouts appear to be similar to Stallard dropouts, or Oscar Egg, the type similar to those used on a 1950 Hetchins Nulli Secondus. It seems PT Stallard was a huge fan fan of the Continental style, in effect, championing the European style in his framesets, I believe he could have liked this so much, he copied this style of dropout. They feature a double position for either fixed wheel use or by flipping the rear wheel over for another fixed gear ratio, or for use with a bolt in derailleur as the bike was fitted. The dropouts have the same style of "spur" at the very front of the dropouts. An Alpex (of Birmingham, England)featured in the "Fixed" book has similar dropouts. It will have a Normandy front 36spoke and rear Maxicar hub on alu rims soon, im using Panaracer 32mm Pasela tyres. It has lighting now, the front is a Soubitez "golfball" and the rear is a NOS Soubitez.

porteur

The beautiful "constructeur" porteur bicycles by Alex Singer and Rene Herse, and a well used porteur in original condition

french fancies

Modern Dutch

Batavus does modern Dutch with this BUB, the Batavus Urban Bike

Cycling In Cinema: Jour De Fete (1949)

A wonderful film from a genius of a director. The fair comes to the village and Francois the postman (Tati) attempts to speed up his delivery system, based on what he sees in the film showing American mechanised methods, shown at the fair, on site in the village. The scenes of impeccable comic timing that follow take place within settings that resemble a Dufy painting come to life. With more than a hint of the ‘democratic comedy’ that would be more fully realised in his later films, the restored colour print brings Tati’s vision alive. A film to gladden the heart. Essentially a full-length version of the earlier short film, L'Ecole De Facteurs from a few years previous. Flmed during the summer of 1947 in and around the French village of Ste. Severe Sur Indre (36)

Cycling In Cinema: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is the first novel by British author Alan Sillitoe and won the Author's Club First Novel Award.

It was adapted by Sillitoe into a 1960 film starring Albert Finney, directed by Karel Reisz.

Arthur is 22 years old, works at a lathe, machining bottom bracket spindles, at the Raleigh bicycle factory in Nottingham with his friend Jack. Arthur keeps his mind occupied during the mundane and repetitive work through a mental collage of imagined fantasies, and memories of the past.

Bicycle License Plates

Canadian Municipal License Plates







Municipalities in Canada have issued license plates for all kinds of uses; from bicycles, to popsicle carts, even vending machines. If there's a bylaw on the books which requires a license to operate, chances are a license plate or some sort of validation decal has been issued to show the licensing fee has been paid.

In the early days bicycles were seen as a form of transportation and, therefore, it made sense to tax them as they were part of the normal road traffic. Today, cycling is seen more as a recreational activity, and many cyclists would prefer to be on designated paths rather than in traffic. Of the multitude of municipalities which did issue bicycle license plates, it is likely that only a small handful remain today. Most cities simply allow you to register your bike at the police station, free of charge, on a voluntary basis. If there is any nominal fee involved, it would probably be administered by a local bicycle club for the upkeep of trails, and therefore no license plate would be necessary.

As you can see, these bicycle plates have been issued in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The earliest ones were simply brass tags, similar in style to the familiar dog tags. Many cities had theirs made by the Bicycle Guild of Montreal. They are the small plastic square plates on the left. Those of French-Speaking towns often had bilingual legends. Occasionally, the odd slogan such as "Winnipeg Centennial" on the 1974 plate as illustrated below.