BSA Tour de France

[GM]

Really enjoyed reading this thread Carl, it's a stunning looking bike. I had a BSA Tour de France a blue one back in the 80's, like a fool I sold it for £100 about 20 years ago, wish I still had it. I'll try to find some photos to post up.

 

[Illaveago]

I have just caught up with your progress and you have done really well in restoring your BSA. Have you gone back and looked at your first post to see what you have achieved? You should feel proud of your effort and should get a lot of admiring glances from people when you are seen riding it.
Have you kept the old wheels as you could salvage the large flange hubs? A lot of us old cyclist's go weak at the knees when seeing them!
Well done on a good job!

 

[EltonFrog]

I have just caught up with your progress and you have done really well in restoring your BSA. Have you gone back and looked at your first post to see what you have achieved? You should feel proud of your effort and should get a lot of admiring glances from people when you are seen riding it.
Have you kept the old wheels as you could salvage the large flange hubs? A lot of us old cyclist's go weak at the knees when seeing them!
Well done on a good job!

Thanks, I appreciate the comments. I have looked the old posts it’s a hell of a lot different now.

I sold the old wheels on eBay a couple of weeks ago. I realised while on holiday last week that that was probably a mistake and I should have kept the old hubs and put new rims on, I regret that now but what’s done is done. I’m pleased with the progress so far.

I’m to try and get all the cables n today. The chain will have to wait until next week.

 

[Illaveago]

I have an orange TdF with black panels which I bought as a donor frame to use the components to build another bike. It was after I had transferred the parts over that I started to feel sorry for it and set about rebuilding it. I have only ridden it a short distance but I enjoyed it.

 

[EltonFrog]

I have an orange TdF with black panels which I bought as a donor frame to use the components to build another bike. It was after I had transferred the parts over that I started to feel sorry for it and set about rebuilding it. I have only ridden it a short distance but I enjoyed it.

I’ve seen that on another thread, but not the complete bike. Would you put a photo of yours up please?

 

[Oldfentiger]

I have just caught up with your progress and you have done really well in restoring your BSA. Have you gone back and looked at your first post to see what you have achieved? You should feel proud of your effort and should get a lot of admiring glances from people when you are seen riding it.
Have you kept the old wheels as you could salvage the large flange hubs? A lot of us old cyclist's go weak at the knees when seeing them!
Well done on a good job!

Yes, we’ll done on the rebuild. Looking great already.
I sort of got the bug for it after my first rebuild, now I have around a dozen
Admiring glances - I’be had people riding next to me asking about the bike. Emerge from a cafe to find small groups clustered around my bike. Positive comments from all sorts of people as I ride by.
None of that has happened when riding my much more expensive modern bikes.
There’s a joy to be had from riding an old classic which you’ve brought back to life.
Better still, ride it at the VeloRetro event at Ulverston next summer with a bunch of other old farts like me. Leave your Lycra at home

Edit:
There’s a program on BBC2 tonight called The Lakes. Based on some geezer riding a penny farthing at the vintage event.

 

[EltonFrog]

There’s a program on BBC2 tonight called The Lakes. Based on some geezer riding a penny farthing at the vintage event.

I’ll set the recorder up for that, cheers.

 

[Illaveago]

Sorry it took a while to find my pictures. As it was when I picked it up and what it looks like at the moment.

 

[EltonFrog]

Sorry it took a while to find my pictures. As it was when I picked it up and what it looks like at the moment. View attachment 435470

How cool is that? Slightly different head tube, do you know what year your bike is?

Edit: I see you changed the chain ring.

 

[Illaveago]

How cool is that? Slightly different head tube, do you know what year your bike is?

Edit: I see you changed the chain ring.

I'm not sure of the date at the moment. They seem to have done a few variations on that model. Mine has BSA in letters on the head tube whereas some have the old metal rifle badge. The handlebars and stem are aluminium while some others are chromed steel. I left the outer chrome ring off of the chainring as I'm not too keen on them. The brake levers have been replaced with a pair of Shimano ones for the time being, but were originally Weinmann with suicide levers, which I don't find are too bad.

 

[EltonFrog]

Today I fitted the brake and gear cables and tarted up the bottle holder and clamps.

The cable fitting was easier that I anticipated but as I expected it didn't go without a bit of faffage. The cable stops would not go through the gap it was supposed to in the levers, so I had to take the levers off and thread them through at the back. Didn't take long but just a bit of a faff.

Cable job done, brakes work, derailleurs shift.

In between rain showers I cleaned up the wire bottle cage. That was thick with rust and peeling chrome before I put it in the oxalic acid a few weeks ago, I finished off cleaning it and gave it a few coats of "chrome" paint which I had lying around in a rattle can from a few years ago. I was going to chuck it but it may be ok.

Before

After, I put a bit of paint on the clips too.

 

[Illaveago]

It's looking nice.

 

[roadrash]

no need to chuck the bottle cage, it has a new lease of life now, and bikes looking good

 

[EltonFrog]

no need to chuck the bottle cage, it has a new lease of life now, and bikes looking good

Just the chain, bar tape, and bottle cage to do now, probably Monday. The Fragrant MrsP picked up the pins for chain tool today, but I won’t have time this weekend.

 

[Illaveago]

Oxalic acid and paint are a bit hit and miss.

I can remember that oxalic acid was used to remove industrial fallout from new car paintwork in the 70's. The affected areas were covered in newspapers and then the acid was poured onto them until they were soaking and then left for a while. After some time the newspapers were removed, the cars were then washed off and polished.