EltonFrog
Legendary Member
I'm not sure if I have restored or refurbished this bike, probably a bit of both. A labour of love, a folly and foolhardiness.
I bought a Dawes Kingpin last year on a bit of a whim, I had one in the early ‘70’s, and the first bike I ever bought with my own money. I don't know why I decided to go down memory lane like this but it seemed like a good idea at the time. On doing some research I discovered that the bike I bought new in mid-1970 was actually an earlier late 60's model. On further inspection the date on the Sturmey Archer hub on the bike I bought last year is February 1968 so I expect that's about right, my original bike came from a bike shop along the Upper Richmond Road in Sheen, SW London, I cannot remember the name of the shop. I do remember how much it cost £38-15s-3d. That included all the extras as well as a Tartan bike bag.
For my project I knew I wanted dark blue, with the aluminium holed chain guard, a dynohub, lights, three speed and spring rack and embossed Dawes head tube badge. I eventually found one the right colour and year on EBay, they a vary a bit with slight mod changes over the production years, and I think they used to vary within years/models as far as parts were concerned depending on what they had on the shelf. Actually the seller was selling two as a job lot; I won the bidding and collected them. They were both in a bit of a state, the eBay photographs were not a lot of help, but the items were not mis-described. I should have done a bit more research, the blue one I wanted had everything as listed except for the head badge.
This is the bike I was trying to replicate in blue, but with a tartan rack bag and the embossed head badge.
This is one of the two bikes I bought it looks better in the photo than did in real life.
It was a bit rusty.
and the paint was pitted.
Chrome was flaking in places
Gonna need a bigger pot of polish.
Too far gone.
More on this project to follow.
I bought a Dawes Kingpin last year on a bit of a whim, I had one in the early ‘70’s, and the first bike I ever bought with my own money. I don't know why I decided to go down memory lane like this but it seemed like a good idea at the time. On doing some research I discovered that the bike I bought new in mid-1970 was actually an earlier late 60's model. On further inspection the date on the Sturmey Archer hub on the bike I bought last year is February 1968 so I expect that's about right, my original bike came from a bike shop along the Upper Richmond Road in Sheen, SW London, I cannot remember the name of the shop. I do remember how much it cost £38-15s-3d. That included all the extras as well as a Tartan bike bag.
For my project I knew I wanted dark blue, with the aluminium holed chain guard, a dynohub, lights, three speed and spring rack and embossed Dawes head tube badge. I eventually found one the right colour and year on EBay, they a vary a bit with slight mod changes over the production years, and I think they used to vary within years/models as far as parts were concerned depending on what they had on the shelf. Actually the seller was selling two as a job lot; I won the bidding and collected them. They were both in a bit of a state, the eBay photographs were not a lot of help, but the items were not mis-described. I should have done a bit more research, the blue one I wanted had everything as listed except for the head badge.
This is the bike I was trying to replicate in blue, but with a tartan rack bag and the embossed head badge.
This is one of the two bikes I bought it looks better in the photo than did in real life.
It was a bit rusty.
and the paint was pitted.
Chrome was flaking in places
Gonna need a bigger pot of polish.
Too far gone.
More on this project to follow.
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