You beauty - let everyone see what you've got!

[sonic]

Thanks jbchybridrider, I've been snooping around this forum for ages, finally 'enlisted'. I'm riding a mid 80s Panasonic (hence the name), made in Japan - looks similar to yours, just colours in different order. When i get my 10 posts up I'll post pics. Cheers.

[frailer5]

My Touring/Shopping bike,
Viscount Sebring courtesy of Frailer5 but has been stripped, cleaned and upgraded with new wheelset, rd, fd, seat, stem, shifters.... Thanks Frailer

My pleasure. Glad to see it re-purposed/re-loved. Brought a tear to the eye, almost. Commutes on the edge of the M4 from Auburn to Drummoyne to catch the ferry to Cockatoo Is. to work. And the rest. Well done, LoveMiyata.

This one I've got on e_Bay. Shall see how it goes. Some $$ for bits (pedals) for the LeMond ref'd above. It's (older) roadies from here on... Happily I am riding a lot more these days than I (truhfully) allude to in the ad.

[luckyphil]

sorry ,didnt read the first post

[elStado]

[img]

That's a pretty swish looking retro bike..

From OP:

Many thanks to Christopher for getting this forum in place.

Let's start (well, Europa has already started) by showing off our bikes. A couple of simple conditions - no carbon and no aluminium frame components should just about do it. Even I wouldn't want to be stuck with steel rims - but if you've got 'em, flaunt 'em.
Alan from the Canberra Bicycle Museum says that the term 'vintage light' is the usual one for what many (some?) of us are talking about - bikes of the 1970's and 80's. He says that vintage light classes usually exclude indexed gears, which became available in 1985. That means Tojo wouldn't fit, so I'm sticking with 'retro' and making up our own rules!
I'd like each contributor to add a new topic for their bike, rather than have one big long topic with lots of bikes in it. Anyway, let me know what you think we should do.

Can contributors please re-size images to 320x240 pixels before posting them? It's really easy in PhotoBucket and I'm sure that other image servers have similar facilities
Thanks
Peter

[hartleymartin]

My Touring/Shopping bike,
Viscount Sebring courtesy of Frailer5 but has been stripped, cleaned and upgraded with new wheelset, rd, fd, seat, stem, shifters.... Thanks Frailer

***ENVIOUSNESS!***

It is incredibly hard finding those older style front racks too!

[frailer5]

My Touring/Shopping bike,
Viscount Sebring courtesy of Frailer5 but has been stripped, cleaned and upgraded with new wheelset, rd, fd, seat, stem, shifters.... Thanks Frailer

***ENVIOUSNESS!***

It is incredibly hard finding those older style front racks too!

It was MIJ, very light and strong. had low-slung small panniers on it when needed. Plus a sleeping bag would sit nicely on the small platform; being light but bulky, didn't raise the CG enough to worry... Brand escapes me. LoveMiyata may post as an FYI, if you're searching for one.

[hartleymartin]

I've managed to rig up something which is similar using a Blackburn FL1 lowrider and a Bor Yueh front rack as well as some extra mounting hardware. I'll arrange for a photo some time in the future.

[b1gblock]

What does everyone think? is this Apollo worth doing up? 105 brakes, derailleurs and headset. dura ace cranks and bb. Original 105 front hub, the back looks like it's been put on after. 'Apollo TEAM' Tange 2 tubings....Paint's a little scracthed...might powder coat it. Thoughts? Worth doing up? Cheers.....

Hi redcloud1866,

What is the serial number on that bike? Does it start with a 'Y'? I have a frame that looks just like it with different paint that I have been trying to identify.
This might be the answer that I have been looking for.

[odomfax]

Here's my RAT Bennett. Found the frme on the side of the road. Weinmann brakes and wheels off an old Oxford that I had ( much smaller frame). Motor bike brake levers? Shimano 600 arabesque derailer. Rear wheel (from the Oxford) has a 4 speed cluster- is this unusual? My local bike shops wouldn't believe me until I took it in. Takes a larger single speed chain. Plastic promax seat is surprisingly comfortable. So far spent $20 on new cables. I love riding this bike, and now tend to ride it more than my other bikes. Although there is a perverse pleasure in parking it next to the weekend warrior speccy bikes at the local cafe. Am planning on giving the bike a bit of a detail but intend to leave the frame in all it's rusty , abused and oversprayed glory. Would be interested if anyone could shine a light on what vintage the frame is?[url]/url]And here's my Clamont "mardi gras special"[url[/url]

[Saro28]

hey Odo!

fix ya tags - [img]"pic%20here"[/img] only one set at each end

[rkelsen]

Here's my RAT Bennett. Found the frme on the side of the road. Weinmann brakes and wheels off an old Oxford that I had ( much smaller frame). Motor bike brake levers? Shimano 600 arabesque derailer. Rear wheel (from the Oxford) has a 4 speed cluster- is this unusual? My local bike shops wouldn't believe me until I took it in. Takes a larger single speed chain. Plastic promax seat is surprisingly comfortable. So far spent $20 on new cables. I love riding this bike, and now tend to ride it more than my other bikes. Although there is a perverse pleasure in parking it next to the weekend warrior speccy bikes at the local cafe. Am planning on giving the bike a bit of a detail but intend to leave the frame in all it's rusty , abused and oversprayed glory. Would be interested if anyone could shine a light on what vintage the frame is?

Nice one Odo, I like it. It's the prefect urban warrior/commuting bike.

4 speeds certainly is unusual. I think that'd mean that the wheel dates from before 1970-ish. The frame looks to be from late 70s thru early/mid 80s.

For me, the perverse pleasure would be beating lycra clad carbon riders up hills on it.

[odomfax]

Nice one Odo, I like it. It's the prefect urban warrior/commuting bike.

4 speeds certainly is unusual. I think that'd mea
n that the wheel dates from before 1970-ish. The frame looks to be from late 70s thru early/mid 80s.

For me, the perverse pleasure would be beating lycra clad carbon riders up hills on it.

Thanks. I'll try post a better photo that gives a better picture of the frame geometry. The top bar slopes down to the head tube and the forks have a more pronounced curve in them, compared to the clamont. Was worried at first that maybe they were damaged somehow, but there's no sign of such. Although I have noticed, going back through this thread, that old malvern stars had similar looking forks. Am I right that there's a connection between bennett and malvern star?Serial number is MOH51267, and the only fully intact sticker is the one that says made in japan.

[frailer5]

The forks look very similar to those on the Viscount Sebring above (LoveMiata's). Sebring/Bennett similar era. My stab is mid-70's, Japanese OEM'd.

[rkelsen]

Am I right that there's a connection between bennett and malvern star?

I doubt it, although they have both been owned by Pacific Brands Ltd at some point.

Many 27" forks look similar, so I wouldn't place too much confidence in looks for ID purposes. But don't let the frame's branding bother you. It's cool.

[hazmat5765]

Here's my RAT Bennett. Would be interested if anyone could shine a light on what vintage the frame is?

That looks fantastic odomfax, a friend of mine had a yellow Bennett in `75. The font used on the "Bennett" stickers was I think the same as a company called Bennett & Wood, which was around at the time and had something to do with Honda motorbikes and hardware. I don`t know if it`s the same company but I do remember his bike had something to do with our local hardware shop in Randwick Junction in the `70s.
Looks great though. Rob.

[drubie]

"Evolution" - Paul and Ken Evans



Columbus Genius tubing - I have no idea what it weighs but frankly it isn't a lot. The downtube sounds like aluminium when you flick it (it's not, but it doesn't sound very thick). 27.2 seatpost that gave me a heap of grief getting it unstuck - lots of dirt, solid grease and rust in there but surprisingly the corrosion on the alloy Athena seatpost wasn't causing it to stick. It was just grotty.

Too small for me, but I just like looking at it. Spent the weekend stripping the parts off it to check the internal state of the tubes - thank goodness it has survived what looked like a lengthy stay underneath a tree. Unfortunately a lot of the yellow paint is slightly bubbled indicating some surface rust underneath, and there is a big patch of rust near the Columbus sticker on the seat tube. The cable exit guide on the top tube is also rusty.

However, with a cleanup it'll be fine. Looks to have about a 52cm seat tube / 54cm top tube, so shorties only. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet.

[rusty rustison]

I bought this yesterday. Speedwell gts.

[fatherofmany]

I bought this yesterday. Speedwell gts.

Absolutely beautiful. Wish I had one in my collection.

[LoveMiyata]

Pity about the forks though....looks a bit bent like its been in a head on

[rusty rustison]

yeah the stem is quite bent and also the last inch of thread on the forks is bent which has caused over time the bearing in the top of the steering tube to disintegrate and the bearing runner (for lack of knowing what it's really called) to become half eroded. I don't like my chances of finding a replacement speedwell forks but maybe I can find a skidstar gts forks and stem from someone who has modified or modernized theirs. any ideas ? cheers

[munga]

might be your lucky day:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/WOW-RARE-VIN ... 577wt_1163

[speedywheels]

Speedwell made 26 inch and 27 inch skidstars, so you would need to check that the forks on ebay are the correct size.

[Saro28]

might be your lucky day:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/WOW-RARE-VIN ... 577wt_1163

Sold, lets hope there gone to Rusty

[beenoll]

Here's my RAT Bennett. Would be interested if anyone could shine a light on what vintage the frame is?

That looks fantastic odomfax, a friend of mine had a yellow Bennett in `75. The font used on the "Bennett" stickers was I think the same as a company called Bennett & Wood, which was around at the time and had something to do with Honda motorbikes and hardware. I don`t know if it`s the same company but I do remember his bike had something to do with our local hardware shop in Randwick Junction in the `70s.
Looks great though. Rob.

Hi,
I learnt to ride on a Bennett in the mid-70's, a blue number with a removable top tube, whitewalls, the whole bit. I'm sure it's at my parents place somewhere. They were owned by Hanimex, then sold to Raleigh and so on until they and other old brands disappeared into Pacific Brands.

[jhea57]

Hi guys
just a query to see if anyone knows a frame builder Jack Rogers who built bikes in Wagga in the 50's. I recently bought an old track bike that was made in 54 by Jack under the "Super Star" brand. The frame is beautiful and I also have the orginal wheels (Harden high flange hubs with weinmann wood-filled rims).
The owner had the frame painted in the 70's but I would like to see if I can find some photos of this brand on bikes so I can get it re-painted in orginial decals etc.
thanks
John