Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Hi All,

First time poster, so bear with me. I have been looking for a bike to restore for my wife for some time and by chance today at the tip I saw the top of a seat sticking out of the metal recycling bin, needless to say I rescued it. Problem is I have no idea what it is and I am looking for some assistance.

It is a blue ladies bike with a leather seat. It has 4 Australian maps embossed into the frame. 2 on the front of the headset, upper and lower. Then there is one either side of the forks. The serial number on the seat post is 4M26050.

Does anyone know what it is??

Regards.

Sounds like an Austral, and with that serial number would appear to be built by Malvern Star in Melbourne in 1944.

Cheers, thanks for the info. It's in pretty good nick I will just get some new rubber for it and restore the seat and it will be good to go.

Sounds great can't wait to see it. I noticed that the bicycles at the tip seem to have the tyres sidewalls starting to fray. Quite amazing that all they need sometimes is a quick service and a new set of rubber.

adrian_d wrote:Sounds great can't wait to see it. I noticed that the bicycles at the tip seem to have the tyres sidewalls starting to fray. Quite amazing that all they need sometimes is a quick service and a new set of rubber.

And often quite annoying that the tyres would be perfectly serviceable, had they not been gumwalls/white-walls.

UV rots them, very quickly.

But I have a set of >50-year-old Olympic Spartans (remember them?) on my vintage Speedwell.

They're fine.

Theres a Ricardo Medallian at my local Tip. Should I get it? It had a label (permanent marker on the paint lol) for $30. The tyres are shreaded and it has some general rust.

Maybe i can get em down?

Only just noticed this, depending on the running gear i'd try and get it for $10, but then i'm used to picking up bikes for nothing at all .

adrian_d wrote:Sounds great can't wait to see it. I noticed that the bicycles at the tip seem to have the tyres sidewalls starting to fray. Quite amazing that all they need sometimes is a quick service and a new set of rubber.

Not in my experience, neglected bikes (roadside/tip) generally need new tyres and new brake pads, just to be safe really, that's already around $45 ($30 for tyres and $15 for 4 pads, absolute cheapest)

Then there is the chain, mostly will have some rust, and that's $10 (min for retro 6,7,8 speeds) to replace ....and you are looking at $55 already....if the starting price is at $30...you are looking at $85 with lots of cleaning, regrease, adjust....

At that price point, I think there are more options on ebay and Gumtree...

Personally, I would even bump the budget up to $150 for one that's clean, store indoor and everything works to start off with..

Just my 2c worth..

I cleaned up some pretty ordinary looking chains with a wire brush and a bit of degreaser or wd40. Something that looks all oily and horrible is preferable to dry and rusty though.

slidetaker wrote:

adrian_d wrote:Sounds great can't wait to see it. I noticed that the bicycles at the tip seem to have the tyres sidewalls starting to fray. Quite amazing that all they need sometimes is a quick service and a new set of rubber.

Not in my experience, neglected bikes (roadside/tip) generally need new tyres and new brake pads, just to be safe really, that's already around $45 ($30 for tyres and $15 for 4 pads, absolute cheapest)

Then there is the chain, mostly will have some rust, and that's $10 (min for retro 6,7,8 speeds) to replace ....and you are looking at $55 already....if the starting price is at $30...you are looking at $85 with lots of cleaning, regrease, adjust....

At that price point, I think there are more options on ebay and Gumtree...

Personally, I would even bump the budget up to $150 for one that's clean, store indoor and everything works to start off with..

Just my 2c worth..

I agree this is good advice as much as its nice to keep some old bikes going BUT . .. unless they are truly collectable you have to look at the economics of it. Build yourself a pub bike out of bits that give you trouble or spend $300 on say for instance a New Cell single speed?

I actually had a go at sandblasting a rusty chain recently just out of curiosity, and while it took plenty of washing in the degreasing cabinet to get rid of the sand it actually turned out fine . If you value your time I wouldn't bother though .

I'm fairly firmly on the 'rescue old bikes' side. Not saying a new cell/Reid isn't worth buying, but there is plenty of life left in a lot of old bikes, just need a good clean and lube mostly,