1952 EA Boult

[7VEN]

Also, how big is that Hobbs?! ?
That headtube is huge!

[commando]

and a teaser for you. Not mine.


Have you seen many with the metal badge like this?

If I may be so bold, 'tis mine! Once I get started, there will be a build thread.

[7VEN]

and a teaser for you. Not mine.


Have you seen many with the metal badge like this?

If I may be so bold, 'tis mine! Once I get started, there will be a build thread.

Excellent, really looking forward to seeing what you do with this!

[Clydesdale Scot]

back to the Boult
the front fork had a later tab on it for a light or generator. I didn't require it.
I took the fork off to Wollongong then had a drive up to meet Geoff Scott at his home.
Geoff is a master frame maker. He was very generous with his time and gave me a tour of some of his vast collection.


the tab was expertly removed without overheating the steel fork tube.
Many thanks Geoff.


for the cable outers, I was after something that didn't overwhelm the frame. There is a long cable run from the bar end lever through to the front derailleur. A light grey to sit against the silver frame would be nice, but challenging to find. Textured would be even better.
An Italian has some. But he doesn't post to Australia.
Fortunately for me, an American collector had similar issues and had some posted to a friend in Italy who then forwarded it to him in the US. David had some spare. I bought it and it was once again boxed up and posted; this time to me.


still after a 27.2mm dome head seatpost.

[Clydesdale Scot]

I spent some quality time in the garage this weekend.
Polished the seat post, the stem, the handlebars, serviced then polished the brake calipers, polished the brake levers, the downtube gear lever, checked that the plates to hold the bottle cage (plates made by David, the previous owner), checked that the steel strap to hold the front derailleur fitted, then polished it up. Made small adjustments to the location of the spearpoint masks following the fitting of the front derailleur.
Soon to drop the frame for painting, the chainset and bottle cage for plating, and the hubs and rims for wheelbuilding.


Only holdup now is that I have to wait until H.Lloyds are back from holidays to order the special 1951/52 Reynolds 531 decal and the BLRC decal.

[Clydesdale Scot]

Big step forward today.
I took the frame and forks to Daniel at Daniel Stone Autopaint.
Daniel does exceptional work.
I made his task more challenging as I supplied the frame with temporary masks for the spearpoint designs,

the vector file of the masks to enable the final ones to be cut (like a decal), and a A1 size poster of the frame with masks (image above) so Daniel can record the positioning of the masks before their removal for the prep work.

The frame was originally silver with flamboyant magenta spearpoints around the lugs. Sadly, modern 2-part paints don't come in a colour base to allow for the flamboyant magenta finish. Daniel explained that the base pigments were not UV stable and have been discontinued.


The other special paint finish at the time was polychromatic (a fine metallic flake). That works for me. Daniel mixed some up in magenta and it had the required wow factor.
So silver with polychromatic magenta spearpoint highlights it is. , with a fine gold line around the colour change and the lugs.

I also collected a frame for a friend that Daniel had recently finished. A 1950s Super Elliott track bike that required a bit of preparation work before painting. It will soon go to get the scrolls, lining and painted name.

I then dropped into A Class Metal Finishers with the Stronglight cranks, unidentified chainrings and the Simplex wire bottle cage for plating.
The chainset with be fresh chrome, and the bottle cage will get a nickel plating.

Things to get are the nut off a Campagnolo dropout adjuster screw and a chromed Brooks seatpost clamp. Happy to discuss with anyone who can part with these items.

[Clydesdale Scot]

whilst the frame is off being painted, and some components are being replated, it is time to look at the bike and its long term owner, Dave.

I asked a friend if he had any parts for the Bob's Vinco project. He didn't, but he mentioned he had a cycling friend who was looking at passing a frame on and was I interested.
Silly question.

We have had many chats and emails. Here is some of those, mainly in Dave's words. (Dave is as engaging in person as his entertaining words suggest. Always an immense pleasure.
The setting is Stockport, a part of Greater Manchester.


Philip,
Oh boy, you don’t know what you may have unleashed with asking about the bike and my history. If there is one thing that bores my wife it is my nostalgia. So be warned. It is not too late to have a re-think.
I’ll be quite pleased to give you an idea about components, most of which changed many times and were dictated from many angles. Fashion, weather, type of riding, necessity, finance and personal fickleness to name just a few.

Just to start to put you in the picture (and there is a reason for this preamble) I was 11 and going to Grammar school and my parents were cash strapped with all the family finances plus supporting me. They had bought me a Philips P13 sports for passing the scholarship and that was my “Open Sesame” to a much larger world than I had experienced, and suddenly I was bike-hooked. It was heavy, Sturmey 3 speed, steel mudguards (steel everything) but it was red and had dropped handlebars. On my rides I noticed that the enthusiasts used toeclips and only the touring enthusiasts used hub gears but in my mind I was “a racer.”
Bought some toeclips (6d a pair !! it turned out there was a mistake with them for they were too short on the top and didn’t reach back to the pedals. But now I had toe clips and was almost a racer !!!) So I got a rim, spokes and hub and built my first wheel. It was ok and I rode that fixed gear wheel for the next few years. The bike was everything. Transport to school, shopping for mum, circuits of the bike shops, socialising, exploring and of course, just riding.
I went to a youth club and one of the guys turned up with a Paris bike - 10 speed QR hubs etc. We all stood round, green with envy and gob smacked. (Incidentally he became a very good life-long friend, cycled all his life as did his wife and died about 4 years ago collapsing whilst on a bike ride.) 7 or 8 of the males were all bike enthusiasts and we would visit other youth clubs particularly the ones that had cycle rollers.
One day when I was 16 we decided to go to see a massed start race at a park in Manchester. At that time massed start races on the open road were illegal so the only way for them to happen was on enclosed circuits in parks. But we were aware of the continental races and also the efforts of the BLRC to get that type of racing on Britain’s roads. On the way home a bus overtook us and pulled into the kerb and rapidly stopped. I was on the inside at the back. Because there were tramlines in the road there was only a narrow track between the bus and the tyre-grabbing tram lines. So at speed the group of 4 (2x2) suddenly had to go single file between the bus and the tram lines. I was the last and just didn’t have the time to align myself with the narrow track and went slap bang into the back of the bus. Fractured my skull, broke my nose and jaw and was given 48 hours. Unfortunately, my parents on being asked by me how the bike was told me not to worry, they would buy me a new one. And that is how the EAB came into my life.

Not that it was that easy. On my circuits of the bike shops one was more friendly than the others, though the range of frames was far more limited. It was owned by a Stan Brooks of Lower Hillgate in Stockport. A cyclist, I would see him out on his bike – an old black frame that he claimed he coated with tar to keep the rust at bay. He discouraged the buying of lightweight bike bits thinking them a waste of money !
For example, cottered cranks then being the only one’s available, a weight saving item then in vogue was a drilled bottom bracket axle. When I went to buy one he said ,”What do you want one of those for?’ “If you put a couple of half-crowns in your pocket you’ve got that weight back again. Save your money.”
Anyway my mum, who would be financing the bike, came to an arrangement with him whereby I had a notebook and would take some cash each week and have it entered by Stan in the book. The frame had been hung in his window and there was no being measured or anything so high faluting. My Philips was 21” and I knew I needed a larger frame. The Boult, being larger, logically to an early teenager, had to be heaven sent and anyway it looked good so it had to be right. So those were the technicalities of choice out of the way.
You asked if his shop was close to the underground air raid shelters. Yes, only about 200 m away. Incidently, many of the roads in Stockport were cobbled as were the 5 roads meeting outside his shop. So I got the frame, saddle, pump chainset, pedals, stem, handlebars brakes etc. and put them all together. Then I was off on the bike. My parents were keen church goers and I was expected to follow suit. But slowly my church attendances waned and I spent longer out on the bike. I had started work as an apprentice fitter and of course used my bike for work and also socialising and shopping.

[Clydesdale Scot]

[Continued]
In the next road to ours was a guy who rode with Stockport Road Club and in another adjacent road was another member who rode in the team pursuit in Helsinki Olympics and got a bronze medal. So the youth club group rode with this club, some of them actually joining. Two of us were interested in massed start road racing and asked if the club would affiliate with the League. Their response was that if we joined they would have a vote on it. This was too vague for us so we decided to form our own club affiliated to the League. In the meantime riding for a couple of years with SRC had trained us in club riding, had introduced us to the many tea and dinner places dotted around the country-side and also introduced us to the many and varied eccentrics who were part of the cycling world. And of course we met up with other clubs and got to learn of some of their characteristics and the characters in them. Also we went cycle touring via the YHA, some classed as training runs, others just holidays. Trips to the south of England, the Yorkshire coast, the Lake district, North Wales etc as well as nights away in Derbyshire and Cheshire and a regular run to Meridan, then claimed to be the centre of England, where an open-air service was held annually to remember all the cyclists killed in the 2 world wars.
One club run I remember with nostalgia was cycling home with the club one evening in the dark of winter and it was gently snowing. We were riding through a small village and passed a church with the stained glass windows glowing and from which we could hear carol singing. That, with the gentle hum of dynamos on tyres, the chill of cold on hands and face, the warmth of body and the peace made an unforgettable moment.
Some of the eccentrics. Jim C a cycling alchoholic who also played trombone in a dance band. In the winter he rode a tricycle and travelled to dances with his trombone strapped on the back. After one dance he was travelling home and saw the blue light of a police station. Wishing to spread the joy of the Social Season he took his trombone inside and attempted to serenade the staff. He woke up next morning in a cell with trombone and trike.
Another night he was out with a friend, got very drunk and the friend decided to take Jim to his (the Friend’s) home. No sooner did Jim lie down then he wanted to get up to be sick. His friend, seeing his efforts to rise and at the same time keep the night’s ale contained shouts, “quick Jim, the toilet’s through the door.” Jim staggered up and opened the door and let the pressure go. Unfortunately it was the friend’s wardrobe. !!
There was Jim C (another one) who never wore socks, always stayed seated during the National Anthem in the cinema (played after the last film had been shown for the evening) and lived in a tent in a field. He even had his mail addressed to Mr. J. C-----. The green tent in Mr. G---‘s field, -----lane, Marple, Chesh. And it was delivered !!! When he bought a van he claimed that the flashing oil pressure warning light annoyed him so he removed the globe.
Michael P who, even at club dinners, never wore a tie. Outrageous!!!
And laughter. Endless laughter, even when climbing difficult hills in a race. Someone’s comment would suddenly cause laughter and just as suddenly one’s legs would turn to jelly as laughter slackened the stomach muscles and weakened the spine.

[Clydesdale Scot]

[continued]
So, we had formed a club, North Cheshire Velo. Really we were a rag-tag group operating on absolute zero finance, most of our members being only poverty stricken schoolboys. I was the club mechanic, rides organiser and general dogsbody. Another guy helped with the organising of the affiliation with the league and another helped generally. But we had a weekly club run, organised trips to cycling club film nights, organised YHA nights away and went training together. Had an Insurance scheme of sorts at threepence a week known as the Get You Home Fund. And we entered races. Of course this could only be one-sided for a while and subsequently had to organise races other clubs could enter. We organised about 4 races in the time I was in the club and there was a lot of organising to do. Fortunately riders were understanding and rarely ever complained about things like changing room facilities (a dirty glassless windowed shed on a public soccer field)
But I started to notice as time went by that the happy days of the ultimate amateur having a bash were going. Riders started to come out first with the bike on a car then it was a selection of bikes to be chosen from on the day. And the meeting with the rest of the club after the race and a ride home together had started to disappear.
Then the frame started to go rusty. Just little dots of rust coming through the chrome plate. So I decided to get the frame sprayed. I had come into contact with Roy Mitchell of Upper Hillgate who was a lightweight frame builder and light engineer. So the frame was sprayed and I also had various fittings added. The finish was poly gun-metal grey with Magenta Panels. Also about this time I bought a second hand pair of QR wheels with tubular tyres. Also a cotterless chainset and cranks Gnutti brand. Having a problem with my wheels I took them to Stan Brooks and he pointed out that the Gnutti brand hub spoke-holes weren’t offset in relation to each other. The cranks too were a problem. They mounted on serrations on a very shallow taper and over time gradually moved closer and closer to the frame. But there were no cracks in the cranks so they must have been stretching. All in all rubbish quality. By now I was racing and though I was never any good, if enthusiasm had counted I would have been a world champion. Massed start was my favorite and the more foul the weather the more I liked it. It gave me an advantage. Particularly descending in the rain.
Time trialling meant getting up early and I was never any good at that. My best time for 25 miles was 1hr 4 min 25sec .
Then I decided the gun metal grey was too drab and had the frame sprayed poly emerald green with Magenta panels.

[Clydesdale Scot]

[continued]
So I was racing, touring, commuting and socialising on the bike. I bought another complete bike from a guy who decided cycling was not for him and started to use that one for commuting. I also had a “ratting iron” for the icy weather. These were any old bikes that could be used on the icy roads when falls were frequent and also because the salt used on the roads played havoc with lightweight components. On my ratting iron I had an unusual feature. I had a BSA unit hub in the rear wheel on which I put two different sized freewheels. Then an extra long chain went over one freewheel to the chainwheel then back from the chainwheel over the second freewheel and then on to the jockey wheel of the Osgear arm. This gave me one gear when pedalling forwards and another when pedalling backwards. Good for a laugh. The only race I ever won was a roller racing contest organised by the local Co-operative store to promote their Federation Brand bikes. Open to anyone the bikes were fixed to the rollers and one size bike fitted all. But I won a 5 Pound Co-op voucher.
A couple of evenings a week friends would gather in the local park. A bit noisy but harmless fun. (Never any vandalising)This is where the non-cycling males and females met to joke and laugh and form friendships and the cycling guys would join-in. One girl took my eye and I was keen. So one Sunday out on a club run I told the club I wasn’t staying out for the evening meal but was going back to the park and was going to ask Marie out. A guy called Joe said he had intended doing the same thing. (Looking back, a strange coincidence) I said Ok we would race back and whoever won would ask her out. He said this was unfair as I was fitter and older. So I said Ok, you win and I stayed out. And secretly I was probably pleased because I was absolutely tongue tied with, and terrified of girls and this solution got me out of that problem. He went back, asked Marie out she said yes and eventually they married. I wonder if she ever knew she was the subject of a contest?
Several times when we were on the park the non-cycling lads would bait us saying that they knew a guy who was much faster than any of us. Of course we poo-poohed it, after all we were 100% dedicated cycling nuts. So one evening this guy, Alan Smith, went out with us on a training run and we had to cycle to, and then ride round, a 25 mile time trial course. We had a couple of guys with us who had done 1hr 2min for 25 miles so they were no slouches. We formed an echelon and got to the 25 mile course. Alan had no problem staying with us but when it was his turn at the front he just steamed ahead and the only reason we kept catching him was because he didn’t know the route and had to wait for us. It turned out he used to cycle to his Gran’s in King’s Lynn when he was 12 - about 150 miles whilst his parents went in a car. He also smoked, ate chips went out with girls had a great sense of humour and was very popular. Doubly galling when we enthusiasts were health conscious non-smokers. But he was a natural. He joined and raced with our club and then left to join another club that could give him better racing opportunities. At one stage he held the official record for a local 25 mile course. On the day of the record he was using his only bike, one that he never looked after. He had a loose crank that one could hear squeaking hundreds of metres away, One of his front fork blades was splitting down the back and so he had put a rear-light clamp and tape round it to hold it together and his brake cables went at sharp angles from the brake levers from the times when he had turned his bike upside down to mend a puncture. And he was using his only, everyday wheels.
Training runs were great. A couple of nights per week we would go off into Derbyshire doing 40 or more miles travelling through absolutely beautiful countryside with the slowly dropping sun casting long shadows and the run back to Stockport usually mainly down-hill and very fast. Other nights would be around the comparatively flat roads of Cheshire and we were lucky in that all the roads were sealed to a high standard and traffic almost non-existant.
Holidays, Easter, Whit week and August were always spent hostelling, the 2 weeks in August travelling to Devon and Cornwall area and later to the Continent. The long week-end breaks usually meant a trip to North Wales, the Yorkshire Coast or the lake District. Thousands of miles, all on the EA Boult.
Another happy memory. Arriving at a hostel in Cornwall and hearing a brass band playing in the town below. We could see people milling about so dropped down into the town. The band was playing The Flora Dance and the crowd dancing and singing. And whenever I hear Peter Dawson singing that song I am transported back to that time and place. And I love the story in the words of that song.
Then just before getting called into the forces 1959 I had the frame sprayed again. Poly Orange frame tubes. Black front forks, chain and seat stays and black panels.

Then in Australia I decided to have the frame sprayed yet again and said to the dealer any colour but blue. He remembered the word blue and that was the colour it was sprayed.
I could go on for ages about characters and happenings but really they are only of interest to me.
These are just a few of the thousands of happy memories. What wonderful laughter-filled days.



Dave continued to ride the bike until the morning I picked it up, in October 2015.

[Clydesdale Scot]

I let Dave know that if I was to buy the frame it would be restored back to reflect the period when he bought it.
He thought I was stupid. (perceptive man)

After Dave named his price, which was acceptable, it was time for the collection.
this email:
Philip,
As regards pick-up of the items it is 90% up to you, for I am retired. Just give me a call with a little notice (48 hrs) so that it can be stripped down. Must go a short pedal on it to say goodbye.



The frame has been modified to suit the evolving use and components.
Many of the braze-ons are still suitable for period correct components and are being retained.

This particularly applies to the Roy Mitchell braze-ons.

These next set of notes collated from the emails from Dave and are a rare insight into the components on the much loved frame.

Philip
Here’s something for you to mull over before getting too interested in the EABoult.
I originally had the Osgear on it before the extras were added to the frame. The forward facing rear fork ends are not very good with this gear as the shifting fork gets in the way of the wheel removal. The brazed-on Campag lever boss does not sit well with the clamp-on Osgear lever. The gear cable eye on the chainstay is in the wrong position for the Osgear. But seeing as the frame is already “not as original” it wouldn’t matter how you had it altered. Supplied with the Osgear as new was an aluminium spoke protector plate. This is essential as the over-travel required by the shifting fork to try and get a neat gear change means that inevitably the chain drops into the spokes. I do not have the plate but could attempt to make one if you like (I would have to guess the diameter unless you have a source who could tell you.) but no doubt you would like a genuine one. I have made a chain retaining loop for the jockey wheel and hope it meets with your approval.
[the Osgear has now been fitted by Dave to my Hobbs of Barbican]

You may be interested to know that I originally used on Osgear with a 4 speed 1/8 chain and then used it with 10 speed 3/32 chain. I used a few shifters over the years. Simplex Tour de France, Huret, BSA 4 Star, and Cyclo Benelux. All were pretty agricultural, especially the Benelux. Then I got a Campag but it didn’t come with any instructions and I tried to use it over a too wide range of teeth. Though I still had to guess the shift-lever position it was still a great improvement over the others. Ah yes, those were the days.
I have attached the only other old piccie I have of the bike, taken in Austria about 1957 on its third respray.
The first one was polychromatic Gun-metal grey with Magenta downtube and seat tube bands. The second respray was polychromatic Emerald green with Magenta Bands and the respray shown was polychromatic orange main frame tubes with black seat stays, chain stays, head tube and front forks with black seat tube and downtube bands. lugs in all cases were picked out in gold. Those cranks were Nervar cottered. I had tried Gnutti Cotterless but they would never stay tight and kept moving up the fine-splined axle. They must have been stretching the splines hole because eventually I tried grinding the end of the axle away in order to tighten the end screw even more. But they didn’t show any sign of splitting. The rings are Simplex 47/50 The front shifter is a cable operated Huret from a Cyclo handlebar end lever. And the rear shifter is a Campag. GB Maes bars and steel GB stem. Mafac brakes.


To reply to your earlier email the first shifter was the Osgear (4sp 1/8) and also used as a 10 speed , the second was a Benelux (made by people with hammers and chisels in an unlighted cave, I am sure) The next was a Simplex Tour de France - quite good but rather fragile. Then a Campagnolo Gran Sport very good but had troubles with the range of teeth I used. 47-50 on the front and 14-24 on the back. The front shifter was firstly a Huret hand operated and then a Benelux cable operated. Benelux shifters were, in my opinion, very poorly made all round though the 5 speed clusters always gave me good service. Although maybe if I had tried other brands maybe I wouldn’t have had to buy two a year !


Hi Philip, the rear fork ends were supposed to be Campag.
The gear lever boss is a Roy Mitchell Campag compatible, much cheaper at the time than the genuine article. He sold many of these to the lightweight frame makers. eg Pennine, Claude Butler, Viking etc
Yes, the cable stop for the cable operated front shifter on the non -drive side was added at the same time as the other braze-ons.

Hi Philip, time goes by and I had almost forgotten I ever had an EAB.
The Huret front shifter. The crossover I think was just a piece of outer cable from the lower left hand cable eye and then under the bottom bracket and finishing in mid-air. There were two pulleys in the fitting on the bottom bracket but it wasn’t a good design, the pulleys being too small for the cable. This caused a permanent kink in the wire with a resulting poor shift.

At the time many riders used Sturmey Archer clamp-on cable stops for any cable functions on the frame. There were many “purists” who believed that a frame should be as clean as possible “to reduce brazing stresses” and then clamped everything. Eventually some lightweight versions came on the market and I remember Shimano had their version for gear cables.
Using the Sturmey cable stops for brake and gear cables was also popular with the financially poor riders to upgrade the performance of their cheap rear brakes and gear shifters from continuous outer cable to bare inner wire configuration.
e.g. me with my Philips.

The shifter was used with a handlebar end cable control. Mine was a Dave Orr copy of a Benelux, long since gone.

Cheers, dave




The components I plan on using are the Dave’s front cable operated Huret, with a replacement Cyclo bar end shifter, and a Campagnolo Gran Sport rear derailleur with a downtube shifter. GB Maes bars with a GB Hiduminium spearpoint stem. Brakes will be GB Coureur. When I saw Dave a few weeks ago to confirm the paint masking templates, I took along the parts box. As I pulled each one out he knew instantly what they were and that most of them were at one time on the Boult. Even the Constrictor Boaloy rims. These were rims he already had when he bought the Boult.
So I think Dave accepts returing the bike back to 1952, and hopefully it will be kept in that form for future generations.

I still need to get Dave to document his work with the manufacture of the Pennine CO2 pumps.

And I have offered to Dave the opportunity to have the first ride on the finished bike. He didn't say no, but was concerned at riding on hills. I suggested the nearby flat riding trails through the McLaren vineyards. He looked at me and smiled.

[Clydesdale Scot]

There are few other EA Boult frames known.
One in a British newspaper (clipping supplied by Ray Concar)

helps locate the EA Boult site
https://goo.gl/maps/HE69dLsntCw

Then there is this one (second frame, purple with red highlights) refinished and awaiting building up

The owner, Peter Brown, did most of the work for the decals I am using and that Dave remembers as being on his frame.

And another, in original condition, with different decals, that was on the UK ebay site last October

more photos in my EA Boult album

and this page on the Classic Rendezvous site (with photos of parts of Peter Brown's frame before the refinish)
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Britis ... ult_EA.htm

[hiflange]

Well the bike is a treasure but the history that goes with it is amazing. And it's not just the history but the telling; Dave is a wonderful writer. His memory for the detail of the bike as he altered over time is great. The glimpses into UK cycling culture are great. The number of times this frame has been repainted and pressed back into use are testimony to it's quality

[7VEN]

Some great history there Phillip. Great writeup.

[Clydesdale Scot]

been to pickup some bling



should have had my white cotton gloves on, would have spared you from my fingerprints.

[hiflange]

Very pretty. Macro photography of reflective objects can be disheartening, just aska jeweller! Anyway, I'm sure it will get much worse than finger prints over time

[Clydesdale Scot]

The reason for the macro shot was to show the platers hadn't damaged the profile nor the Stronglight name when they were polishing.
They are slightly conservative in their polishing which is what I like.

And it will be in use, on the regular Sunday rides, rotated with the others. No wall queens here.

The Blumfield hubs and Boaloy rims were dropped of for the wheel build. I am #6 in the queue. Perfect.
Still waiting on the Reynolds and BLRC decals. But no calls from the frame painter yet expressing concerns at delays.

[Clydesdale Scot]

arrived yesterday

the (smaller than standard) 1951/52 specific Reynolds 531 Butted tubes forks and stays decal, and the BLRC roundel.
These will be dropped in to Daniel who has the frame for painting.

and the V-CC facilitated video of cycling in Britain in 1952

featuring many Australians

[Clydesdale Scot]

Late on Sunday I received a message from Daniel that the frame had been painted.
I picked it up late yesterday.


Silver base with a magenta polychromatic finish. A fine 1mm gold band to the shorelines.
The frame preparation and painting by Daniel is to the highest standard.

On the way home, I called into show Dave the frame and he was very, very impressed. He didn't ever expect to see the frame returned to how he first saw it in the shop window in 1952. It goes 64 years back in time.

It was rare for the ornate lugs not to be featured by lining; it was ever rarer to see spearpoints in the paintwork (even though they featured in the popular GB Spearpoint headstems). And then the dramatic magenta colour.
Nothing drab about this early 1950s frame from Britain.

[531db]

Really enjoying this thread, looking forward to seeing the finished bicycle.

[utedeej]

This is a cracking thread - great restoration.

[7VEN]

That looks GREAT! Looking forward to seeing it built up now!
Might need a handle for the CO2 pump if you're making them as the one I have has no bend in it to push the cannister down but will PM you.

[Clydesdale Scot]

Peter was sent the reproduction Pennine pump lever he needed, then he bought a complete pump.

I picked up the built wheels on Saturday.
A teaser

Gemma builds them very well.

and now I have my camera back, I can do some assembling

the guide for the rear derailleur cable, and the lubrication nipple installed. Then the bottom bracket.
Daniel's masking, and the gold line for the shorelines is of an extremely high standard.

[Clydesdale Scot]

Some minor progress
It was a nervous time as I trimmed the (new in package) GB Superhoods.
I treated them with 303 Aerospace Protectant and left them for a few days. I used the same as a lubricant when installing them. All good.
Started to fit the cables and textured cable outers. I needed to fit the FD cable from the bar end shifter before I wrap the handlebars.
And a few photos







and the next project arrived today in a big brown box.

[hiflange]

Looking good

and the next project arrived today in a big brown box.

You're on fire Can't wait to see what emerges from the big brown box!