Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Imwit
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Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby Imwit » Wed Jul 12, 2017 12:16 pm

Just wondering if anyone knows something about Herb Rolfe's shop in Carnegie in Melbourne?
And more particularly the bikes that came from there.

Herb's shop was where I got my first couple of bikes as a kid.

I have seen a couple of really nice ones for sale but missed out on them.

The one I do own is a Malvern Star semi racer with a nice Rolfe paint job..

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[imghttps://farm5.staticflickr.com/4239/35868273235_bd70a21ee7_z_d.jpg][/img]

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Bill Bowker has a photo of a Rolfe tandem that him and his brothers used to race in the 50s, on his website..

http://mycyclingmemories.com/resources/ ... es%20b.pdf

and also a photo of Herb in the crowd at Carnegie saying that Herb helped found the Carnegie Amateurs club in 1924/5 ish. And a more recent shot of where the shop used to be on anther page of his site.

Trove comes up with a Herb Rolfe in the cycle business in Ballarat in the 1910s. Not sure if its the same fella.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/73911369?

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/74513971?

I am wondering if anyone has a Rolfe and could put up photos?
Also if anyone knows if he did build any of the bikes himself or did the fine line work?

Cheers
tim

tedsbikes
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby tedsbikes » Thu Jul 13, 2017 11:28 am

I lived in Carnegie in my school years and later - c1946 to 1959 - and raced with the Carnegie club in the late 1950s. We lived close to the Packer Reserve track and I spent many days training and racing there.

Herb Rolfe had his shop at the southern corner of Koornang Road and Morton Avenue, near the Carnegie Station. It was more of a general bike shop, dealing mainly in utility (roadster) bike rather than racing bikes.

As far as I knew he didn't make his own frames and from the number of times I was in his shop there did not appear to be any frame making equipment. His main business would be more on the lines of straightforward repairs - replacing tyres, tubes, cables etc. I don't know who built his frames nor who painted them but it was common practice for many bike shops to use external suppliers for these services. But he did sell many bikes using the Rolfe brand name. However, there were only a few riders in the club using Rolfe bikes.

Herb was also president of the Carnegie amateur club around that time and, from club news printed in the Australian Cyclist magazine in the late 1940s he was one of many who were making a comeback to racing after the war. He was known as "Pinky" in those reports but I never heard him referred to by that name - just Mr Rolfe.

Imwit
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby Imwit » Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:56 pm

Thanks Ted. I was hoping you might have something to say on this.
My memory (from the late 70s) it is that the shop wasn't very big and looked quite full with bikes and stuff hanging from the rafters so couldn't imagine where frame building might have fitted there.

john jrolfe
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby john jrolfe » Fri Mar 02, 2018 8:33 am

Hello, my name is John Rolfe and Im the son of Herb Rolfe late of Carnegie, maybe I can help with info regarding him and the business. You can also contact me on jjrolfe@bigpond.com

Imwit
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby Imwit » Fri Mar 02, 2018 10:27 am

Gday John,

Any info on Herb, the store and the Rolfe branded bikes and associated stories would be greatly appreciated.

a couple of photos of other nice Rolfes.. (not mine :( )

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john jrolfe
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby john jrolfe » Wed Apr 11, 2018 3:04 pm

Hi imwit, would prefer phone discussion first, I might find it easier as I don't know what info you have and if what I've got is of interest. Also unsure how to send any material via the forum.
JohnR
[Admin Says]Your phone number was removed for your privacy. People can respond and swapping contact details is best through the private messaging.[/Admin]

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uart
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby uart » Wed Apr 11, 2018 3:40 pm

john jrolfe wrote:Hi imwit, would prefer phone discussion first, xxxxxxxx, I might find it easier as I don't know what info you have and if what I've got is of interest. Also unsure how to send any material via the forum.
JohnR
Hi John. To send a private message to another member just click on their user name in the left hand column next to one of their posts. The name is highlighted blue to show that it is a link. From there you will see an option to contact that member via private message. It's very easy to find.

I would recommend not posting too much personal info like phone numbers in open forums. This stuff can get "harvested" by randoms and used to spam you.

Imwit
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby Imwit » Sun Apr 15, 2018 11:01 pm

Had a good chat to John Rolfe today so I will get down some of the relevant information while I remember it.
I reckon here is as good a place as any to record it for posterity.
Hopefully John will be along sooner or later to correct me where I get it wrong and maybe Ted or someone else can fill in a gap or two.

The Rolfe family have a pretty long history in bikes.
Herb's grandfather Jack Rolfe won 4 six day events in 1881-82. He then went into the bike building and selling business.
Meanwhile his brother Bert was in Kalgoorlie where he raced successfully and also went into the bike business.
Next in the line was Jack's son, also Herb Rolfe. He was in business building and selling bikes in Ballarat before WWI and afterwards in Bendigo until moving to Melbourne about 1920.
First moved to Essendon, then to Rosstown Rd Carnegie in 1922 and finally to Koornang Rd in about 1930.
I'm not sure about when Herb junior took over the business.

John reckons they were building their own frames and doing the enamelling up until about the early 50's.
After that he is not sure where the frames came from but that an old fella from Glen Iris did a fantastic job of the pin striping and fine line work. It would be great to find out his name if anyone has any ideas?

Herb closed the business in 1981 so 50 years in the same spot was a pretty good run for a bike shop.

nemo57
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby nemo57 » Tue Apr 17, 2018 10:58 am

Ken Dickie for the line work? He's in his early to mid-80s now, so probably working from mid 50s-early 60s onward. But before he took up the brushes I've no idea.

Imwit
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby Imwit » Wed Apr 18, 2018 12:12 pm

Could be. Was he in Glen Iris? I guessed he was more northern suburbs.

Imwit
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby Imwit » Wed Feb 03, 2021 4:45 pm

I eventually got an answer on the Glen Iris frame liner’s name. Kenn Dickie reckons it would have been Arthur Jewell. John Rolfe says that sounds right.

I can't find much about Arthur Jewell on the net. Anybody information or suggestions to find more appreciated.

Roisin79
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby Roisin79 » Sat Feb 06, 2021 12:42 pm

Imwit wrote:
Wed Feb 03, 2021 4:45 pm
I eventually got an answer on the Glen Iris frame liner’s name. Kenn Dickie reckons it would have been Arthur Jewell. John Rolfe says that sounds right.

I can't find much about Arthur Jewell on the net. Anybody information or suggestions to find more appreciated.
Since Google shut their news archive (search facility) research has to be done the old fashioned way. (Luckily I got in before they closed it and found out lots about people I've known over the years, in particular their criminal records :lol: )

Johnj
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby Johnj » Sat Feb 06, 2021 5:23 pm

Well I hate to say I told you so....
Johnj wrote:
Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:39 am
I might be biased, because I am responsible for adding digitised material to Trove from a local collection (currently nearly 10,000 items), but I don't believe that any of you here realize just how much community effort (and local funding) has gone into Trove. Europeana and DPLA still have quite a way to go in matching Trove, which is currently the state of the art. The reason there's so little material post-1954 is because of copyright restrictions. The copyright owners, rather than contributing, are hanging onto their material in the hope of turning it into cash.
Roisin79 wrote:Trove is OK for photo's but the Google news archive is the definitive newspaper source, with the Fairfax stable archived from 1850's to 1989.
Got to say I disagree there. The SMH from 1831 to 1954 is available on Trove. Not to mention 300 other NSW newspapers, plus hundreds more from the other states. The SMH on Google news could disappear tormorrow, or become subscription-only, and we would have no recourse. Enjoy it while it's available.

Roisin79
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby Roisin79 » Sun Feb 07, 2021 12:13 am

Johnj wrote:
Sat Feb 06, 2021 5:23 pm

The SMH from 1831 to 1954 is available on Trove. Not to mention 300 other NSW newspapers, plus hundreds more from the other states. The SMH on Google news could disappear tormorrow, or become subscription-only, and we would have no recourse. Enjoy it while it's available.
[/quote]

The SMH and The AGE are there....up till 1989, not 1954, just with no search provisions like before. Copyright is probably one factor but like I said, it was a such powerful tool, inconvenient for some :shock:

Imwit
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby Imwit » Sun Feb 07, 2021 3:17 pm

Ive had a bit of a trove for Arthur Jewell but haven't turned up anything yet.

I've picked up a 'new' Rolfe and it has turned out to be a bit more than I realised at first.

It was in the collection of Mr Bicycle Passion and I saw it there a few years ago when I was visiting.
But seeing as how he has some other bikes and plenty to look at, we didn't pay the Rolfe heaps of attention and I forgot to even take a photo.

Earlier last year BP sent me a couple of photos and I expressed my interest in it if he ever wanted to move it on.

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Even with the old window pane style lugs (which I knew Herb was fond of using), the campag looking gears made it look like a sixties or early 70's bike to me.

Imwit
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby Imwit » Sun Feb 07, 2021 3:39 pm

Mr B.P. kindly offered it to me but it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I was down his way again and we had the opportunity to make the deal.

And when we did, Mr Passion explained why he reckons the frame is from the late 40's.

Older style lugs and brazed on mudguard eyelets.

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Top of seat stay shot in

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Plain (pre campag) forward facing rear dropout and hoop cable guides

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and a cut off braze on just behind the BB on the DS chainstay that he reckons was for an Osgear type changer

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The gear that was on it is Zeus gears, a Milremo stem, alloy bars and Araya 27s with high flange hubs.
So probably a 70s upgrade which could explain the decals as well.

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The guards look like they might be the originals and are in good condition.
Last edited by Imwit on Sun Feb 07, 2021 4:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Imwit
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby Imwit » Sun Feb 07, 2021 4:31 pm

So it looks like I've got a late 1940's Herb built Rolfe.

Which was way up there on my wants list and I'm pretty happy about it.

The way I see it there are two major routes it could go. Either stick with the 70's Zeus gear or go for a 40's style restoration.

I'm leaning a little bit towards the 40's style restoration but I guess it will involve finding an Osgear Super Champion style changer which don't seem to turn up all that often.

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P!N20
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby P!N20 » Tue Jul 18, 2023 8:03 pm


Imwit
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Re: Rolfe Cycles Carnegie

Postby Imwit » Thu Jul 20, 2023 12:21 pm

P!N20 wrote:
Tue Jul 18, 2023 8:03 pm
Rolfe frame: https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/caulfie ... 1314603974
Looks like a 60’s semi racer to me. So not made by Herb but probably sold by him. Anyone know who would have made it? And were semi racers still sold in the seventies?

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