Gerald Tate on the road again

[il padrone]

Well, it's done! After much trawling of bike stores, ebay and on-line sellers, my rebuilt Gerald Tate 1940-50s single speed is all complete.



It began after the Vintage Cycling Club's swap-meet at Abbotsford Cycles with just the frame, which was apparently Gerald Tate's own bike. He owned a bike shop in Geelong, and is also a life member of the Retail Cycle Traders Association. It has just a basic black paint work that is quite chipped. Respray and some nice lug outlining and pinstriping would be one option. But then I'd lose the original decals. For now I'll stick with the old paint job.

Now it is in rolling condition, with fixed/freewheel hub, Mafac Racer centre-pulls, the Brooks B17 (of course), some very cool Honjo hammered alloy mudguards and the Nervar cranks/TA chainwheel. Just need a nice silver alloy regular pump to fit on the frame pegs, now.

Mafac Racer brakes, Honjo hammered alloy guards, and stainless steel bdon


Nervar cranks (similar to TA), TA 46t chainring, MKS Sylan pedals and clips


Flip-flop hub with White Industries double freewheel


Tate Cycles decal, Geelong

Mmmmm

[vx255]

That looks brilliant Pete, Hats off to you, did you get the fenders locally, they certainly look more suited than a pair of SKS ones.

Eddie

[il padrone]

That looks brilliant Pete, Hats off to you, did you get the fenders locally,

They are Honjo fenders, made in Tokyo. I bought them from Velo Orange, a very handy on-line shop if you're looking at doing up a classic road touring bike.

they certainly look more suited than a pair of SKS ones.

That's what I thought too. They are actually exactly the same fenders that French cycletourists used in the 30s, 40s and 50s, especially the constructeurs who entered bikes in the 'Concours de Machines' or technical trials in the 30s. These were really the first bikes to use wide range gearing, well ahead of the racing scene, and essential accessories like mudguards, racks, lights etc were all part of the bikes' equipment for these competitive trials.

This bike is more of a town bike (no , not that type ) with just a single speed set-up. It is largely equipped with French components - Mafac brakes, Nervar cranks, TA chainring, Mavic rims - so the mudguards and French-style bidon are in keeping with this.

[munga]

Pete, were you happy with the postage with velo orange? Can you recall how much it cost for shipping the fenders? Their site doen't seem to offer a postage sum..

[il padrone]

Yes, postage from many US stores can be crushing.

Velo Orange have always been reasonably good, along with a few other US sites I use. Mudguards are quite bulky and fragile. I tried getting rims shipped, but the freight is crippling, even through Velo Orange Harris Cyclery and Alfred E Bike. The Mudguards I bought (35mm width) were $US79 and postage was $US41. Some other smaller items (bidon, bidon cage) were in the package, but the bulky box for the mudguards would have contributed a lot to the cost. Keep in mind that in Australia a set of SKS mudguards will set you back $70-90.

These Honjo mudguards aren't plastic coated, but are lightweight and suprisingly strong. And they look wicked

[kukamunga]

Jesse's Speed Shop here in Melbourne (Hope distributor) sells similar mudguards, Nitto randonneur and 'moustache' bars, and a few other unique parts
Tel: 03 9419 1945
Fax: 03 8415 0055
E-mail: jesse@speedshop.net.au

[531db]

Nice bike il padrone, It should ride well.

[cycles gitane]

[quote="il padrone"]Well, it's done! After much trawling of bike stores, ebay and on-line sellers, my rebuilt [Gerald Tate 1940-50s single speed is all complete.

Well done. Looks good
All you need now is a "peanut butter wrench" (preferably of Campagnolo origin).

harris cyclery:
Campagnolo 15mm Peanut Butter Wrench (TL9013)
$31.95

[kukamunga]

All you need now is a "peanut butter wrench" (preferably of Campagnolo origin).

harris cyclery:
Campagnolo 15mm Peanut Butter Wrench (TL9013)
$31.95

Hmm..... His 50th is very soon, cg!

[il padrone]

All you need now is a "peanut butter wrench" (preferably of Campagnolo origin).

harris cyclery:
Campagnolo 15mm Peanut Butter Wrench (TL9013)
$31.95

Already have my old TA crank wrench from the 80s. I could probably use it to spread peanut butter Its single end is the same size for wheel-nuts. I'll carry it with me in the finishing touch, a Brooks leatherette saddle bag in black, a copy of the Brooks 1950s saddle bag. Should be very stylish, suit the era and look great. Can't wait!!

l'eroica is beckoning - it's on again this year, on Sept 27-28th at Beechworth.

[vx255]

l'eroica is beckoning - it's on again this year, on Sept 27-28th at Beechworth.

I had a look at that link, They mention "vintage refreshments", I guess someone finally opened the fridge in my garage I owned before I got married.

What's the wallbike shipping like? reasonable?

[Blockchain]

Fine looking machine.
Congratulations on keeping the original paint and a great selection of parts that look correct and will offer miles of use. Hope to see it in the flesh on the Mockridge day?

[cray-]

which was apparently Gerald Tate's own bike. He owned a bike shop in Geelong, and is also a life member of the Retail Cycle Traders Association.

Any chance he also owned a toy store? Pretty sure "Tate's Toy Kingdom" is still alive down on Shannon Avenue in Geelong. I'm not old enough to remember a Tate's bike shop though.

Very nice looking bike btw.

[il padrone]

Any chance he also owned a toy store? Pretty sure "Tate's Toy Kingdom" is still alive down on Shannon Avenue in Geelong. I'm not old enough to remember a Tate's bike shop though.

That'd be it I believe. Gerald Tate is now retired and fairly elderly I believe. I'd guess the store focus has shifted at some stage, maybe his son runs it and is more into the hobbies and R.C. models. It is still listed as a bike shop by BV though. A friend of mine who grew up in Geelong tells me that Tate's Cycles was a well known bike shop back in the 70s.

Very nice looking bike btw.

Thanks

Sad news is, though, that I was tracking down a rattle in the mudguard last week, and discovered the rear stay was loose. Trying to adjust it and the bolt head sheared off in the drop-out eye I took it to my LBS and they tried to drill the stub out, but found it to be too hard for their drill press.

Oh bugger!! Now I'll see if kukamunga can save the day with some tools he has.

[WyvernRH]

Sad news is, though, that I was tracking down a rattle in the mudguard last week, and discovered the rear stay was loose. Trying to adjust it and the bolt head sheared off in the drop-out eye I took it to my LBS and they tried to drill the stub out, but found it to be too hard for their drill press.

Oh bugger!! Now I'll see if kukamunga can save the day with some tools he has.

Unless you are using high carbon steel bolts to hold on the mudguards then the LBS must have some pretty wussy drills! If you can't get pliers on it to twist it, cut it off or file it flat (look out for the paint!), centre punch the middle of the bolt (look out for the paint!) and drill through with an proper HSS drill sized at about half of the bolt diameter (look out for the paint!). Quite often this will loosen the bolt and it will twist through with the drill. If not you can:
(a) be techo about it and use a stud extractor in the hole just drilled and reverse the bolt out or:
(b) keep drilling out with bigger drills until only the metal in the threads is left. Get what you can out and run a a clearing tap through the hole.
If an HSS drill won't bite get a tungsten headed drill set.
Cheers
Richard

[cray-]

That'd be it I believe. Gerald Tate is now retired and fairly elderly I believe. I'd guess the store focus has shifted at some stage, maybe his son runs it and is more into the hobbies and R.C. models. It is still listed as a bike shop by BV though. A friend of mine who grew up in Geelong tells me that Tate's Cycles was a well known bike shop back in the 70s.

Aaahhh that explains it, well I grew up in Geelong in the 80's [I'm 28 now, moved to Perth in 1999] and it was definitely "Tate's Toy Kingdom" by the mid to late 80's. I remember my old man taking me in there to get a Lego kit or a plastic model car kit as a reward for going to the dentist. I used to drool over the wall full of HUGE Tamiya boxes for all the RC cars. I guess they might still sell bikes, Huffies or somesuch.

Good luck with the bolt removal.

[il padrone]

Broken bolt drilled out and eyelet thread cleaned out

Now here's some kit to finish off the '50s look

Brooks saddle bag


And some clothing items to wear when riding


Damn those helmet laws! I'd love to wear the cap with an old brown jacket and some grey pants to ride around town

[vx255]

The saddle bag really tops the look off, much larger than I thought they'd be by looking at them online.

Is that a pump I see mounted? Found one to suit?

That last shot really shows up the chrome on the bike, looks great, I can see VO getting my VISA number soon

[bowie]

Brilliant

Keep the hat and jacket on and tell the plod to get fudged!

Awesome bit of kit