Fast forward to the late 70s, he and my mum left Brisbane for the Noosa hinterland to take up dairy farming and small cropping, the bike tagged along to be hung up in a shed. They moved twice and the bike still followed, to the best of my knowledge never being ridden, just hanging in the corner of a dusty machinery shed biding it's time.
That time finally came in December 2010, when i pulled it out looking like this..
It was in poor shape but it was special, and if i left it much longer it would get to the point of no return. So i started work.
The original rims were usable (and look quite good after i painted them with help from my better half), but restoring the hubs would have taken more time and money than i had, so the Bayliss front was replaced with one made by the enormous Atlas bike company in India (they still make bikes like these to this day) and the rear Favorit made way for a NOS Sturmey Archer SC. They were laced up with DT Swiss spokes by the very patient proprietor of a local bike shop (after i sourced new spoke washers from Canada). The original tyres were usable, but one day in another shop i noticed some odd tyres on the wall, brand new 28" tyres that had been ordered by mistake.
The thread on the forks was damaged, but a workmate's father is a talented engineer (and keen cyclist) and filled the damaged area with brass to cut new threads, a perfect job for only $20 (though i refused to pay less than $50).
The original Williams cranks were covered in rust and had no chrome left at all, in the interests of originality i sent them and the stem to Kunda Park Electroplaters, $120 and they came up exceptionally well. For some reason when i built it up the original BB axle was far too short (i tried flipping it round to no avail
) so i pilfered one from a 70s BSA. The headset came from an old ladies bike with a smashed frame.I got the frame and forks sandblasted and primer powdercoated at Coolum ($50 odd) and it was then i noticed the frame was badly bent, it seems it didn't take too kindly to that crash all those years ago. A call to the local framebuilder soon had it sorted though.
The original Bell saddle was in very poor shape, so i got my hands on a new Brooks B17 from the UK for 80 pounds.
I painted it myself (all rattlecans, and the first time i have done fades, very stressful), stickered it up with a set from Cyclomondo and after a lot of stress and work i finished it on the morning of the L'Eroica, ready to display along with a matching ladies bike. The stress was very definitely worth it though, as it meant my girlfriend and i were able to dress up in our best 'tweed' style outfits to match the bikes, and i took the opportunity to propose
.
Since then i had the idea to have a saddlebag made to replace the original, and Mustang helped me out with an absolutely magnificent piece of work (which i maintain is worth far more than what he let me pay), which i presented to my dad for his 66th birthday.
Or if you prefer..
After all that it is still not quite finished, 2 of the chainring bolts went missing somewhere along the line and i will be getting my hands on a new dynamo light setup to replace the completely shot originals. And then it will be all set for a lifetime of tweed rides before i hand it on to the next Davis boy.
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, the handlebars lossened a little on the way home, and both hubs have developed a bit of play, though should be easy to readjust. After some initial howling the NOS Sturmey Archer coaster brake settled in nicely and is now silent with very good braking. Speaking of which, the bike as a whole is the quietest I've ever ridden, stealth mode ++!
