Swansea Track bike 6 swan

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singlespeedscott
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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby singlespeedscott » Sun Apr 21, 2013 3:07 pm

I think the yellowed shellac will ad some more character to that lovely frame. At the moment it looks to new :)
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hiflange
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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby hiflange » Mon Apr 22, 2013 9:18 pm

The shellacking is coming along, I'm happy with it, bit late for photos though.
I need to hook up the front brake, what kind of casing was in play in 1959?

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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby hiflange » Tue Apr 23, 2013 7:56 pm

Image

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HappyHumber
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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby HappyHumber » Tue Apr 23, 2013 8:00 pm

Nice, Rob! How many coats?

The once or twice I've tried harlequin wrapping I gave up in disgust. Mind you, I have about 6 inches of straight broom handle that is done perfectly :D
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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby singlespeedscott » Tue Apr 23, 2013 8:32 pm

RobertFrith wrote:Image
Perfect.
Image

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hiflange
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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby hiflange » Wed Apr 24, 2013 12:21 am

HappyHumber wrote:Nice, Rob! How many coats?
The once or twice I've tried harlequin wrapping I gave up in disgust. Mind you, I have about 6 inches of straight broom handle that is done perfectly :D
Half a dozen coats. I just pop down to the garage and put another one a couple of times a day for a few days. The harlequin wrap is something that taxes my brain. I'm not a fan of the contrasting or accent wraps (too, you know, gansta) which makes it doubly hard as you lose track of which bit of tape is which approximately every 5 seconds :shock:

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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby HappyHumber » Wed Apr 24, 2013 12:31 am

fwiw, my combo of cloth tape was brown and black. A subtle harlequin ;)
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hiflange
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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby hiflange » Wed Apr 24, 2013 12:36 am

C'mon, pic of the broomstick! Hey are you going to the Swan Valley ride on Sunday HH? WAHCC has a display there. S'pose someone should start a thread about it ...
I took the Swansea for a ride up and down the street this arvo. I was surprised at how good it feels. Popped the seat up a bit from my original setting and it seems like it's a great fit for me - very happy. If I can get my act together on a brake cable I may either ride it or display it at the Swan Valley gig.

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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby hiflange » Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:35 pm

brake cable done, could only get a black outer though which looks a bit too crisp, grey might sit better with the bike being closer in tone to the aluminium parts. I'd like to replace that and the naked Koolstop brake pads before I photograph it properly but I couldn't resist taking a couple of shots this arvo while I was out.

Image

Image

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singlespeedscott
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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby singlespeedscott » Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:42 pm

More importantly. How does it go.
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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby Sd » Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:46 pm

Beautiful job mate!!!

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hiflange
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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby hiflange » Sat Apr 27, 2013 9:37 pm

singlespeedscott wrote:More importantly. How does it go.
It goes very well thank you. I can't say it's a smooth ride, I seem to be feeling every little bit of road. Aside from that it's great, there's not a lot between it and my 2010 Masi SS (60 years it's junior). The Swansea is fixed wheel and has the added charm of the blockchain chattering away underneath. I only rode it about 6k's so a bit early for anything but first impressions.

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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby hiflange » Sat Apr 27, 2013 10:09 pm

Sd wrote:Beautiful job mate!!!
Thanks. It's a great bit of Freo history, I hope I've done it justice.

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metalrideroz
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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby metalrideroz » Sat Apr 27, 2013 10:10 pm

Just noticed the normal headset. Is there a year stamped on the frame? I think i have an all metal coiled brake cable(no plastic outer, bendy metal) if your interested, not sure if it's long enough.

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hiflange
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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby hiflange » Sat Apr 27, 2013 10:26 pm

Hi Lloyd, Swansea's numbers don't follow any kind of year code that I'm aware of. In fact they seem notoriously difficult to date. Peter Wells, current pres. of the WAHCC has compiled a register of 30 or 40 bikes, 4 of which have known histories. This one isn't on that list yet but it does have a known history and was built in 1959 (most likely) or possibly 1960. It does have a serial number, 33173, which amazingly is just 16 digits different to my Swansea 5 frame. Anyway the brake cable outer is for a front brake so 400 or 500mm should do the job - definitely interested.

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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby ghostpoet » Sat May 04, 2013 8:48 pm

Beautiful work Mr Frith...beautiful. A honey Brooks, some of the cloth covered cables please and it is perfect. Motivation indeed. Do you have any vector files of the decals?

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hiflange
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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby hiflange » Sat May 04, 2013 11:32 pm

ghostpoet wrote:Beautiful work Mr Frith...beautiful. A honey Brooks, some of the cloth covered cables please and it is perfect. Motivation indeed. Do you have any vector files of the decals?
Thanks Chris, the decals aren't decals, they're handpainted :) But to answer the question yes I do have vector files. It was a decal-quest that originally led me to the bike. I traced the logo and photographed it and after a tidy-up wound up with this;

Image

PM me with your email and I'll send the .ai file

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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby hiflange » Tue Feb 03, 2015 1:18 am

Some new pics of the 6 Swan... I took it out with its evil twin the 5 Swan on Sunday.

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Image

Flickr album here if you'd like to savour some more West Aussie built inch pitch goodness

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Re: Swansea Track bike 6 swan

Postby singlespeedscott » Tue Feb 03, 2015 8:19 am

Looks awesome.
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