Ideas, what do you think?

[Fab Foodie]

For those who are interested in the originality of the bike, here she is when I collected her from the LBS earlier with the new wheel and tyre, she's starting to look loved again

Looks great, a real original. Enjoy!

 

[Tim Hall]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions, I have found a 27" wheel and tyre and it fits very nice, looks great too, however now the bike has run into a small problem, I'm unsure on what it is or what to do, my bike makes an annoying creaking noise when I'm riding it however is silent if I'm pushing it, I think its something to do with my headset? Could any of you explain on what to do with it?

What makes you think it's the headset? Things you can do with a headset are (1) tighten it up (2) grease it and tighten it up (3) replace bearing, grease it and tighten it up (4) replace the whole thing.

For a bike of that age it'll be a threaded headset, so you need two headset spanners (one one headset spanner and an adjustable). To tell if it's loose apply the front brake and rock the bike back and forth, at the same time feeling with your spare hand for play between the fork and the head tube. (I think someone slse posted this earlier in the thread. Let us know what you find out.

 

[Longmate94]

Its confirmed as the headset, I've got to replace the whole thing as the whole headset bearings are completely gone, taken it to LBS and he's just tightened it a little to keep me going until next week when I get paid however he told me no Tour DeLa Eire until the new one is fitted. Looks like my 30 Km training is up until next week.

 

[ChrisEyles]

Looks very nice, I love the old mixte frames

As others have said, it's still perfectly possible to source 27" wheels. Remember to check the over locknut distance (O.L.D. or O.L.N.) between the dropouts before buying though!

 

[Longmate94]

Like I say thankfully I found a nice one and fitted it with a new tyre, all that's left to do now is basicly the headset and the brake cables could do with replacing