Jumping on the Guv'nor bandwagon

[bobg]

OK I'll own up to having been thinking about building a lookalike for a while now, for no other reason that I'll enjoy it. My neighbours (40/50year old ) 26" wheel Pashley Roadster frame may be coming my way soon and I have a couple of decent ally SA hub brakes. So my question is, if I build the hubs into 700c rims with fat tyres, could I squeeze them onto the Pashley?? BTW, I believe that 28" wheels are only 700c's that will take over 32mm tyres, is this correct?

 

[tyred]

You would need to check the frame clearance I would think before buying nay parts. 700c wheels with sensible width tyres are bigger than 26 x 1 3/8" but old roadsters usually had mega clearance. I'd be confident of being able to fit 700c wheels on either of my vintage Elswicks which have 26 x 1 3/8" wheels.

28" usually refers to the wider 700 wheels but can also refer to 28 x 1 1/2" found on the traditional large framed, rod braked roadsters and this is a physically larger rim (635mm v 622mm).

Personally, I would stick with 26 x 1 3/8" now that alloy rims in this size are easily available. I think this is a nice size of wheel really, big enough to roll well and just wide enough to give a decent ride quality on any road surface. The only issue is there are a better selection of 700 tyres available but stick a set of cream delta cruiser tyres on them for retro coolness with puncture protection

 

[palinurus]

Good project. I look forward to the photos of this one.

 

[Chris-H]

This sounds an interesting project will be looking forward to seeing the progress pics.

 

[bobg]

Thanks chaps, I look forward to getting the Pashley frame, the fork rake angle is far more relaxed that my 56 and 40's Raleigh Roadsters, more akin to the 30's jobs and the Guvnor configuration. Will certainly upload some photo's seeing as how you've asked. I agonized about 26" or 700c then eventually ordered a pair of 700c Mavic A119 black rims because they took wide tyres and also I wondered if 26" wheels might be a little out of place when trying to replicate a Guvnor/path racer. And yeah Tyred, big cream Delta Cruisers look just the job but probably look awful aftert a couple of rides. I'm conscious of being a bit of poser with this build but who cares... BTW for those of you who can get to Manchester Velodrome, their big Cycle Jumble is on the 15th Jan I think, the last one was a bit disappointing I thought but it was a new venue.

 

[bobg]

It was this copy that inspired me
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v601/Misseelee781/1.jpg

 

[benb]

big cream Delta Cruisers look just the job

Those Deltas look good. I like the ones in black with the white sidewall. I wonder how their puncture resistance compares to Marathon+?

 

[bobg]

What do you think of the wooden mudguards here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pashley-G...UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item19cb3984fd#ht_500wt_1156
They look nice close up but... ?? where's the rest??

 

[tyred]

I fitted a set of cream Delta Cruisers to my Batavus (it had originally got cream tyres) and they remain cream despite riding it up farm tracks and all sorts. They do show dirt, but ride through a puddle and they are clean again. Any roadster type bike I refurbish in future will have some variation of Delta Cruiser fitted. They roll so much better than the Raleigh Record tyres I have on my other roadsters, they are money well spent and puncture resistance is a huge plus if you've got a chain guard and rod brakes to contend with.

I know the black ones also come with the reflective strip that would look odd on a vintage rod braked roadster but it's a small price to pay for puncture protection when you need to spend half a day trying to get the wheel off to fix a puncture (chaincase, hub dynamo, rod brakes, hub gears, mudguard and rack stays going on with the axle nuts, chain tugs - My Rudge is a nightmare to work on).