Latest Acquisitions

My cheapo Indian 1930s style bike arrived in its flat pack box yesterday, hopefully it will look like this when I've put it together:

Martin, where from, how, how much, link?

I'm guessing that it's one of the ones mentioned here: viewtopic.php?f=45&t=17808

Oh, I never read the Jerry nonsense.

Oh, I never read the Jerry nonsense.

Very wise. If you do, it's only a matter of time before you get tempted over to the dark side......

got a slightly small (by 2cm but fits ok with tinkering) a Bulgarian M51 for my Italian impression. looks fine but needs a clean up, cheap too!

Be warned, that nasty looking felt lining that goes behind the leather, it's contains asbestos, I kinda recognized it right off the bat and had my scientist dad who works in a lab give it the acid test (asbestos doesn't really break down in acid, at least not very quickly) and after a few hours about a third of the scrap remained, and still remains to this day (mind you this was about a year, year and a half ago). So, err, yeah, I don't really know what to tell you, you should probably go outside and find some safe way of removing the liner, maybe if you got it wet first so fewer particles break off into the air, then bagged it up in a plastic bag and dispose of it properly/don't just throw it in the bin.

Thanks for the heads up, really good of you , i actually havent opened the clear bag yet. I have access to breathing aparatus and haz-chem desposal, so ill open at station. Interesting though, i had no idea it was used in helmets!

Can confirm that there is indeed asbestos in the helmet liner, if you pull it down from the inside and look behind, its pretty obvious. Safely removed (Y)

Also i got a ww2 Aluminium Italian Water Bottle, very pretty little thing, much nicer looking than my brit one

A box of 5 King Arms Thompson stick mags... very nice to!

P37 small pack (I only had the large one before) and E-tool handle (my webbing came with e-tool but no handle). Quite pleased the pack came with L straps, I find them annoying as hell to adjust so swaping them between packs would have been a nightmare.

My cheapo Indian 1930s style bike arrived in its flat pack box yesterday, hopefully it will look like this when I've put it together:

So how much putting together is required?

My cheapo Indian 1930s style bike arrived in its flat pack box yesterday, hopefully it will look like this when I've put it together:

So how much putting together is required?

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=17808&p=243301#p243301
They have been talking about it

So how much putting together is required?

A moderate amount, which in my case involved belting some bits with a hammer to get them to fit and also discovering it was missing parts of the front brake assembly. Still easier than restoring an original. The full assembly story is on the relevant thread.

Today a spare German belt and buckle also turned up, handy for parades/hanging around as I don't need to unload all the gear normally attached to my other one. The shaft of the buckle retaining pin is broken but I reckon I can fix that with some wire.

Cheers
Martin

Crawled back from beerfest in Winchester yesterday to find my new battledress had been redirected
Went and picked up this morning

Finaly some not French kit

Now to sneak of and take a good look at it all

Finally picked up a correct What price glory TL-122-B flashlight and a paratrooper first aid kit.

Mine fell apart in about 30 seconds, the internal tivets hadn't been stamped properly. and the top 1/3 fell off. How is yours?

I finished putting my own cheapo Indian roadster together today. Looks great but quality is not the strong point.

Putting it together was a chore. First think I noticed was the tube protector in the rim of the front wheel was stretched and twisted and poking out from the side of the tyre. The tyre needed to come off and some tape/glue applies to stop it coming off again. This was not as easy as changing the tyres of a modern mountain bike and reinstallation involved a hairdryer, soapy water and lots of grunting. The brake tab rods were too fat on the ends (from being guilotined in the factory) to fit through the puller bolts and had to be filed down a bit before they would fit. The wheel bearings were all rattly and loose and needed adjusting, as was the steering bearing which looks bone dry. With the front mud guard fixings in place as per the instructions the axle (which is slightly curved already) would not go through the front fork drop outs. The bracket to hold the top of the front mudguard was missing (made one) as was the bolt to hold the top of the rear mudguard (doing without as it is probably some awkward SON (Silly Old Nonsense as opposed to sensible metric SI) imperial thread which secretly pleases me becasue it is more correct for commonwealth impessions than German Got a 13mm spanner? No good! You need a 9/16ths! Seriously? 9/16th? First time tha socket has ever been out of the case. But I digress.)

The wheels were so far out of true they reminded me of the Lib Dem manifesto, I spent an hour today adjusting the spokes on the rear one just so I could at least guess if was close to being straight in the rear forks before adjusting the brakes. I'll do the front wheel when I get a chance. I had to buy an adapter for my footpump becasue the old dunlop valves are so hard to get air into I almost did myself a mischief with the mini hand pump I normally carry. (Then I realised the hose on the foot pump had perished so I had to go back out and buy a replacement hose.) Has anyone else noticed that the pedals aren't properly perpendicular to the cranks which makes them all wonky as you pedal? It''s as if the threaded holes are not drilled straight.

Nevertheless, it is the bestest bicycle. Ever. Even better than the Raleigh Chopper you had when you where eleven. No, it is.

I will defintely sort out a few things before ridng it any distance (the 3 miles to town for example): change the tubes for ones with easy to pump reliable schrader (car type) valves, make sure all the bearings are well greased, fit the lovely old fashioned bell and a swanky chromed headlight and swap out the brake blocks for leather lined ones being as the rims are hefty chunks of steel and won't complain. Longer term, I think the crank sprocket is eccentric (no it's not wearing a cravat or a green carnation) which makes tensioning the chain near impossible as it changes as the sprocket rotates so I might change the chain set and while I am at it I might fit a Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub because Yorkshire is not flat.

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Now, where did I put my plus fours?

Lovely job, I'm glad I wasn't the only one with bent wheels and missing mudguard clip (I also made one).

Cheers
Martin

Looks great Raj I see you put the stand on, I ditched that and the chain guard on mine, damn thing weighs enough as it is!

Sound like I had less issues than everyone else, my wheels are also not particularly true but are not out by much and I didn't have any missing parts. The headset bearing did need tightening up but the wheel bearing seemed ok. I'll be stripping it down soon the get the whole thing painted satin black so will checkout all the bearings whilst its apart.

The period correct pump I brought has a presta valve fitting so I will be replacing the innertubes with presta ones. Maybe I'll get slime ones to foil the dastardly brits tacks sabotage plans

A sten

Also Josh went all Del Boy on me, so now I finally have an airborne helmet and a p51 greatcoat. Greatcoats are awesome.

Oh and a piece of twine for my ID tags, courtesy of McVickers.

1940 Battledress Jacket and Trousers.

Birthday next month. Starting early.

A 1940 british army spoon, to go with my fork.

And a water sterilisation tin, in rather good condition.

A khaki grandad shirt. This thing is awesome, and cotton! Finally something realistic(ish) to wear under my BD that does not itch like a moth£*#%$@er. Also works for my semi-civilian kit needed for a game (though I'm gonna look like civilian that raided a british unit).

Picked up a German breadbag and a Tan and water smock.