Cheers

Cheers to the craggy faced, silver-haired tradie who called from his ute window ;

'need a beer at the top of this one won't ya' ?

This was at 8.00 Am this morning - about 2 degrees with frost crunching under tyres in the shady spots away from a meek but welcome just arisen sun.

My grin lasted at least until the first switchback on Mt Nelson Road, then turned faintly frozen grimace-like as the bumpy narrow tarmac continued on for another two kilometers or so.

'two beers, I think', was the best I could do in the moment, panting away and standing on the pedals to get on top of the first and steepest ramp leading into the climb.

He was right, I would certainly earn it - I could almost taste the sharp tang of it.

Thankyou sir - another moment to be enjoyed and to draw upon in coming weeks.  I'm certain he had no idea of what we are setting ourselves up for - but I really love the dryness of acknowledgement.  This fella may not want to pedal a bike himself, but could appreciate someone out enjoying the the road.

Cheers...I'll raise a glass of amber tonight in your honour.

Rear Flat and Frozen Fingers

Rear flat and frozen fingers

The temperature sensor in the car had read 2 degrees on the way across town to meet Gav and Craig at the start point.

There was only a light dusting of frost on neighbouring lawns - and anyway, the forecast had been for 0, so I was feeling optimistic.

It didn't take very long to find that suburban Prospect is a touch warmer than the nearby open fields surrounding Longford.  The old Bass Hwy and Pateena Rd were both bordered by a crisp white fairyland of frost.  Beautiful, but the cold quickly seeped into the toes of overshoes and the tips of gloves.

Rolling at the back of the line and listening to the gentle tick-ticking of Gav's rear hub, I was shocked out my thoughts by a shotgun report, quickly followed by the flap, flap, flap of an instantaneously flat rear tyre.  As Gav wheeled gingerly to a stop, my heart sank, as it looked as though the tyre had split and given way, and we quickly noticed a missing rear brake block.

While I wheeled back up the road in search of the missing ( and expensive Koolstop ) item, Gav checked the tyre and found that it had been blown off the rim and it was the tube that had a 60mm split along one side.  Craig actually spotted the lost pad, so we rejoined Gav to inspect the damage and try a spare tube.

20 minutes of fumbling with a shifter and re-adjusting the gear linkage and we were away again - but not before I'd made the realisation that, in the rush to get the bikes together and finished during the week, I had neglected to squeeze the rear brake pad holders on Gav's bike in the vice to gently clamp the pads in place.  Not a great realisation to make with 192 Km to go and pads that could be slipped out with finger and thumb.

20's Malvern Star + fields of frost

We continued on, a quick coffee at Longford and then into Cressy.  Besides the odd clonk from Craig's chain and Gav's ( and my own ) reluctant front brake, the bikes were running well - remarkably efficient on the largely flat roads.

Whatley Crank Tweak - Outside the original Cressy Cycles workshop

Craig's left crank needed a little tightening of the cotter pin - it had worked loose allowing a slight wobble to the crank.  I checked my own and benefitted from a quick tweak of the cotter nuts, ironing out a slight mis-alignment feel.  The image above was taken outside the Cressy garage where the Whatley was made some time in the 30's - so a home-coming of sorts.  I'm not actually posing - seriously checking to ensure nothing serious was amiss before continuing - there is quite a run between Cressy and Campbelltown.

And what a lovely ride on gently rolling terrain.  A slight headwind didn't seem to hinder our progress, but heavy fog left us dripping with condensation - the bikes thoroughly wet but running sweetly.  Gav managed to save his skin on the only plank bridge of the ride.  Dropping a front wheel into a wide gap, pure reaction - and probably a lack of really effective brakes - allowed him to carry some momentum up and out of the rut to continue safely over the bridge.  My own tyres were so wide I really didn't need to watch too closely - and we spent the next half hour joking and laughing in relief at the closeness of the call.



Aero in Cressy

Campbelltown appeared in the mist and my parents were waiting to meet us for a welcome coffee.  A quick toasty in front of the open fire was magical and offered a chance to dry gloves a little.  The new owner of the Red Bridge Cafe turned out to be a Belgian cycling nut who was intrigued by our machines and very friendly and supportive.  The coffee was excellent, thankyou.

The Midlands Hwy is never pleasant, with quite a lot of traffic, but Ross came up quickly, then Tunbridge.  Feeling a bit weary wasn't helped by snagging my gear cable at the roadside stop and losing all gears but top for a few minutes until I'd re-tensioned the cable.  The rollers leading into St Peters Pass were telling on my legs, the shear mass of the Malvern Star dragging on every incline.  The swoop into Oatlands was pretty satisfying though - no brakes and hefty bikes makes for rapid descending - but stable on the old warhorse.

A bowl of chips, another coffee and an arrangement to meet Dad again at the Mudwalls turn-off.  For a moment the sun came through and the wind had begun to swing and freshen, and by the time we rolled out of town we had a following breeze which made the next 10 fast and fun.

Onto the rough mudwalls road and the eyeball jiggling began - and by the time we had reached the top of the Colebrook hill the wheels were coming off.  Not exactly the wheels, more a case of a critical front brake pivot and loosening left cotter pin again on the Whatley.  My rushed preparation was finally coming back to bite us.

With my tiring body, our collective lack of trustworthy stopping power, and an aversion to risking crank damage, we packed the bikes onto the rack of the car and piled in after 156 of the planned 200.  Not the greatest end to the day, but critical in finding the bike's weak spots and our own vulnerabilities.

More soon on the bike setup and prep. 

P-B-P Technology

The little post about gearing and hubs managed to put the horse before the cart again - I just loved finding that image and linking the gearing choice of a 30's pro to our own attempts at finding a workable solution.


Here is where I should have started, then continued the hot-rodding train of thought...


Why are we planning to take 1930’s technology to P-B-P ?  Why aren’t we riding the latest generation of carbon weave and 11-speed gearing ?  Besides the fact that, with family commitments, someone would need to give us this type of new bike, the idea is to try to get some idea of the effort required of Oppy in his era.  Craig was laughing the other day, relating that mostly people look vaguely incredulous - as though we are proposing to ride penny farthings  - when they discover that we are going to ride 1930’s era bikes. 

It’s true.  We’ve found that it is possible to roll along at acceptable averages using our antique machinery.  It is a curious thing - just where does effort and technology cross in the context of what we are aiming at ?

 ( As a slight aside, Aero-bars are banned at PBP, intriguing because you can ride a recumbent, or even a trike, as long as it is narrower than 1000mm wide.  I guess the idea is to prevent people from putting their head down and falling asleep while riding in the aero-position.  It feels a little as though generally, the organisers are aiming at keeping ‘bikes’ looking like bikes ). 

Thinking along these lines, it occurs that Oppy didn’t actually use an Australian-made Malvern Star for PBP ! 


His biography refers to a completely new custom frame crafted from the latest Reynolds tubing ( not 531 as this did not reach the market until 1934-35 - unless Bruce Small got his hands on some prototype tubes ).  Fitted with his usual pedals and cranks, saddle, and a pair of timber rimmed wheels ( one single clutch each hub side ).  This little gem is retold by Oppy in the context of the last minute drama of fitting handlebars in preparation for P-B-P.  Oppy’s favoured pair were too big in diameter to fit into the stem that matched the new French steerer.  His normal bars were duly dispatched to a local Parisienne handlebar maker to be copied using local tubing, but the new ‘bars were not ready in time ( despite the urgings of ‘Fatty’ Lamb – probably Australia’s most forceful, physical rider of the era – though likely also a pure gent ). 

Oppy was forced to adapt to the bars that came back from the 'bar maker – a potentially back-breaking situation.  Adapting quickly to this strangeness of position is part of the legend of Oppy’s ride.   

Note the lack of tape on the upper sections - the frame canister is compressed air to inflate a new tyre.

But, aside from this anxiety inducing situation, Oppy notes with some satisfaction the responsiveness of this entirely new machine - based on Continental racing practices of the time.  It would be fascinating to know what became of this bike – whether it was sold off at the end of that European campaign to save lugging it across half the world, or exported to Australia to be studied in detail at the Malvern Star head-quarters, as a blue-print for Australian road racing bikes to come.

Hard at work n the closing miles - away but soon to be caught just 20 from the finish.

My point here is not to nit-pick over history ( Oppy did ride for Alleluia – a French Trade team and so perhaps the linkage to a French bike for the event ) – More that Oppy used the latest and best equipment available to him at the time.  So why don’t we do the same ? 

With some honesty, that’s where we started from – eyeing the Malvern Star catalogue…

The romance of an idea has overtaken us though.  Our original thought was to try to understand and experience something of Oppy’s effort.  To do this we are seeking to approximate his period spec sheet, albeit with some key differences created by the distance of time…

Some of these differences are inherent in our collected equipment, others are distinct choices for practical or safety reasons – to ride authentic 30’s frames and fittings we must use what we have managed to actually get our hands on in deepest darkest Tasmania.  Since starting up this venture, we’ve realised that it is possible to buy pretty much anything from the period given enough time and financial resource, however, to keep to practical and local limits, this is what we currently have to work with – discovered or sourced here in Hobart ;

The Malvern Star that I will use would be completely outmoded in comparison to Oppy’s P-B-P mount.  It is much more similar to the type of frame used by Oppy for his early assaults on the classic 200Km Launceston to Hobart race during the early to mid-Twenties, before switching to a Tour de France model following his return from his 1928 European season debut.  Long wheel base, relaxed geometry, and relatively heavy wall pipes characterise a frame that features some lovely details such as twin plate fork crown and neat fast-back seat stays.  This frame is bred for the rough back roads of Australian bike racing of the late Twenties.  It’s a relatively blunt instrument, but not lacking in personality by any means.

Gav’s Aero is something of a mystery.   I suspect that it is a sport model or a very, very nice roadster that has been updated with Oppy-bend bars and brakes at some point in its early life.  It’s relatively heavy wall tubes suit Gav’s larger frame and leg-power, and in reality, with slender stays and filed details, is no heavier than the others.  It displays similar relaxed frame angles but, like the Malvern Star, relatively tight fork rake.

Craig is on a very battered Cressy from the Henry Whatley workshop in Northern Tasmania.  It is a track frame with comparatively steep angles and thin-gauge tube walls – particularly the seat tube - and shorter wheelbase – it is the most modern of the trio and rides beautifully, at odds to the perceptible downwards bend in the top tube.  This frame probably most closely approximates the item used by Oppy for PBP.  For P-B-P, the original track forks will be substituted for road blades with just a little more rake.  This frame is actually my favourite because it is just so dinged and bruised, and yet it tracks a straight line and is defiantly composed out on the road.  As a local Tasmanian offering from the period, it is also a nice link to local history and an interesting counterpoint to the other two bikes.

Each frame is nearly identical in centre to centre measurement.  They use the same bottom bracket thread and shell dimensions, feature the same steerer diameters, and fine headset thread pitch from this early era.  Dropout spacing is within a few millimetres of each other, and both the Whatley and Malvern Star feature the same seat post diameter of 26.8, while the aero has something a little smaller at 26.2.

Both the Malvern Star and Whatley are stripped and being prepared for paint, the Aero will retain the remnants of is gloss black and pinstriping, marred by areas of neutralised surface rust.

Expect more on the parts spec as each bike gets rebuilt in the next month or so…

Hot Rodders or Cyclists ?

1930’s-40’s-50’s American car culture grew from a junkyard love affair with turning high speeds using modified and carefully assembled components sourced, scrounged and polished. 

Over the years I’ve owned only a couple of ‘complete’ bikes, well, actually 3 mountain bikes and two road bikes, bought from the showroom floor.  The others have all been Frankenbike efforts, upgrading and renewing as pieces have worn out or technology has shifted.  I have to admit that this type of custom building was at first a necessity for a strapped teenager, and also quite a bit easier in the late 80’s.  There really wasn’t that much choice available locally for a start, and components of the time did not rely on remarkable tolerances to perform properly.

Maybe it’s just me, but I love this approach to bike ownership, and the opportunity afforded by networks such as ebay, or the local swap meet. 

My long-term companion is a custom Reynolds creation made for me too long ago by the crafty hands of Frank McCallum, the frame builder for McBains in Launceston over many years ( Where are you now Frankie ).  That bike is a little like Grandpa’s axe, only the original frame remains, the rest swapped out and upgraded over time.  ( By a small co-incidence, it was made immediately after a batch of anniversary Malvern Star frames in 91-92 from the same 651 tube set, but with gusseted lugs like a Pinnarello, to my own measurements, and finished in oven baked Mercx orange instead of the Anniversary Pearl White of the Malvern Star frames ).

The custom spirit is alive and kicking.  After a bit of PBP route and mileage planning, Gav introduced me to the Vanilla Bikes web site – custom steel frames from dear old Blighty.  Custom Steel frames…So beautifully executed, and yet not exactly what I had imagined Gav parting with his hard-earned for.  That’s not a criticism, just surprise that he is equally swayed by flawless craftsmanship as he is by immutable carbon mouldings.

In my current fantasy world, I have been ranging around with an idea to build a time-trial-specific frame with drop bars for mass-start racing.  A lash-up based around something like a Teschner for local content.  Our vet(eran)s club, the most active racers in the State, hold only relatively short events, thankfully, and a slippery frame and wheels would be just the thing for a skinny light-weight like me – taking a leaf out of Dave Z’s experimental book with full aero-tuck and skin suit for mass-start racing.  This bike is unlikely to happen in reality, but it brings out that old tortoise and hare / technological chest-nut.

I know that this doesn’t have much to do with P-B-P, but stay with me, there is a little more to these thought processes.

For me, bicycles are such paired back mechanical devices that somehow ( if only by pumping up the tyres a bit harder ) are always linked with performance.  Their lives are constantly shaped by ‘up-grades’ to reduce the amount of input required to cover ground.  Even the most basic of two-wheeled machine can be more rewarding to experience with a lighter wheel set, better saddle, improved brakes…

Slump

I didn’t really notice until the other day that I was floating along in a motivation slump.  Since completing the 600 qualifier I just haven’t felt much like riding, or even looking at our three project machines.

Still, we’ve managed a fair bit of talking and planning, and even some booking of flights and accommodation - but rides ?  Aside from the couple of days a week grind to work – constantly broken by the weather – and a fabulous off-road session at Tolosa St, followed by a lonely but satisfying jaunt to nearby New Norfolk a week later, not much has been going on.  Looking at the date of posts on this site – it’s obvious that my mind has been elsewhere…

Well, Saturday changed all of that around once again.  Thanks Lynne and Gav.

On Saturday morning the most amazing co-incidence re-fired my enthusiasm for our period machines.  A school friend of my wife’s mother called to visit while holidaying from QLD.  Lynne and ( Husband ) Kevin had been hearing a little about our exploits in the car on the way over and were keen to see inside the shed.  While Kevin asked very sharp questions ( for a non-biker ) about equipment, clothing and the riding, Lynne fished about in her handbag and produced a small bound family photo-album.  There amongst the early black and white images was a young man poised above Malvern Star track bars – Lynne’s father Bob Prosser, a 30’s track champion.  According to Lynne, the Prosser brothers loved their bikes and racing, venturing as far afield ( from Southern QLD ) as Melbourne to compete.  A couple of other snaps showed them preparing for a fishing trip, rods and bikes to hand – the bikes so obviously ingrained into every facet of life in an era before the rise of the automobile.

What a treat to see these treasured images ( I’ve been promised copies so will post them up soon ) and to hear little tales about a cycling family deeply affected by the sport.  Kevin and Lynne, such warm-hearted people left me buoyed with their well-wishes and enthusiasm for attempting to make something of our old machines on this adventure.

A couple of hours later and I was hanging about in Gav’s shed, watching him prepare a spare mount for the Kellevie 8hr the next day.  Needless to say I was reluctant to put myself through 8 hours of twisting muddy track and battering rocky climbs and descents and had neatly avoided any conversation around actually entering.  While Gav cheerfully wrenched away on his bar setup, I was poking about and eyeing off his expanding stable, including the first mock-up of a single speed to play about on.  Slender Steel road frame, deep curvaceous track bars, delectable polished Thompson stem and shiny Gippiemme aero wheels.  Though pieced together with relatively prosaic bits, the bike will look lovely once completed and - as Gav is our ebay guru – it will have cost very little, and he will have learned such a lot about what fits together. 

I love this kind of hot rod ethos.  It reminds me of earlier times and why I have always enjoyed bikes so much – besides the pleasure they can bring in actually riding them, they are accessible and can be pulled down into individual pieces and then carefully put back together with new or different bits, and then tested in the great out of doors.

( In case you are wondering, our man motorcycle managed 20-something out of 50 riders.  Not a bad effort considering that his Stumper has hardly turned a wheel this year and about half an hour was lost in fixing a mechanical ).

Post Justification

Images of the 30's Alcyon below are ripped from the VelosVintage blog site - there is a link to the page just over there somewhere on the right.  Take the time to delve into the history compiled by these guys, it is a treasure trove.


I've posted up some of their imagery because it is kind of interesting - and explains also a little of our logic.

This is road racing 1930's style, and Oppy would have ridden against machines very much like this at P-B-P in 1931.


We are building 'new' wheel sets for our vintage bikes based around period front hubs and a trio of aged Sturmey Archer AW three speed hubs.  Though having said that, Gav and Craig will use an alloy high flange hub of classic styling to match front and rear spoke lengths and ensure total reliability.  I'll use a 32 hole front hub from the period made by the English Hub Company.

AW hubs may have been used in competition in those early years - though I've never come across a direct reference.  Certainly SA's AM fixed three speed was a popular time-trialling piece in the the early years of multi-gear cycling. 

We've chosen the AW because they were designed in 1934, we own and will use one from 1939, they are pretty readily available on the black ( ebay ) market, most spares are easily obtainable, and they will go some way toward saving our 42+ year old legs.

  


I know I'm making excuses, but we aren't pretending to be professionals, or ex-TdF riders.  Far from it. 

Our gear selection will offer more than just a one-tooth gap luckily.  According to Sheldon Brown's excellent web resource, the AW hub provides straight through in second, 133% top end and 75% reduction for low gear.  With the bikes on 700c rims and set with a 48 tooth 'ring and 18 tooth sprocket, straight through will equate to about 74 gear inches.  Just a shade above the ratio used by Oppy in 1931 ( his autobiography says 72 inches - but this would have been on bigger diameter rims ).

I'm also eyeing up the 'quick release shown above, and thinking that it might make a good solution for our own rear wheels.  Its agricultural, pragmatic and completely workable - maybe we can just do a slightly neater job.

Some images of our build are to follow.

The Beginning

The advertisement above dates from 1936 - so more than a decade after the beginnings of this little story.  1936 marks 15 years as a professional, and includes two seasons in Europe, two Tour de France campaigns, an astounding win in Paris-Brest-Paris, and more motor-paced track speed and transcontintal road distance records than seems possible for just one man.

But we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves...

Here is our hero, just 18 years old and interstate for the very first time to Tasmanmia to race as a professional - also for the very first time.

Zoom in a bit and read the sash.  Launceston to Hobart 1922.  Fastest time.  Fourth across the line.

Rather than retell it, here is a little excerpt directly from Oppy - an insight into his lyrical writing style, and the humble way in which he describes his own vast ability and performance.

I commence on the same 6 minute mark in the Launceston to Hobart as the in the “Warrnambool”.  Before the pedalling exertions commenced my rating, as far as Tasmanians were concerned, was way down in the basement.  I was 5ft 71/2 in and weighed 9 stone 2 lb.  It being my first trip interstate I spoke without confidence and marked brevity.  This, combined with my physical appearance added up to a minus return in the analysis of the local critics, who in Tasmania, of all States, best know their cycling. 

I did not mind. 

All my life I derived a large modicum of delight in being assessed as the one most unlikely to succeed, when I knew there would be more behind me than in front.  Roads have no respect for reputations.  They give back exactly what is put into them from pedal power.  I dropped my co-markers after 10 miles and 20 miles from the end had a win in my sights, only to puncture. 

The rules permitted a change of bike and a quick witted lad riding in the opposite direction hurriedly jumped off and handed me his.  With a saddle too low and handle bars too high, I rode that last 20 miles like a cycling John Giblin, bandy legged, arms askew, bobbing and wriggling as a I clung to the precious fastest time and the course record.

Peer into that image again and mark the frame details - the rear stays pinned at the seat cluster, the twin-plate fork crown, broad fork tips set into the ends of quite tightly raked deep oval fork blades, simple straight cut lugs, single fixed gear and deep 'aero' shaped timber rims.  You may also have noticed the complete lack of rim brakes, little shorty shorts, slender leather shoes and a very home-sewn star emblazoned across Oppy's chest - custom team kit  obviously of the home-grown and merino variety.  

This 1922 ride marks one of the very early appearances for Malvern Star - and really the very first glimmerings of the strength of character, persistence and sheer physical class of a rider who would rise to the very top echelon of European road and track racing.

This is my other early favourite of Oppy - a little disconnected from Launceston to Hobart - but with that real 20's feel.  simple striped jersey, white woollen knicks ( ?! Nothing really is new ) and a Malvern Star that looks more like a track machine with its round fork blades and tighter clearances.  Cycle racing then was about fair-ground tracks and bumpy gravel 10 milers.  Col's and high passes stil just a glint in Henri Desgrange's eye, and yet to capture the public's imagination ( yet again ).

But to get back on topic - you will note some of the same simple a and elegant features in our own period Malvern Star - which must date a little after this early period.  I guess I'd better post a few images of its rebuild so that you can see just what we have found.

This Sunday, Craig and Gav and I are planning a small tribute to Oppy and the now distant and defunct Launceston to Hobart race - an event I didn't ride when doing the 'open' season in the early 90's. 

We'll follow an alternative ( and less trafficed ) version of the Launceston Hobart route - only taking to the midlands Highway between Campbelltown and the Mudwalls turnoff.  The road for us will parallel the historic highway, cutting South through Longford and Cressy to Campbelltown on a very scenic and slightly rolling two laner.  I'm hoping for a typical tailwind - not the recent Southerly's.

We'll be leaving from the corner of Prospect Rd and Casino Rd at 7.30.  Don your togs and join us - your shout at the Longford Bakery where we'll be sure to make a first stop...