Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Limited Edition Pashley Guvnor release in 2011.

Due to the increased interest in "Tweed Run" and "Tweed Ride" cycling events in the US this year, Ralph Lauren Rugby (clothing) has introduced a collection of tweed clothing that they encourage to be worn during the Tweed events. As you would expect the clothing is well made, great looking, and come with a price to match.


Ralph Lauren Rugby 2011 Tweed Run collection.

The interesting part to all of this is that Ralph Lauren has commissioned Pashley cycles of England to design and produce 50 limited edition Pashley Guv'nor bicycles to mark the clothing release. I have just located an image of one of the new Guv'nors......and mighty fine they look.

What a great marketing angle, and what a lovely bicycle to add to your stable!


The framework of the limited edition Pashley Guvnor.

The technical notes are scarce, so far all we know is what’s in the image above: “front brake, two speed coaster hub rear, cream tires, black gold-lined rims, Brooks B17, etc.” ...and doesn't the gold banding on the seat tube look great! 

Here is the advertisement for the Limited Edition Guv'nor below, and with all of the excitement generated by the Tweed events across the US I can only imagine that getting your hands (and buttocks) onto one of these gems will be almost impossible.....although if given the chance I'd certainly snap one up for the advertised price of US$2 200.





Below is the advertisement for the Ralph Lauren Rugby sponsored Tweed Run New York City 2011, marketing at its best!




...and whilst we're on the subject of new Pashley products..... Please have a look at a new Pashley release captured at Eurobike this year. It's called the 'Sprinter' and re-intoduces the famous line of GB bicycle components.


The overall look.....although this image doesn't do it justice.

GB stem and handlebars.


Solid silver Pashley head badge.

The bike is rumoured to cost around 6 000 pounds, but with a chromed steel Reynolds frame, solid silver head tube badge, and a Camnpagnolo Super Record groupset, you can see why the price point is so high.




The above image is of the GB stem on the Pashley "Sprinter" which is simply.......beautiful, I'm sure you'll agree. Sit back and watch the frenzy if GB extend and release their range of traditional cycling components.  

Until next time...safe riding.

James

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

My 1965 Malvern Star 2 Star bicycle - Part 3

After finishing my 1965 Malvern Star 2 Star (Part 2) I rode it for a couple of weeks and soon discovered how unresponsive the back pedal rear coaster brake was.

In modern traffic conditions it's important to have the ability to pull up fairly quickly, but the Perry coaster hub with a rear pedal brake on this build was not reliable, even dangerous. Even a major effort pedalling backward did not provide much 'braking' assistance.

I live in a hilly area and I also found that the coaster hub created another problem. When starting on a hill I could not rotate the pedals backwards to put them in an ideal position to start pedalling....so not being happy with the setup I made some changes.

Firstly I hunted down a NOS vintage chromed 40 hole hub with freewheel threading. I was lucky enough to find this hub on eBay and paid very little for it. It is a Phillips brand hub, made in England in the 1950's, so when I got it I took it apart and had it regreased. After a polish it came up beautufully.

1950's NOS Phillips 40 hole rear hub.

My friend George laced the hub into the chromed Westwood rim and it looked great. After looking at gear ratios on the Sheldon Brown site and at http://www.bikecalc.com/gear_ratios I decided to fit a 19T freewheel to the hub. This gave me a neutral gear ratio (46T front, 19T rear) that provides for easy pedalling in most terrains.




The next issue to address was that of brakes. I managed to get hold of a set of chromed steel long reach calipers from George and, after giving them a polish, I fitted them to the bike. I also had the matching Dia Compe brake lever and once cabled in I used some stainless steel Dia Compe cable clips to run the brake cable along the top tube. 
 
Rear brake caliper.


Stainless steel Dia Compe cable clips.
Having ridden the bike for a a few weeks now with the current setup I am very happy. It pulls up to a stop very well and now that I have two brake levers on the drop bars it looks and feels more balanced. Happy days!!

Vintage NOS Dia Compe levers.





My 1965 Malvern Star 2 Star.

Please find related posts as below.

Part 1: http://perthvintagecycles.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-1965-malvern-star-2-star-bicycle.html

Part 2: http://perthvintagecycles.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-1965-malvern-star-2-star-bicycle.html

Until next time, safe riding.

James