14/05/2026
Sooooo......
Where do we start.
Sometimes a bike comes along that you think, "oh wow, how are we going to do this"....
And that is exactly what was discussed, at length, between the mechanics for the past 10 or so weeks.
The owner, Gary, had dropped this in to us, a Swiss Army Cycle Division 1937 Schwalbe/Condor Model 1905, with an idea - to ride a very long journey on a very old bike. Ok we said. Let's see what we can do.
So first we checked it over. Mechanics do that by uummmming, aaaahing and ooohing. It helps us think.....
#1 - The front brake was a piece of rubber that stops you by pushing down on the tyre. Uuuummmm....
#2 Both tyres were cracked and perished. Not rideable. One, at least, was most likely original. 90 years old. Aaaaahhhh....
#3 The bike weighed more than a modern ebike. Which is a lot. Nigh on 25 kg. Oooooohhhh....
So we call Gary and explain. "Yep, nope, this bike is not going to ride around our course, let alone a long journey..." Needless to say, Gary was gutted, but was not giving up. Over the next few weeks, during lots of messages, discussions, and ideas, a vision of how the bike could be restored and made A-safer, B-lighter, and C-rideable, was formed...
So, as Gary has already alluded to in his post (which we will link at the end), after many hours of cleaning, understanding, brainstorming, researching, and designing, the bike slowly came together.
An entirely new braking system designed for the front, using modern parts, but attempting to keep the look of the bike...patina matters...
New Schwalbe tyres, in the size of yesteryear - 26 x 1 1/2. To go over the wheels, that required modern 26 inch tubes inside.
Replacement front wheel, but looking as "original" as possible, to enable the rim caliper braking system.
Every tooth on the front sprocket individually and painfully cleaned of grease and dirt, same with every spoke.
Old grips melted off with a heat gun. Old front brake removed. The bell stripped, cleaned and re-greased. The list was endless. But we got there eventually.
And then, one evening this week, whilst at the shop working on the bike, we realised what a lovely summers evening it was, and figured we'd be able to have it ready for Gary to collect, and enjoy a nice ride home.
One phonecall later, and Gary was at the shop, quick as a flash, collecting his newly restored pride and joy.
We told him we would hang around a short while after he rode off, incase anything needed tweaking, adjusting or sorting....the first we heard from him was a message telling us the bike was a "fantastic ride", and made him "feel like a kid at chrimbo". After that, and several rides already in the couple of days since he re-took ownership, hes thanked us many times, and let us know how much of a "fantastic, smooth and quiet ride" the bike is.
Its customers like Gary that make the shop, and the job of being a cycle mechanic, worthwhile. The bike was....interesting....to work on 😁, and gave us a great insight into early 1900's cycles.
Im pretty sure its the oldest bike we've ever had in the shop, and we hope Dave Owen himself would of been proud of the restoration that we carried out on it.
Our thanks to Gary for entrusting us with the job 😊🚴♂️🚴♂️🚴♂️
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1J9jnh6ZuP/
