More pictures

Well, it's done (pretty much).

Well the good news is I had the frame back from Mercian a few weeks ago and was extremely impressed with the finish! I can highly recommend their service!

I did assemble the bike almost immediately, but as with anything there were unexpected teething issues.

The original headset turned out to be fubar! To find a 1" threaded headset with a low enough stack height in chrome was not easy. All period ones either had too high a stack height or were in poor condition. In the end I plumped for an inexpensive new one. It may not be vintage, but it fits and looks the part.

When it came to fitting the pedals the axle threads stuck so far through the crank arms they actually catch on the chain when pedalling, this was easily sorted with some washers though.

The biggest problem was the handlebars slipping in their own sleeve. In the end this was resolved by getting a very snug fitting imperial spanner and really torquing the bolt!

I have taken pictures to show just how good it looks and how far it has come since I first had it. I have tried to restore it to as close as it would have been specced in the mid-50's to early-60's. I have decided to leave the mudguards off and have now sold them on. The two shades of blue didn't quite match and the thin racing cyclist inside my fat bike-geek body just thought the bike looked so much better without them!

In terms of weight, one or two parts have changed slightly, plus it's had a lot of paint, decals, cables, grease etc added and weighs in at an actual 10.86kg or that's 23.9lbs in old school shillings and guineas!

I still want to swap some ferrules on the brake cables, remove a rubber seal from the headset, and shim the pedals before it's first ride. Aesthetically though, it will be pretty much unchanged!

Here are some photos, compare and contrast!