Boxes of Bits

Recently I've been chasing some old inch pitch spockets, chains, and chain rings. My Dad has a few "old" mates left so he put out the feelers. What's inch pitch did I hear you say? All will be explained below.

Anyway this mate of Dad's, Barry (Knocker) said he had a few inch pitch bits under the house and said he would bring it along Thursday night at the racing at DISC (Northcote indoor velodrome).

Here's what he brought along..............................



Firstly, these wheels which are from the 50s and 60s.



They have Airlite hubs which some say ran better than Campag. I raced on both but I did like the appearance of Airlite. I had two sets. One in anodised red, the other was anodised blue. This set are 40/32 spokers. 40 for the back and 32 in the front which was the norm back then. Note the sprocket - it is inch pitch with every second tooth missing. With a ball bearing out on each side of the hub and the inch pitch drive, the track bike made this fabulous clicking sound that made you feel like a real Pro.



Fiamme rims were THE rim to race on. They had several styles and weights in the range. Made in Italy of course. They had a special sprint rim that I had on my Airlite hubs. I think the tubular tyre has definately had its day.



Here's a close up of the cog and chain. The cog or sprocket is a 6 tooth or if it was normal 1/8th inch, it would be a 12. The chain was super strong. There must have been four chains in the boxes so I won't run out as they are no longer available as far as I know.



In this tin is a collection of head fittings for old steel bikes. Technology makes these redundant and are most probably not available from the modern bike shops today. There's a couple of wing nuts but one is a front, the other a back unfortunately.
Wazza, I think we might find something in here for your bike.



Clusters, screw on ones ranging from 5 to 7 speed state of the art pre-cassette style.
There's also a vintage Campag rear deraillieur in the box but needing some TLC. 



Axles, rear deraillieurs, cones, nuts and heaps of spares.



Centre bracket axles, even old cotter pin style which I needed for my vintage track bike project.
Does anyone have any cotter pins?



Sprockets of all kind and sizes for track wheels.



More clusters and hiding beneath an old style crank and drive is weinman anodised brakes and Mafac centre pull calipers. A real treasure trove of vintage parts.



Oh yes, almost forgot to mention, more wheels.........Shhhhh, don't tell Sue.