Bicyclz

My idea here is to take a good, old/interesting/classy frame & build it up for modern, reliable use.
Originality takes second place to safe usability.

The Royal Enfield Superlight was a flat bar 'Sports Roadster' of the era, with 26" steel rims, Sturmey Archer hub, 531 main frame tubing & some very interesting small build details which make it quite distinctive.
So I build this one as a practical 'town bike', with Allrounder bars, alloy rims & good callipers. A rear rack is also an essential.
Happily this frame takes 700 rims (with clearance for guards) quite nicely so it's got A Sturmey Archer FM in a 40 hole 700 Weinmann Alesa rim, (A nod to period correctness??)
Front rim is another Weinmann, but not Alesa.
Tyres here are 28 Panaracers, but they run at minimum 105psi & on unhooked rims they are not for long term use: )

Brake callipers are Weinman Carreras, bars modern steel 'Allrounders' with Weimann alloy levers.
Four speed FM has a limited range but with a 46 front & 19 rear sprocket you get an approximate gear for your own needs?

You can work out the before & after here below; ) The ebay pic looks a mess, & the bars look incongruous, distracting and yet interesting.
When I first saw it I was thinking late 1930s because of the bars and saddle, but it didn't 'add up' somehow! I bid on the basis that it was a Royal Enfield 531.Has the original RE alloy chain-set and brake callipers. Rims proved beyond help, but the hubs are fine. The before has a set of track bars? & original RE chain-wheel & brake callipers, all of which got £130 to finance my rebuild of this very cool frame/forks.

Comments most welcome: )




.

Aubergine 

3speedslow

non-fixie 

Bicyclz

It lives for a long time yet!
Getting adjustments & necessary tweaking, but it is close to what I'm intending.
Any FM gurus out there?? They are notorious for not engaging the lowest gear: ) (FMs not the Gurus: )
This one does engage, (when it feels like it) but if you remove the rear wheel it all needs careful tweaking again to get all four working consistently.

A satisfying challenge though.

OTS 

Well done!
Details?
Paint? Powdercoat?
Have a Sun Manxman I need to get on the road but have hit a mental block.
Seeing this on the road might be enough to get me going.

Bicyclz

Has an interesting (unique?) BB.
Check this in the original Lime Green!? paint.


Flash welded BB instead of lugs...
Only Daytons had this arrangement then, as far as I know.

It has other smaller unique differences. Like the pressed head lugs, all documented when RE had all the machine tools left over from wartime production of aircraft frames, etc.

SquidPuppet

The matching tires, saddle, grips and pedals are very cool.

Bicyclz

@ OTS. This one has a powdercoating. Single colour & none fancy lugs = a cheap refinish. £35 English.
Me had a Manxman also; ) Loved mine, but it is now long gone.
Is yours on here on BF somewhere? Got lots of pics of mine if you wanna see.
One here:

Zbridgman

ThermionicScott 

Looks great! Do note that that "keep inflated 105psi" marking is really just a suggestion that can be ignored. I don't run my 28mm Paselas at anything close to that and they ride much better for it.

Cute Boy Horse

I'm confused by the comments in here. "well done", "quite tasteful" etc. Quite tasteful? It's pillar box red with white tyres. It looks like a cheap fixie.

https://www.statebicycle.com/products/hanzo-core-line

1:1 match

Lascauxcaveman 

Before photo: "More like Royal Enfield Superrusty, amiright?"

Anyway, that's quite a makeover. Another worthy cycle saved from the tip.

I agree. Sometimes match-matchy is just the way to go. Or in this case, matchy-matchy-matchy-matchy. Despite Cute Boy's objections above, I think it works. It's a 'custom,' not a restoration. Perfectly good way to rehab a bike so far gone. It really does need an all-white frame pump plugged in between those pegs on the downtube, though.

Bicyclz

You may well be right about pressures & they do seem a little harsh at 105psi. I do have some black 32 Schwalbes which run at lower pressures & I was intending to try those anon.
I do like the white/cream Panaracers, though I do know some are averse to such fripperies....
But I don't care: )

ThermionicScott 

I think they look appropriate on an older bike. All-black tires make me sad!

ThermionicScott 

I see where you're coming from, but it's not a 1:1 match -- OP's bike has lugs, curved fork blades, and the wheels aren't silly deep-Vs. And the horizontal dropouts will work better with fenders than track ends, if he decides to put them on.

Bicyclz

[QUOTE=Cute Boy Horse;20357923]I'm confused by the comments in here. "well done", "quite tasteful" etc. Quite tasteful? It's pillar box red with white tyres. It looks like a cheap fixie.

https://www.statebicycle.com/products/hanzo-core-line

Well, $300 is a cheap fixie, but it won't last as long as my oldie frame & mine will have no depreciation.
I do not apologise for a simple Vermillion & White colour scheme.
It's all down to taste, surely??

I think the cheap fixies look like mine; )
Not the other way round.

Bicyclz

@ Lascauxcaveman.
You right there. Super-rusty might well describe it, but only on the chromed steel parts actually.
It was a cheapo ebay find 6 years ago, (£24) & you make what you can out of it.

That's the fun of it.
Isn't it?: )

SquidPuppet

You are going to hate my Rat Traps then.

tiger1964 

And the downside is **********

I like everything about it except the stem, although I understand why it's there.

tiger1964 

I followed the link; I like the color scheme on the AC as well.

Bicyclz

You understand perfectly: ) The fat/chunky stem is there temporarily in order to locate the right position for the bars, prior to finding the correct stem for it.
Will need to be a riser I reckon.

This is a 22" frame & I'm 6' 1" so some compromises are inevitable....
On the other hand there are many options available yet.
A wheel change will make a single speed/fixed, or a 5 speed derailler in the opposite direction.
It's definitely getting guards to make it all weather.
Even a chain-guard of the right type.

It's weighing 22lbs currently without the rack.

ThermionicScott 

"Hate" is such a strong word. I won't belabor my disappointment.

Wildwood 

That's amazing.
Very nice presentation - let me agree with all the positive comments, wholeheartedly.

Comparing something 60+ years old with
something modern that has resemblance
in fashion and transportation qualities is:

1. Hugely complimentary to the 60 year old machine for being timeless
2. A slap at the modern, for not offering differentiation or significant improvement in 60 years
3. Shows a point of view that - newer is better - clearly disproven in current example, given 60 year 'advantage'
4. Fails to recognize this as C&V Forum. The finest examples include taste and artful functionality.

GrainBrain

22lbs is incredible. Is this from the same outfit making the motorcycles or is it in name only?

You have to figure out how to modernize those lighting internals and remount the old lights back in place. That would be off the charts IMO.