Charles Roberts
 

Been a while since I posted on C&V...After moving from Buffalo six years ago my cycling taste took a turn from classic to mountain and gravel. Buffalo was so nice for vintage rides, but central New York is quite the opposite. It's hard to even flip bikes out here, which is a labor of love for me. Anyways, my Grail bikes are 30s-40s road bikes, the only thing for me worth keeping. I have a 1970 Paramount, but I have always wanted an English Racer, and I think I struck gold...this is a keeper. A mixture of Campy and Gran-Compe, I'm probably gonna put aero levers and an IRD freewheel on it for upgrades since it's a mutt, but damn I can't wait to ride it...
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Nice find, look forward to seeing the "after" pictures!

I love it, but I am a concerned about the apparent crack on the top of the head tube to downtube lug.

It's the paint that already flaked off. It's gonna be tough saving the decals....

Is that a bike license from Denver? As in Colorado? Fun little extra.

Nice find. I bet it will clean up very nicely. When it does, I advocate a two-step progression: (1) put whatever components you like on it; (2) ride the heck out of it.

But you already knew that. :thumb:

Yes that's a Denver license on it, makes me wonder how the heck it got to CNY...this bike has definitely not been ridden on decades. Or it was rode hard and put away wet. BB is rusty as hell, spokes are shot, the brake hoods are melted to the metal, the 52 chainring is warped. This is gonna be fun...

A strong mix of parts on this rig. Campy front D, cable guides, hubs, seatpost, Stronglight spindle, Suntour Cyclone rear D and shifters, Cinelli bars, and I don't know what the stem is
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A buddy of mine rode a Gios Torino, a Pinarello Montello and a Chas Roberts, all Super Record. He claimed if he could only have one, it would be the Roberts. Good luck.

Edit...it was likely a Charles, not Chas, even with the SR. It was well ridden.

@jish1969

That stem is an early Cinelli 1A with the with the small oval logo and what may be homemade milling or? :foo:

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Well I took it all apart and it cleaned up nicely. This is how it sits after a coat of Johnson's paste wax. It's been so long since I worked on a headset with free bearings, now I can only find 15 of them. I just ordered some new 5/32 bearings, but would anybody like to tell me about how many go in each cup? I've read 25. It's an old Campy headset...

'If in doubt , leave one out.'

Thanks, will do. I'm debating how far I want to go with this now. I'll definitely put the new bearings in the headset, and the Stronglight BB has already been overhauled, but I would need to replace a lot on this. The wheels are toast. Mallard from hub is pitted, 5spd Shimano rear hub on a steel rim-garbage. They're already at the side of the road. The bolt for the Suntour Cyclone RD doesnt seems to be the original, or correct size as it won't fit in the D.
Aside from the frame itself, which I'm assuming since it's a Charles is 531, has Campy dropouts, the best parts on the bike are the Campy seatpost, front D(a touch rusty), headset and cable guide. Cinelli Champion du Mondo bars, and 1a stem(that's been home milled).
The SR crank is nice, though I have to bend the large ring straight again. The brake levers and calipers are Gran-Compe. Rear D and shifters looked like 1st gen Cyclone.
Im torn between looking for a donor bike with a great group and wheelset or just moving the frame/parts separately. Probably wait until after the holidays to decide.

EDIT: After looking at the English Club Racer thread, I feel like I'm leaning towards this direction. SA 3 spd hub. I have to get new wheels anyway, and this eliminates the derailleurs. A 40s-50s club racer has been a grail of mine, might as well make it! Gonna take a while tho...

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...b-bikes-2.html

A very worthy project for a restoration....nice work saving the decals, I would leave well enough alone and count your good fortunes!:thumb:
Best, Ben

Digging this wheelset, I just wish it came in silver/chrome. The black could look good I suppose....

https://handsomecycles.com/products/...speed-internal

Is your rear spaced to 120 or 126?

I measured earlier with a tape measure and got 124 after I converted, so I assumed 126. I finally found my ruler and it's 120. That SA hub is 127...rats. Seems I need to find an AW hub then...

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Got some new bearings in the headset yesterday, but I think I may only get a season or two out of it. Now I have to wait until my quarantine ends to get to my LBS. The wife bought me the wheels for Christmas, so those are on the way at least. In the interest of keeping it cheap I will reuse the non-aero dura-ace levers that it came with.
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Looks legit

Progress. It's been slow going, but it's been frigid in CNY and my kerosene heater can't keep up. Couldn't find a set of long reach calipers until a friend reached out with a newer set of Tektros he had lying around. I had already decided on Tektro aero levers before that because I want it to be comfy on long rides, and in the past my non-aero bikes didn't get ridden as much until I switched.
I need to get a new BB, as there is clicking on the rear sprocket telling me I'm not in line, probably going with a cartridge BB when I get it measured.
. I went through Handsome Cycles and got the wheels-Alex Rims on SA hubs. The shifter hub is a Sturmey Archer SRF-3. Since they are black I paired them with Panaracer Pasela 700x28s.
. The Brooks saddle will be going back on, along with matching Brooks bar tape.
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. I have the old Campy cable guide mounted still, and found a Simplex downtube cable guide in my bin. I had the thought that I could route the shifter wire along a more normal path like that, but not sure if it will work. Anybody got any Ideas?
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Most of the Roberts I have seen have greyhound long top tubes. this one appears in that vein too.
I would consider upright bars.

fun build..... bit of mix and match and it looks like the brooks is coming back to life

Didn't campy nuovo record headsets use 3/16" balls?

Yes they did, but at least now I have a lot of balls...lol

So question for you pros out there. The OLD on the SA SRF--3 hub is 119 and my BB spindle is 120. I'm getting a noise from the rear sprocket and chain, but should it concern me? While I'm no expert on chainline by a long shot, the numbers match, and the chain isn't hugging any particular side, so I should be good, right? The only thing I can think of is that it's a Stronglight 120 spindle, which is most likely ISO, and the SR crank is JIS. Or the chain/sprocket/chainring size difference.
. I saved a video in my Google drive and attached the link of anyone would care to listen. This is my first time dealing with anything Sturmey Archer so any advice is appreciated.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xZw...w?usp=drivesdk
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