The Villiers Two Speed Gear

A scan of the brochure for the Villiers two speed gear. Not a derailleur system as it is essentially a chain gearbox. An interesting dead-end in bicycle gear design. Puzzlingly complicated to fathom and rather heavy the Villiers two speed was a product of the thirties though when production was started and ceased exactly I am not sure.

Villiers two speed brochure page 1.

Villiers two speed brochure page 2.

Villiers two speed brochure page 3.

Villiers two speed brochure page 4.

Villiers two speed brochure page 5.

Villiers two speed brochure page 6.

Alta girder forks

I found these Alta brand girder forks at a parts meet a few years ago. They were too unusual and cheap to resist. They have suffered a bit from storage but are new old stock. It seems that perhaps the chroming wa of very cheap quality in the first place. The forks seem to be Italian made and are with one inch steerer and English threads.

The best guess would be that they were marketed at a time when cyclemotor attachments were popular. They certainly have the look of an early fifties component about them. They are made to fit a frame size of around 23 inches, obviously dependent on steerer tube length. There is no anchor for a drum brake but there is a bridge for a caliper.

Hopefully some day I'll find the right frame to put them on. I did recently come across a BSA Golden Vase that looked like it would fit the bill but when offered up the steerer on the forks was too long.

Alta cyclemotor spring forks detail.

Alta cyclemotor girder forks.

Dorset Saddle

An ebay find. I've never heard of Dorset saddles before but the local connection kind of meant I had to have it for a future build. The typeset and shape of the label is very similar to Lycett so perhaps it was produced for a local shop, the address I bought it from was in the county so it stands up as a theory. Does anyone out there know anything more?

Renolds Chains postcard

An original advertising postcard from the twenties. Lovely painting by the artist Kenneth D Shoesmith, best known for his work depicting Ocean Liners with an instantly recognisable and evocative style.

Renold Chains advertising postcard
by Kenneth D Shoesmith.

GB Sport brake set

The regular fleabay trawl has turned up a nice period set of GB brakes for the Sun Manxman project. The calipers are 'Sport' and the levers are 'Arret' models. The set is ideal for the Manxman, correct period, quality, functional and long reach. A curiosity about the levers is that instead of the usual small circular GB logo they have an image of a Lincoln Imp. I wonder if these levers were originally from an Elswick Lincoln Imp? The logo is identical, if anyone out there knows please comment.

Purely coincidentally the last project completed in the shed was an Elswick Lincoln Imp.

GB Sport front brake on Sun Manxman.

GB Arret brake lever with Lincoln Imp logo.

Compare with the Elswick Lincoln Imp logo. Identical?