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"Newby" will need help restoring an old "Armstrong"

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BalkaRoo

'Lil Knee Scuffer
G'Day from WA,
I have joined this group, because over the next year or so I will be needing some advice during the restoration of my old
"Armstrong of Birmingham" bike !
I was given this machine second hand by my grandparents when I was 9, in 1963 (I am now 66) and it served me faithfully until I got my first car in 1976. After I finished riding it and moved to the city I let first my middle sized brother and after him my youngest brother ride it, so it was in continual use until approximately 1990 after which it sat in storage for about a decade when my eldest nephew asked if he could use it, which I agreed to. Unfortunately it suffered a lot during its latter years but did survive and I have recently brought it down here and intend restoring it. I have already started collecting parts that will be needed and have managed to locate "some" of the parts that were removed after I had stopped riding it.

The frame is showing mostly "rust" with very little of its original iridescent green paint, and the relevant decals although present are very faded and scratched so if I were to refinish the frame to the standard I intend, I will need replacement decals, does anyone know where I may get decals for this "touring" (I think) machine ? I have been looking on line at some of the sellers of these such as H Lloyd and about 10 others who all have sets for Armstrong "moth" cycles but not the correct seat tube decal. It looks like the moth "Armstrong script" is the same but not the other one.

I intend to spend a lot more on restoring this machine than it will ever be worth just because of the history myself and my family have with it. I have been researching on line and believe it was built in approximately 1955. It is a 27" machine fitted with a 3 speed Sturmy Archer hub gear change (I think I will need help with that when the time comes) and when I first got it it had front and rear mudguards, a chain guard and also a lighting generator and fork leg mounted front headlight. When I was at the farm I managed to locate the rear mudguard and also the original handlebars which still had their lucas space race bell on them (removed after my time) and will have another look for other bits when I am up there next. I will still try and find the missing front brake caliper and front brake lever which must be there somewhere. If I can't find these, does anyone know the likely maker ? I am thinking probably Sturmy Archer who made the hub change gearbox and my brother who is into British motorbikes tells me that Sturmy Archer made all sorts of control fittings for the motorcycle industry and may have for the push cycle makers as well.

Anyway, it's a very interesting site you have here,
Thanks for looking,
Graham
 
G'day and welcome! I had some great times exploring WA in the late 1980s, Pemberton, Denham, Shark Bay, Exmouth. Had a chance to travel with the Uni dive club up the coast. Amazing experience. A housemate moved there to do grad school at UWA, never moved back to California and ended up staying to work at CSIRO in Canberra. We have a neighbor with a daughter in her 3rd year of veterinary school at Murdoch.

As for Armstrong Bikes, I've got a ladies model I fixed up for my wife and daughter to ride. I've done a light cleaning and lubed everything but it still needs some more polishing to really bring out the luster of that old paint. I've read that Armstrong was a low end line for Raleigh but they sure seem to take punishment and hold together, real craftsmanship went into them. I found it without rims but found some with a 1969 Sturmey Archer 3 speed AW hub.The bike seems early 1950s or older. The Armstrong decals are art deco style so it may be a 30s-40s bike. All the bikes I've found online have the later script decal. The serial number is B77829, B for Birmingham I believe. I'd be curious what the serial number is on yours since you have a good idea of age. The trigger shifter is a round Brampton, not an SA. The brakes don't have any clear maker stamp in them, might be Brampton too. The grips are John Bull Sports.

There are some web sites in Britain with good information and old catalog/pamphlets for Armstong.
.
.
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A US site put together by the legendary and sadly late Sheldon Brown.

I also have a 1950s Rudge Whitworth Frame waiting for new rims and some attention, then there's the 1960 Hercules I inherited when an old friend died, too many projects.;)

Show some photos when you have a chance. I'll add a couple here for inspiration.
I'm a few years younger than you but I'v preached the point where I really enjoy a 'Sit up and Beg' rider.
All the best!
Gary

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Well, Thank you all for the "welcome" to the forum, I can tell already that I am going to like it here !

Anamtinkerer, thank you for the information about the Sturmey Archer hubs having a date stamp, I couldn't get out to the shed quickly enough to check it out. After cleaning off the oily crud, as you said it has a 2 digit number, "58" so I am thinking 1958.It also has the letters "SW" and the number "10" which I am assuming is a hub series identification, no doubt time will tell. I aren't real sure its the original hub though, because I remember while my nephew had it he got a second Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub off his school bus driver but I don't know if it was ever fitted to the bike. It may have been because I also seem to remember when my youngest brother was riding it he broke several spokes in the rear wheel, and yet now all the spokes are intact so he may have repaired the wheel and fitted the second hub. I will have to ask when I next see him.

gkeep, I am glad you enjoyed your time in WA. I live in Bunbury now, (100 miles south of Perth) and a lot of the places you mention are very familiar to me. I used to go up to Sharks bay quite often once, when a good friend owned a charter boat operating there. Half a dozen or so of us would go up there and sometimes we would go on a charter with him and sometimes he would come out on one of our small boats with us ! Good days.
What actually got me on a "bike kick" leading me to bring my own old bike down here was that my step daughter is going to UWA (university of West Aust) and living in a small unit with a friend. She took her bike up there and was riding it to lectures, but her friend didn't have a bike so I picked up a very sad looking mens bike off a street clean and did it up for him to ride to uni so it is now being ridden as well. It was nothing special just a cheap chain store make believe racer from the 1980s that had been painted all over in flat black paint. It is an Asian made "Sovereign road king" fitted with mostly Shimano fittings and if I say so myself it scrubbed up quite well ! Jackson loves it !
I like your Armstrong "ladies" bike, and can see a lot of similarities with my own old frame but I think yours may have had a "kinder" life. The frame tube script on mine is like "handwriting" unlike your "printed" letters, but I have seen both styles in online photos while surfing around for information. Your bike looks to have the same handlebars as mine had originally and most of the fitting are either the same or very simmilar, including the drive sprocket which also has the "Armstrong" name cut into it. I checked for frame numbers and under the pedal crank shaft housing between the "British Made" stampings is the number - GR 23 V LS (the "G" is a bit hard to read, it may be a C or O,not sure) This doesn't seem to tally with other numbers I have read of so arent sure if its the actual number or something else.

Anyway, I will "try" and take some photos of it and post them here, but I have had trouble doing that recently. I used to do it pre photobucket debacle but since then my results have not always been good so we will see what happens.

Thanks again,
Graham
 
Hello Graham,
Great that you could date the hub, 58 is the year, 10 is the month so it was produced in October 1958. There are some great videos on cleaning those hubs but it seems that a good flooding with some sort of solvent/penetrant until it runs out then give it 10 or 12 drops of 20 wt machine oil and they're usually good as new.

Good job on the 80s bike for your step daughters friend. I gave an old friend a 1972 Ladies Raleigh Sport a few weeks ago. Gave it a cleaning, polish and greased the hubs. She hadn't been on a bike in 20 years. The next day she emailed me that she loved it and had forgotten how much fun it was to just roll along. My kids are in college. My daughter is up north in the redwoods of Arcata at Humboldt. She rides a mens early 70s Raleigh Carlton and loves it. My son is at UC Davis, a town famous for it's bike culture, he rides a 1974 Peugot a friend was going to toss. He had always ridden a mountain bike until he tried that and was won over by the lightness, speed and feel of a road bike.

Bunbury, we drove through it down 1 so many years ago. Great memories, stayed in a caravan park near Pemberton, climbed up the fire lookout tree, hiked the Yeagarup dunes. I remember down near Pemberton driving a dirt track through the Jarra forest and thinking how much it reminded me of the Pacific Northwest, just replace our deer and coyotes with emus, roos and 3 foot long lizards.;) Love the flocks Lorikeets, Kookaburras and Cockatoos. Incredible what noise a couple hundred of them create feeding out in a paddock.

This site has a lifetime of information about bikes and biking history, I learn something new every day here.

All the best,
Gary
 
"Well", here goes !
One very well used (and neglected) Armstrong !
It probably "looks" worse in the photos than it actually is.
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Armstrong script
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Numbers under pedal crank housing.
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Here are some images of the 3 roadster models offered by Armstrong in their 1956 catalogue.
I don't imagine they'd changed much by 1958.
Images from the V-CC library :
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Hope that's helpful.
 
Thanks dnc1
I see a lot of similarities between my old bike and the pictures out of the 1956 catalogue !
I suspect all bicycle makers used a commonality of components that they mixed and matched for different models and looking at those pictures you posted I see a lot of component parts I think are exactly what mine has although they are not exactly put together in the same combination.
Its still very interesting to compare them to mine. Thank you very much for posting them.
Graham
 
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