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The Tale of Two Humbers

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Something that I've learned about myself after several recent rehabs is that I really like bringing rusty abandoned wrecks back to life. It's really rewarding for me. It is definitely more of a challenge to take a bike that may be a 3 or 4 and turn it into a 6 than it is to take a bike from a 7 to an 8 or equivalent. I really enjoy riding a bike that at one point may have been looked at as nothing more than scrap metal. I can kinda feel the bike purring underneath me as I ride.
 
Nice job! I found a rusty, step-through at a bike co-op in their “sell as is” pile. They rehab and sell many bikes but anything requiring too much work is sold as is. Of course I was enamored with the duplex fork, but when I pulled the door open on the chain case and saw that beautiful chain ring, I knew she was coming home with me. She was a lot of work but she rides so easy and smooth. I added the mudguards and my son was determined to use a quadrant shifter.
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Nice job! I found a rusty, step-through at a bike co-op in their “sell as is” pile. They rehab and sell many bikes but anything requiring too much work is sold as is. Of course I was enamored with the duplex fork, but when I pulled the door open on the chain case and saw that beautiful chain ring, I knew she was coming home with me. She was a lot of work but she rides so easy and smooth. I added the mudguards and my son was determined to use a quadrant shifter.View attachment 1478796

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Awesome! Love that badge! Look how well it's retained those colors. Beautiful machine.
 
Nice job! I found a rusty, step-through at a bike co-op in their “sell as is” pile. They rehab and sell many bikes but anything requiring too much work is sold as is. Of course I was enamored with the duplex fork, but when I pulled the door open on the chain case and saw that beautiful chain ring, I knew she was coming home with me. She was a lot of work but she rides so easy and smooth. I added the mudguards and my son was determined to use a quadrant shifter.View attachment 1478796

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Is there a date on the hub? With the quadrant shifter, I'm guessing '40s maybe?
 
Is there a date on the hub? With the quadrant shifter, I'm guessing '40s maybe?
Sorry, it is a mid fifties. The hub had mud in the oil port and the original trigger shifter was toast. I rebuilt the hub and had a quadrant shifter laying around and my son insisted on using it instead of using a more modern trigger. Even though we zig-zagged the cable, I think it still gives the bars a less cluttered look.
 
Sorry, it is a mid fifties. The hub had mud in the oil port and the original trigger shifter was toast. I rebuilt the hub and had a quadrant shifter laying around and my son insisted on using it instead of using a more modern trigger. Even though we zig-zagged the cable, I think it still gives the bars a less cluttered look.
No need to apologize, you did an excellent job bringing that bike back.
 
On to the 23". Sir Mike should have said "spoiler alert" hahaha. The 23" definitely got an OA bath. Every piece from the fenders to the fork to the bars and wheels. The front dynohub was taken apart with all the guts cleaned separately and the wheel went in the soup. The back hoop was stripped off the wheel and in it went, later to be laced with new spokes. The OA bath worked good but a few areas of the frame had additional derusting by applying an evaporust soaked papertowel sealed in plastic wrap (as described on the container).

One of the coolest things about this bike is the blackened chainwheel. It is so cool looking that I really want to run without the pie-plate on the chaincase just to show it off. I actually did for a while but the case squares up better with the pie plate in. With this bike I had a harder time getting the chain not to rub inside the chaincase but it is about 95% good. I noticed when I had the bikes apart that the chainwheel from the 21" was so straight that it didn't really have any wobble side to side as it went around. The black one from the 23" would have about an 1/8" to maybe 3/16" sway. Likely why it was harder to align well.
I also like the nameplate on the downtube. Tom was a local bicycling enthusiast. I never met him before he passed but his friend, the man who sold me the bike, said he would be happy with the rehab and cleanup of the bike. Thanks Tom for hanging onto this beautiful machine.

I installed a shifter that I had set aside from another project that I knew was working well. I cleaned and rebuilt the pedals and they are in pretty good shape. I like how the bike sits straight with the double kickstand so that will stay on in place of the original, which I think went onto the 21". The front dynohub puts out good voltage but again the lights don't work. I tested the rear light independently and that works, super cool, but I couldn't trouble shoot the problem. That project goes on. You will see that I had an old Brooks saddle in place that I think came on the bike. It was nice and soft but kinda beat up. I had a new B66 in my stock so that is what ended up on there. I also started out with the original bars and stem, which cleaned up surprisingly well, but switched to the taller stem and deeper swept bars that I had on the 21" for a bit. This bike fits me just right and is really fun to ride. I even found a nice old bell for it but haven't got any pics of that yet.

Here are some Images of the 23"
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This is crazy, but I have a 1950 Armstrong with the EXACT same "Tom" decal/label as this bike. Wonder if they were owned by the same person? It's a small world, so who knows??
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This is crazy, but I have a 1950 Armstrong with the EXACT same "Tom" decal/label as this bike. Wonder if they were owned by the same person? It's a small world, so who knows??
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You know I thought the same thing when I read your post but never logged in to reply. The Tom that owned my Humber was a bicycling enthusiast. If he kept this old Humber might he have had an old Armstrong? There's a chance. I also got a chill when I saw you decided to call your bike Tom, that's what I'm calling my bike. If it was the same Tom he's up there smiling about these two.
 
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