Thursday 3 March 2011

BSA Wayfarer turns Orange Guv'nor / Path Racer part 1

Back in 2009 I bought a knackered BSA Wayfarer from  ebay, a second chance offer got the thing delivered to my house for a princely £50. Without the tools I had it stripped down to frame for another £15 by the lovely guys at Pauls Bikes; Hitchin, Herts (UK) ready for some loving. She first looked like this...



Unfortunately time passed and the once proud bike lay in the box until recently. Equipped with a new house, a garage and "the will" I started to think about the old girl and what I should do with her. I'm no bike mechanic but recently I've loved getting greasy and taking things apart primarily so I'm not stuck in front of a computer or TV screen when I get home after work and I find it fun, relaxing and rewarding.

All sorts of ideas passed, I'd like to do a proper resotration one day but right now I thought I'd turn it into a Path Racer type, more a renovation I guess. I already have a Pashley Guv'nor but still quite fancied having a go and do one for myself. Anyway I bit the bullet, chose the Path Racer direction and off I went.

First job was the paint, the friendly gents at Full Range Finishing Ltd; Letchworth, Herts (UK) finished and I picked up the frame and forks on 26th Feb. Hmm, did I chose the right colour, we'll see!


26" 1 3/8 Westwood rims (£25.52 x 2 = £51.04) from SJS Cycyles were also ordered as where CREAM Delta Cruiser Schwable tyres following the Guvnor theme (they use 28")...£12.99 x 2 = £25.98


Westwoods close up


Not looking too bad...painted frame and rims £70 cash...done!!

I slapped on "Gunn & Co Complete Chrome Traditional Fork Head Set" (£17) and "Gunn & Co Quill Handle Bar Stem" (£26) from The Old Bicycle Showroom. The headset is a bit low rent to be honest but the quill looks nicely made. Headset stays for now.


This might just work; mind you £255.02 so far, this is not going to be cheap!

2 comments:

  1. Great work, I love the orange Westwoods!! They'll be beautifully offset by the cream Schwalbies. I love building vintage bikes in a similar fashion to yourself and have a similar blog at www.perthvintagecycles.blogspot.com
    I'm looking forward to your next post to see your ideas coming together.
    Regards
    James (GOC member)

    ReplyDelete
  2. You've got a Guv'nor beater, ...you wont get that awesome 46T crank in a Guv'nor, and not cheap but well worth it, good job, Georg

    ReplyDelete