Recent content by sjcprojects

True, but distinguishing a (real) bike shop that will give you good advice and one that won’t is not always so easy if you don’t already have the experience, unfortunately… But let’s just say don’t take it to your local Halfords or they’ll try and sell you a new bike instead 😂

£400+ for the Holdsworth was also a decent buy. I was expecting the Bates to go for a bit more, too.

Perfect @Gtpulse, thanks. PM incoming.

Just make sure you get a freewheel, not a cassette. Pretty much any new 6 speed freewheel will fit (like this Shimano one). But it is probably worth just cleaning the current one and getting a new chain and seeing if that is fine, anyway (as @Gtpulse might be hinting at). Some people will say a...

I'm after some brake shoes with guides, in a similar style to the ones pictured – I'm sure you all know the type of thing I mean. I'm not really looking to spend that much to be honest, and any ones that come up on eBay tend to be as expensive as a whole set of brakes, so I'm hoping someone...

Welcome to the Forum. I think the answer most of the questions depends what you are looking to do with it, but if you’re thinking of keeping it as original as possible (which it sounds like), you just need to replace the freewheel with another 6 speed one, compatibility is not really an issue if...

Sounds most likely to me. It looks very Italian, and the Zeus parts suggest a Spanish connection of course, so maybe Italian made for distribution elsewhere. The heart shapes on the lugs makes me think of De Rosa, but that could be a red herring. It looks top quality, anyway.

My mum’s old Raleigh Robin Hood still has a very similar child seat, which I remember sitting in on the way to school as a five year old. At least once one of my shoes came into contact with the spokes, which was not particularly fun. I think it lost the arm rests at some point when the seat had...

Well done @Guinessisgoodforyou. I’ll take 3rd place for a first effort. But may I suggest a future theme should be ‘bikes by makers that no one has heard of’ 😂

True, but Mercian did offer frames like the High Peak which was specifically for the gravel market with pretty much everything a modern mass-produced frame would have. I don't think Mercian could be accused of not keeping up with trends – it's more the wider issues which others have already...

There should be an 'edit' link at the end of your posts

It's sort of bad forum etiquette to comment on prices, but seeing as you're stating that's a starting point, I'm going to be brutally honest and say you'd need to knock a zero off that to have a chance of selling it. If it was exactly as it came out of the shop it would still be a long way off £500.

It certainly sounds like the perfect use for this sort of bike – but I do think if you're paying someone else to do it, you're easily going to be talking about £100s. For example – removing the bottom bracket could easily cost £40 in itself, as it looks pretty well rusted in, so the frame would...

Not surprisingly given you bought it in the late 80s, the parts on it are a bit of a mix – I would guess the Weinmann brake lever is original, whereas the Galli one definitely isn't, and I'd be surprised if the bars are the original ones. Not that it matters, it's all decent stuff, although...

Well, yes – if there's a button that will do something for you with zero effort, people are going to use it, unfortunately. Do you think it's possible to return an item if it turns out to not be a "unique addition to your collection" or "sure to impress"? 😂