Old Racer Restoration

Donie75

I bought an old 70's or 80's racer a while back and I've been doing it up gradually. It's an old Legnano racer made from Falck tubing. It appears to be a touring bike or base model racer rather than an all out race machine. The dynamo mount on the front fork is a big clue.it's a nice bike even though the kit is all fairly basic.
The groupset is campagnolo Valentino
The wheels are Rigida Superchromix with knurled rims. They have cleaned up nice but the old spikes seem a bit soft so I'm toying round with the idea of replacing the old steel spikes with nice new shiny stainless steel ones. The hubs look fine.
The first picture shows what the bike was like when I got it. All the bits were there except for the big chainring and bolts.
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This shows the front wheel after cleaning them with wire wool and WD40photo 3.JPG

Here's what it's looking like now, not finished but nearly there.
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photo 2.JPG
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Just need to clean the rear mech and sort out the back wheel.
The brown bar tape looks the part and the brown Charge Spoon saddle fits in well even if it's not exactly of the period.
Hoping to get it finished soon.

Does anyone know anything about these bikes? Age, etc.
Was there a dealer in Ireland?

Donie75

Apologies for the wrong attachements in my original post. They are fixed now.

mugsymugsy

nice work on the restoration!

Trollhättan

Very nice work there. Where did you get the tyres?...would like to get a similar set myself for an old Peugeot of mine. Thanks.

Donie75

Trollhatten,
I bought the tyres on Ebay. There are a few ebay shops based in the UK that sell them in pairs.

I'm looking for a set of pedals that will fit in with the bike if anyone can recommend some.

Also, I think I need to replace all the spokes because the existing ones seem a bit soft. Should I look at just building a brand new set of wheels if I go to that much trouble?

happytramp

Donie75 wrote: »

Also, I think I need to replace all the spokes because the existing ones seem a bit soft. Should I look at just building a brand new set of wheels if I go to that much trouble?

The wheels probably just need to be re-tensioned. Should only cost about €30 in a bike shop.

piston

Remember one thing about the spokes - steel rims are built with lower spoke tension than modern alloy rims.

If the wheel is true and round and unless some are obviously very loose, they are probably fine. If so, just put some tension in the loose ones but not enough to pull it out of true.