Above; The frame gets it's third waxing.

Below; The CLB high life calipers get a work over.

A lot of work, but definitely worth the effort.

Above; Beautiful Australian pin stripping, the Aussies are/where in my opinion the masters of this fine art(and it is art by the way).

Simplex front and rear derailleurs work very nicely, and quietly.

Super clean lug work, with Hartley signature hart (of course) cut out top and bottom.

  

The philosophy of multiple bike ownership

This is my new get to work when I'm running late, which is often, visit friends over in Napier or go for a quick coffee(that's a triple shot, two sugars in a small cup, in case you are buying) bike. 
It is a 1950's Comet Track bike, fitted with Brooks Professional saddle for comfort and good looks, Campagnolo rear brake (yes it was already drilled), for stopping power, and good looks,
Merkins style track stem and some 1930's steel track bars for their good looks etc....

For those of you interested, there is a brief history of Comet Cycles on this blog tagged under Comet on the r/h tool bar.

HUBERT TURTILL MOTOR PACE BIKE

This is one of my most treasured machines, A 1950's Hubert Turtill Motor Pace bike.
Turtill was a ex pro track rider, who had won just about everything he could in New Zealand, so during 1932 after winning the Australasian Track Title, sought the greener pastures of Australia.
Turtill rode for the Malvern Star team while in Australia, and I believe, as part of his Malvern Star sponsorship worked in the bike factory, where he was taught the fine art of frame construction. During this period he also rode competitively in England,France, Germany and Holland.

Back in New Zealand after the war, Turtill started building race bikes for Butler Cycles in Christchurch and a few under his own name, I not quite sure how this all worked out, but I'm sure someone will fill in the gaps for us.

Turtill Malvern Star trade card

Below; Turtill signature done in brazing wire on the down tube, can't say I have ever seen this on another bike. but it sure is a nice feature.

30 t Inch Pitch chain ring, 60 t on normal pitch, as you can imagine, this bike could boogie, although with no brakes and sitting only inches behind the pacing motor bike, it would only be for the brave, especially with a couple of other combinations circling the track at the same time.

Nice little fish tails are a nice touch.

HUBERT TURTILL MOTOR PACE BIKE

Above:Support for Head/ down tube

Extra long seat stay spear points are very elegant.

Above; H T signed in brazing wire, with full colour Butler decal, notice the super tidy lug work.

B 37 Brooks saddle, with alloy chassis.

SOME RIDES IN THE COUNTRY

Above; Siobhan on her 1956 Raleigh Sport, which came complete with Sturmey Archer AM alloy hub ,mmm very nice, Siobhan's a sweetie to.

Here are a few photos of various bike from my collection out on their Sunday rides.
I try and take them all out for a spin when I can,the only ones I don't ride are the bikes with serious historical interest ie; ex Olympic bikes or machines with an extensive race history with a name rider etc.

Legnano I restored a few years ago, it reportedly belonged to the great sixties New Zealand rider Ritchie Thomson.
Behind is Siobhan's 1970s Bertin Mixte

Above; One of my sons Felix out for a spin with Dad on his(was Mums) 1977 Gitane Tour De France, sure looks the bit doesn't he.

Below;Very nice 1930's Claud Butler with Trivalox derailleur

Chater Lea and Siobhan's Raleigh, see some more on this Chater Lea here.

Grumpy old codger, nice jersey though, he should lighten up.
Legnano isn't to bad either.

1960s HILLMAN CORSA

Above; Hillman showing off its very nice 60's angles.

Below; Jeff Cochrane (front) on the Kaimai Hillclimb during the 1965 Dulux Six Day race, riding the Hillman.

Here is a very nicely made Australian Hillman (Corsa?) brought in 1963-4 by Jeff Cochrane, and raced extensively by him over the next several years.
As you can see it in original paint, but unfortunately rust has worked its evil way under the paint so the whole bike will need to be stripped and repainted, which is a real shame.
Notice that all the lettering is hand painted, I really like this about the Australian bikes, many I have seen have at least some of the motifs hand painted, they also seemed very fond of painting the riders/owners name on the top tube.

Hand painted Hillman Cycles logo.

Above; Very clean lug work

Early 1950's Hartley Racer

I have been very fortunate to have obtained a couple of very nice Australian machines over the last few months. the first is a nearly completely original early 1950's Hartley Racer, these frames where brought into New Zealand By Hills Cycles Works, one of New Zealand's most important racing bike shops of the 1950's-70's.
Hartley was the first foreign race bike frame that Doug Hills obtained the license to import, followed shortly after by the very expensive Bertin cycles from France of which I will go into more at a later time. At this time, circa late 40's early 50's, import licenses where extremely hard to come by, as they where only given out by the government, who had very stringent import controls in place. Because Doug Hills was a returned service man, he was able to obtain the precious license, which he immediately put to good use.
I acquired this bike from Mrs Rogers, whose Husband Richard .J.Rogers was a prolific track racer in Auckland during the late 40's into the early 1950's. This bike belonged to a good friend of Mr Rogers, but the friend Bill Page, unfortunately was killed wiring a house in the mid 1950s.
The bike was given to Mr Rogers by the family of Mr Page and has sat largely unused since.
I have stripped the bike back to the frame, and have been slowly cleaning and polishing all the parts before reassembly.
The only none original parts where the rear derailleur and hub.

Above; Early Hills Cycles decal, looks to have been influenced by the Bertin logo?

Above: Durax Special Courses cranks, with Simplex chain rings.

Below; Hills advertisement from a January 1952 New Zealand Cycling Review, as you can see the Bertin frame set was a third more expensive. I have a Bertin from this period, which is a nice bike, but I don't think as much time had been put into the Bertin, as has obviously been lavished on this Hartley frame. I will post more photos of the Hartley when I have finished refurbishing it, and you will see what I mean, this is one beautiful bike.

Hartley Road bike as I received it complete and original sans rear derailleur and hub.
Nearly full French group set;
Durax Special Courses cranks
Simplex chain rings and spiders
Simplex front rod changer, one would assume Simplex TDF or similar R/D
CLB High-Life brake calipers and levers (love these)
Major Taylor stem
Strata lite "Binda" alloy bars
Constrictor alloy 27" rims
Nice Brooks B37 saddle

BACK AGAIN - AGAIN

BACK AGAIN
Well it's been about a year since I have updated the blog, which is pretty slack of me I must say.
Still in the time I have been off line I have been very busy and have picked up some interesting machines and cycle racing memorabilia, which I would like to share with you all, so strap in and check out some cool stuff.