Peter Kohler's photos

Rudge-Whitworth Olympic Road model no. 92 serial no. 46637 47 Made in Hayes, Middlesex, England in April 1939 Purchased on 9 January 2018 Back on the road 19 May 2018 Some History "Worthy descendant of the long line of Rudge high-speed machines which on road and track have built the unsurpassed records of successes enjoyed by Rudge, this new "True-Poise" model is one of an entirely new range incorporating every modern feature that scientific research has made possible. It is the ace of clubmen's mounts-- a thoroughbred of Rudge quality." Rudge advertisement for the the Olympic Road, Cycling 21 January 1939 The last of the "real" Rudge road lightweights, the Olympic Road model for 1939 replaced the Aero-Olympic model as the top-of-the-line road model. It introduced "upright angles" (71 parallel) and a reworked specification to drop its price down to £9. 15s from the £13 of the '38 Aero-Olympic. This entailed replacing the costlier and lighter alloy chainwheel, stem and 'bars with steel ones and fitting Dunlop HP rims in either 26" or 27" as standard. The chainset was a Williams C1000 with Constrictor Boa pedals. The built-up weight for the standard model with fixed/free single-speed gearing was 24 lbs. 14 ozs vs. 20 lbs. for the Aero-Olympic. Not by coincidence, the new Rudge Olympic Road cost the same as the Raleigh Record Ace yet it was both lighter (24 lbs. 14 ozs. vs 25 lbs. 4 ozs.), boasted all Reynolds butted 531 frame and forks (the RRA was built with older HM tubing in the rear triangle and fork blades and Chrome Molybdenum main triangle), had more modern upright "mass start" geometry and the more contemporary Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres and came in fixed/free, hub or derailleur gear options. By any standard, it was among the best high-end, well spec'd factory made lightweight of the year for the money and represented a remarkable value. Its main competition at the same price point was the comparable Carlton Mass Start model. The main frame triangle and rear stays were butted Reynolds 531 but advertisements at the time of the Cycle Show in mid November 1938 spec'd the front fork as "A&P [Accles & Pollock] resilient racing type" but this was changed to Reynolds 531 in the main brochure. The colours, too, changed with "Magpie", blue or green first advertised in November 1938, then black, blue, green or "Tango" in the main 1939 brochure and finally, black and white, blue or green in the final "Super Sports" leaflet printed in spring 1939. Reviewing the Rudge 1939 models, Cycling of 12 October 1938 said "At £9 15s., the Olympic Road is an ideal mount for the connoisseur, with a really high-quality specification, including a frame of '531' tubing, A. and P. resilient racing-type chromium-plated forks, Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres, Airlite hubs, a choice of handlebars, Brooks B17 Champion saddle and an attractive finish." How I Got It It's not often one realizes, finally, a "Holy Grail" bicycle but for me, one of the 1937-39 top-end Rudge lightweights by Jack Lauterwasser was always at the top of the list. Hitherto, I had never even seen a photo of a real one "in the flesh" in any stage of restoration or condition. And to find one in my size (or as big they come) and in original paint with some of the original components was more than one could have hoped for. This came to me by pure chance and circumstance when, in the course of researching for an article on the Rudge lightweights 1937-39, I happened on a recent posting to Bike Forum.com asking for information on an old Rudge. It was easy enough to identify it as a 1939 Olympic Road model albeit with only the remaining original components being the seat pillar, Brooks B17 saddle, headset and handlebar stem. It had, oddly, a late 50s Rudge three-speed chainset, generic early 70s 27”x1¼" wheelset, an alloy stem and set up as a single speed. In any event, I asked the poster to contact me should he ever wish to sell it. And the rest is as they say, history. The seller purchased it in summer 2017 at a "bike junk sale" at Sports Basement in the San Francisco area. It has an original pre-war Hans Orht bike shop decal on it so most likely never left California in its first 79 years. The Restoration Significantly, this came with the original paint, lining and transfers... showing the full measure of 79 years wear and tear but certainly not deserving of being ruined by repainting. But I soon discovered that what arrived as an olive drab bicycle was really a polychromatic platinum blue underneath a horrible and persistent coating of probably decades of tar and nicotine stains. The only traces of the original colour being the bb shell. It took a week of cleaning variously with TCP, ammonia and white vinegar, then rubbing compound, then polishing compound, Meguiars Mirror Glaze No. 7 and then finally waxing to restore it to something approaching its original but still weathered and chipped finish. The only damage to the frame is a shallow dent on the non-driveside seat tube and one on the top tube. No "retouching" or "improvements" have been attempted and the only concession in this regard was the use of a correct replica (Lloyd decals) of the early Reynolds 531 butted transfer as the original had weathered to little more than a silvered square with the outlines of the lettering remaining. The remains of the original remain under the replacement. Being a California bike, there is almost no rust or corrosion and the chrome fork, headset and stem came back to a remarkably good shine. The Brooks saddle, the pre-war version of the B17 Champion Narrow, also came back to astonishingly good condition using Preservation Solutions Leather Rejuvenator for Damaged Leather and Restoration Leather Conditioner. The fork is original to the machine and clearly a Rudge pattern, but it is track pattern without mudguard eyelets, lamp bracket boss and narrowier crown without mudguard clearance. It is factory drilled for a front brake and the rake is comparable to the standard road version. The machine has been outfitted almost completely per original catalogue spec although the bottom bracket is not original pending the acquisition of a proper Chater-Lea one. The Olympic Road came as either three-speed Cyclo derailleur or Sturmey-Archer hub geared or, the traditional fixed/free single speed, and I opted for the later. All of the parts added were carefully chosen for their complimentary "patina" to the original frame and parts. Brake levers identical to those pictured in the 1939 Rudge catalogue were sourced from a 1940 Sun Wasp but these had to be rechromed as they were war-time economy silver painted and rusted out. The brake cable is NOS 1940s silver cloth housing. The handlebar rubber sleeves are NOS Shockstop No. 57 in blue. Specifications Frame: Reynolds 531 butted main tubes, Reynolds 531 tapered chainstays and backstays Bottom bracket shell: Chater-Lea CL1601 Fork: A&P blades, "D" to round pattern, Resilient type with Rudge pattern sloping fork crown. No mudguard clearance, no mudguard fitting eyelets and no lamp bracket pips. Entirely chromium plated. Steerer tube stamped A&P B.S.T. 9/100 B Braze ons: pump pegs on down tube. Finish: polychromatic steel blue-gray with white lining and silver transfers. Original Hans Ohrt dealer sticker and U.S. flag (48-stars). Fully chromed front fork. Size: seat tube 23” (c to t), top tube 22” (c to c) Angles: 71˚ (head) 71˚ (seat) Fork rake: 2½” Wheelbase: 41¼” Bottom bracket height: 11" Chainstay length: 17¼" Rear spacing: 118 mm Lugs: Chater-Lea fishtailed Components Wheelset: Rims: 27”x1¼" Dunlop Special Lightweight 32/40 chromed steel rims. Spoking: 15/17g double-butted galvanised spokes 3x front and 4x rear. Front hub: 32-hole Airlite low-flange. Rear hub: 40-hole Airlite low-flange. Gripfast wingnuts.Tyres: Schwinn Super Sports (clone of Dunlop High Pressure Road Racing) 27x1" wire-on. 90 psi Chainset: Williams C1000 chromed steel, detachable 3-pin 46t chainring with 6¾” cranks Pedals: Constrictor Boa quill Gears: 46t chainwheel. 15t fixed sprocket-- 88.4" gear. 16T Villiers freewheel --82.8" gear Chain: Coventry ⅛” Brakes: side-pull calipers and levers, silver cloth cable housing. Top tube brake cable clips: rubber Headset: Rudge-Whitworth headclip fixing, chromed steel (original) Stem & handlebars: Rudge pattern 2" chromed stem (original), chromed 15" 15/16th Bailey pattern 'bars, Shockstop no. 57 6½" rubber sleeve grips Saddle: Brooks B17 Champion Narrow with black enameled undercarriage (original) Seat pin: 27mm domed steel (original) Pump: 15" x ⅞" Bluemel’s silver Tour de France celluloid Weight: Bare frame: 4.89 lbs Fork: 1.9 lbs. Built up: 25 lbs. 6 ozs.

Rudge-Whitworth Olympic Road model no. 92 serial no. 46637 47 Made in Hayes, Middlesex, England in April 1939 Purchased on 9 January 2018 Back on the road 19 May 2018 Some History "Worthy descendant of the long line of Rudge high-speed machines which on road and track have built the unsurpassed records of successes enjoyed by Rudge, this new "True-Poise" model is one of an entirely new range incorporating every modern feature that scientific research has made possible. It is the ace of clubmen's mounts-- a thoroughbred of Rudge quality." Rudge advertisement for the the Olympic Road, Cycling 21 January 1939 The last of the "real" Rudge road lightweights, the Olympic Road model for 1939 replaced the Aero-Olympic model as the top-of-the-line road model. It introduced "upright angles" (71 parallel) and a reworked specification to drop its price down to £9. 15s from the £13 of the '38 Aero-Olympic. This entailed replacing the costlier and lighter alloy chainwheel, stem and 'bars with steel ones and fitting Dunlop HP rims in either 26" or 27" as standard. The chainset was a Williams C1000 with Constrictor Boa pedals. The built-up weight for the standard model with fixed/free single-speed gearing was 24 lbs. 14 ozs vs. 20 lbs. for the Aero-Olympic. Not by coincidence, the new Rudge Olympic Road cost the same as the Raleigh Record Ace yet it was both lighter (24 lbs. 14 ozs. vs 25 lbs. 4 ozs.), boasted all Reynolds butted 531 frame and forks (the RRA was built with older HM tubing in the rear triangle and fork blades and Chrome Molybdenum main triangle), had more modern upright "mass start" geometry and the more contemporary Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres and came in fixed/free, hub or derailleur gear options. By any standard, it was among the best high-end, well spec'd factory made lightweight of the year for the money and represented a remarkable value. Its main competition at the same price point was the comparable Carlton Mass Start model. The main frame triangle and rear stays were butted Reynolds 531 but advertisements at the time of the Cycle Show in mid November 1938 spec'd the front fork as "A&P [Accles & Pollock] resilient racing type" but this was changed to Reynolds 531 in the main brochure. The colours, too, changed with "Magpie", blue or green first advertised in November 1938, then black, blue, green or "Tango" in the main 1939 brochure and finally, black and white, blue or green in the final "Super Sports" leaflet printed in spring 1939. Reviewing the Rudge 1939 models, Cycling of 12 October 1938 said "At £9 15s., the Olympic Road is an ideal mount for the connoisseur, with a really high-quality specification, including a frame of '531' tubing, A. and P. resilient racing-type chromium-plated forks, Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres, Airlite hubs, a choice of handlebars, Brooks B17 Champion saddle and an attractive finish." How I Got It It's not often one realizes, finally, a "Holy Grail" bicycle but for me, one of the 1937-39 top-end Rudge lightweights by Jack Lauterwasser was always at the top of the list. Hitherto, I had never even seen a photo of a real one "in the flesh" in any stage of restoration or condition. And to find one in my size (or as big they come) and in original paint with some of the original components was more than one could have hoped for. This came to me by pure chance and circumstance when, in the course of researching for an article on the Rudge lightweights 1937-39, I happened on a recent posting to Bike Forum.com asking for information on an old Rudge. It was easy enough to identify it as a 1939 Olympic Road model albeit with only the remaining original components being the seat pillar, Brooks B17 saddle, headset and handlebar stem. It had, oddly, a late 50s Rudge three-speed chainset, generic early 70s 27”x1¼" wheelset, an alloy stem and set up as a single speed. In any event, I asked the poster to contact me should he ever wish to sell it. And the rest is as they say, history. The seller purchased it in summer 2017 at a "bike junk sale" at Sports Basement in the San Francisco area. It has an original pre-war Hans Orht bike shop decal on it so most likely never left California in its first 79 years. The Restoration Significantly, this came with the original paint, lining and transfers... showing the full measure of 79 years wear and tear but certainly not deserving of being ruined by repainting. But I soon discovered that what arrived as an olive drab bicycle was really a polychromatic platinum blue underneath a horrible and persistent coating of probably decades of tar and nicotine stains. The only traces of the original colour being the bb shell. It took a week of cleaning variously with TCP, ammonia and white vinegar, then rubbing compound, then polishing compound, Meguiars Mirror Glaze No. 7 and then finally waxing to restore it to something approaching its original but still weathered and chipped finish. The only damage to the frame is a shallow dent on the non-driveside seat tube and one on the top tube. No "retouching" or "improvements" have been attempted and the only concession in this regard was the use of a correct replica (Lloyd decals) of the early Reynolds 531 butted transfer as the original had weathered to little more than a silvered square with the outlines of the lettering remaining. The remains of the original remain under the replacement. Being a California bike, there is almost no rust or corrosion and the chrome fork, headset and stem came back to a remarkably good shine. The Brooks saddle, the pre-war version of the B17 Champion Narrow, also came back to astonishingly good condition using Preservation Solutions Leather Rejuvenator for Damaged Leather and Restoration Leather Conditioner. The fork is original to the machine and clearly a Rudge pattern, but it is track pattern without mudguard eyelets, lamp bracket boss and narrowier crown without mudguard clearance. It is factory drilled for a front brake and the rake is comparable to the standard road version. The machine has been outfitted almost completely per original catalogue spec although the bottom bracket is not original pending the acquisition of a proper Chater-Lea one. The Olympic Road came as either three-speed Cyclo derailleur or Sturmey-Archer hub geared or, the traditional fixed/free single speed, and I opted for the later. All of the parts added were carefully chosen for their complimentary "patina" to the original frame and parts. Brake levers identical to those pictured in the 1939 Rudge catalogue were sourced from a 1940 Sun Wasp but these had to be rechromed as they were war-time economy silver painted and rusted out. The brake cable is NOS 1940s silver cloth housing. The handlebar rubber sleeves are NOS Shockstop No. 57 in blue. Specifications Frame: Reynolds 531 butted main tubes, Reynolds 531 tapered chainstays and backstays Bottom bracket shell: Chater-Lea CL1601 Fork: A&P blades, "D" to round pattern, Resilient type with Rudge pattern sloping fork crown. No mudguard clearance, no mudguard fitting eyelets and no lamp bracket pips. Entirely chromium plated. Steerer tube stamped A&P B.S.T. 9/100 B Braze ons: pump pegs on down tube. Finish: polychromatic steel blue-gray with white lining and silver transfers. Original Hans Ohrt dealer sticker and U.S. flag (48-stars). Fully chromed front fork. Size: seat tube 23” (c to t), top tube 22” (c to c) Angles: 71˚ (head) 71˚ (seat) Fork rake: 2½” Wheelbase: 41¼” Bottom bracket height: 11" Chainstay length: 17¼" Rear spacing: 118 mm Lugs: Chater-Lea fishtailed Components Wheelset: Rims: 27”x1¼" Dunlop Special Lightweight 32/40 chromed steel rims. Spoking: 15/17g double-butted galvanised spokes 3x front and 4x rear. Front hub: 32-hole Airlite low-flange. Rear hub: 40-hole Airlite low-flange. Gripfast wingnuts.Tyres: Schwinn Super Sports (clone of Dunlop High Pressure Road Racing) 27x1" wire-on. 90 psi Chainset: Williams C1000 chromed steel, detachable 3-pin 46t chainring with 6¾” cranks Pedals: Constrictor Boa quill Gears: 46t chainwheel. 15t fixed sprocket-- 88.4" gear. 16T Villiers freewheel --82.8" gear Chain: Coventry ⅛” Brakes: side-pull calipers and levers, silver cloth cable housing. Top tube brake cable clips: rubber Headset: Rudge-Whitworth headclip fixing, chromed steel (original) Stem & handlebars: Rudge pattern 2" chromed stem (original), chromed 15" 15/16th Bailey pattern 'bars, Shockstop no. 57 6½" rubber sleeve grips Saddle: Brooks B17 Champion Narrow with black enameled undercarriage (original) Seat pin: 27mm domed steel (original) Pump: 15" x ⅞" Bluemel’s silver Tour de France celluloid Weight: Bare frame: 4.89 lbs Fork: 1.9 lbs. Built up: 25 lbs. 6 ozs.

Rudge-Whitworth Olympic Road model no. 92 serial no. 46637 47 Made in Hayes, Middlesex, England in April 1939 Purchased on 9 January 2018 Back on the road 19 May 2018 Some History "Worthy descendant of the long line of Rudge high-speed machines which on road and track have built the unsurpassed records of successes enjoyed by Rudge, this new "True-Poise" model is one of an entirely new range incorporating every modern feature that scientific research has made possible. It is the ace of clubmen's mounts-- a thoroughbred of Rudge quality." Rudge advertisement for the the Olympic Road, Cycling 21 January 1939 The last of the "real" Rudge road lightweights, the Olympic Road model for 1939 replaced the Aero-Olympic model as the top-of-the-line road model. It introduced "upright angles" (71 parallel) and a reworked specification to drop its price down to £9. 15s from the £13 of the '38 Aero-Olympic. This entailed replacing the costlier and lighter alloy chainwheel, stem and 'bars with steel ones and fitting Dunlop HP rims in either 26" or 27" as standard. The chainset was a Williams C1000 with Constrictor Boa pedals. The built-up weight for the standard model with fixed/free single-speed gearing was 24 lbs. 14 ozs vs. 20 lbs. for the Aero-Olympic. Not by coincidence, the new Rudge Olympic Road cost the same as the Raleigh Record Ace yet it was both lighter (24 lbs. 14 ozs. vs 25 lbs. 4 ozs.), boasted all Reynolds butted 531 frame and forks (the RRA was built with older HM tubing in the rear triangle and fork blades and Chrome Molybdenum main triangle), had more modern upright "mass start" geometry and the more contemporary Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres and came in fixed/free, hub or derailleur gear options. By any standard, it was among the best high-end, well spec'd factory made lightweight of the year for the money and represented a remarkable value. Its main competition at the same price point was the comparable Carlton Mass Start model. The main frame triangle and rear stays were butted Reynolds 531 but advertisements at the time of the Cycle Show in mid November 1938 spec'd the front fork as "A&P [Accles & Pollock] resilient racing type" but this was changed to Reynolds 531 in the main brochure. The colours, too, changed with "Magpie", blue or green first advertised in November 1938, then black, blue, green or "Tango" in the main 1939 brochure and finally, black and white, blue or green in the final "Super Sports" leaflet printed in spring 1939. Reviewing the Rudge 1939 models, Cycling of 12 October 1938 said "At £9 15s., the Olympic Road is an ideal mount for the connoisseur, with a really high-quality specification, including a frame of '531' tubing, A. and P. resilient racing-type chromium-plated forks, Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres, Airlite hubs, a choice of handlebars, Brooks B17 Champion saddle and an attractive finish." How I Got It It's not often one realizes, finally, a "Holy Grail" bicycle but for me, one of the 1937-39 top-end Rudge lightweights by Jack Lauterwasser was always at the top of the list. Hitherto, I had never even seen a photo of a real one "in the flesh" in any stage of restoration or condition. And to find one in my size (or as big they come) and in original paint with some of the original components was more than one could have hoped for. This came to me by pure chance and circumstance when, in the course of researching for an article on the Rudge lightweights 1937-39, I happened on a recent posting to Bike Forum.com asking for information on an old Rudge. It was easy enough to identify it as a 1939 Olympic Road model albeit with only the remaining original components being the seat pillar, Brooks B17 saddle, headset and handlebar stem. It had, oddly, a late 50s Rudge three-speed chainset, generic early 70s 27”x1¼" wheelset, an alloy stem and set up as a single speed. In any event, I asked the poster to contact me should he ever wish to sell it. And the rest is as they say, history. The seller purchased it in summer 2017 at a "bike junk sale" at Sports Basement in the San Francisco area. It has an original pre-war Hans Orht bike shop decal on it so most likely never left California in its first 79 years. The Restoration Significantly, this came with the original paint, lining and transfers... showing the full measure of 79 years wear and tear but certainly not deserving of being ruined by repainting. But I soon discovered that what arrived as an olive drab bicycle was really a polychromatic platinum blue underneath a horrible and persistent coating of probably decades of tar and nicotine stains. The only traces of the original colour being the bb shell. It took a week of cleaning variously with TCP, ammonia and white vinegar, then rubbing compound, then polishing compound, Meguiars Mirror Glaze No. 7 and then finally waxing to restore it to something approaching its original but still weathered and chipped finish. The only damage to the frame is a shallow dent on the non-driveside seat tube and one on the top tube. No "retouching" or "improvements" have been attempted and the only concession in this regard was the use of a correct replica (Lloyd decals) of the early Reynolds 531 butted transfer as the original had weathered to little more than a silvered square with the outlines of the lettering remaining. The remains of the original remain under the replacement. Being a California bike, there is almost no rust or corrosion and the chrome fork, headset and stem came back to a remarkably good shine. The Brooks saddle, the pre-war version of the B17 Champion Narrow, also came back to astonishingly good condition using Preservation Solutions Leather Rejuvenator for Damaged Leather and Restoration Leather Conditioner. The fork is original to the machine and clearly a Rudge pattern, but it is track pattern without mudguard eyelets, lamp bracket boss and narrowier crown without mudguard clearance. It is factory drilled for a front brake and the rake is comparable to the standard road version. The machine has been outfitted almost completely per original catalogue spec although the bottom bracket is not original pending the acquisition of a proper Chater-Lea one. The Olympic Road came as either three-speed Cyclo derailleur or Sturmey-Archer hub geared or, the traditional fixed/free single speed, and I opted for the later. All of the parts added were carefully chosen for their complimentary "patina" to the original frame and parts. Brake levers identical to those pictured in the 1939 Rudge catalogue were sourced from a 1940 Sun Wasp but these had to be rechromed as they were war-time economy silver painted and rusted out. The brake cable is NOS 1940s silver cloth housing. The handlebar rubber sleeves are NOS Shockstop No. 57 in blue. Specifications Frame: Reynolds 531 butted main tubes, Reynolds 531 tapered chainstays and backstays Bottom bracket shell: Chater-Lea CL1601 Fork: A&P blades, "D" to round pattern, Resilient type with Rudge pattern sloping fork crown. No mudguard clearance, no mudguard fitting eyelets and no lamp bracket pips. Entirely chromium plated. Steerer tube stamped A&P B.S.T. 9/100 B Braze ons: pump pegs on down tube. Finish: polychromatic steel blue-gray with white lining and silver transfers. Original Hans Ohrt dealer sticker and U.S. flag (48-stars). Fully chromed front fork. Size: seat tube 23” (c to t), top tube 22” (c to c) Angles: 71˚ (head) 71˚ (seat) Fork rake: 2½” Wheelbase: 41¼” Bottom bracket height: 11" Chainstay length: 17¼" Rear spacing: 118 mm Lugs: Chater-Lea fishtailed Components Wheelset: Rims: 27”x1¼" Dunlop Special Lightweight 32/40 chromed steel rims. Spoking: 15/17g double-butted galvanised spokes 3x front and 4x rear. Front hub: 32-hole Airlite low-flange. Rear hub: 40-hole Airlite low-flange. Gripfast wingnuts.Tyres: Schwinn Super Sports (clone of Dunlop High Pressure Road Racing) 27x1" wire-on. 90 psi Chainset: Williams C1000 chromed steel, detachable 3-pin 46t chainring with 6¾” cranks Pedals: Constrictor Boa quill Gears: 46t chainwheel. 15t fixed sprocket-- 88.4" gear. 16T Villiers freewheel --82.8" gear Chain: Coventry ⅛” Brakes: side-pull calipers and levers, silver cloth cable housing. Top tube brake cable clips: rubber Headset: Rudge-Whitworth headclip fixing, chromed steel (original) Stem & handlebars: Rudge pattern 2" chromed stem (original), chromed 15" 15/16th Bailey pattern 'bars, Shockstop no. 57 6½" rubber sleeve grips Saddle: Brooks B17 Champion Narrow with black enameled undercarriage (original) Seat pin: 27mm domed steel (original) Pump: 15" x ⅞" Bluemel’s silver Tour de France celluloid Weight: Bare frame: 4.89 lbs Fork: 1.9 lbs. Built up: 25 lbs. 6 ozs.

Rudge-Whitworth Olympic Road model no. 92 serial no. 46637 47 Made in Hayes, Middlesex, England in April 1939 Purchased on 9 January 2018 Back on the road 19 May 2018 Some History "Worthy descendant of the long line of Rudge high-speed machines which on road and track have built the unsurpassed records of successes enjoyed by Rudge, this new "True-Poise" model is one of an entirely new range incorporating every modern feature that scientific research has made possible. It is the ace of clubmen's mounts-- a thoroughbred of Rudge quality." Rudge advertisement for the the Olympic Road, Cycling 21 January 1939 The last of the "real" Rudge road lightweights, the Olympic Road model for 1939 replaced the Aero-Olympic model as the top-of-the-line road model. It introduced "upright angles" (71 parallel) and a reworked specification to drop its price down to £9. 15s from the £13 of the '38 Aero-Olympic. This entailed replacing the costlier and lighter alloy chainwheel, stem and 'bars with steel ones and fitting Dunlop HP rims in either 26" or 27" as standard. The chainset was a Williams C1000 with Constrictor Boa pedals. The built-up weight for the standard model with fixed/free single-speed gearing was 24 lbs. 14 ozs vs. 20 lbs. for the Aero-Olympic. Not by coincidence, the new Rudge Olympic Road cost the same as the Raleigh Record Ace yet it was both lighter (24 lbs. 14 ozs. vs 25 lbs. 4 ozs.), boasted all Reynolds butted 531 frame and forks (the RRA was built with older HM tubing in the rear triangle and fork blades and Chrome Molybdenum main triangle), had more modern upright "mass start" geometry and the more contemporary Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres and came in fixed/free, hub or derailleur gear options. By any standard, it was among the best high-end, well spec'd factory made lightweight of the year for the money and represented a remarkable value. Its main competition at the same price point was the comparable Carlton Mass Start model. The main frame triangle and rear stays were butted Reynolds 531 but advertisements at the time of the Cycle Show in mid November 1938 spec'd the front fork as "A&P [Accles & Pollock] resilient racing type" but this was changed to Reynolds 531 in the main brochure. The colours, too, changed with "Magpie", blue or green first advertised in November 1938, then black, blue, green or "Tango" in the main 1939 brochure and finally, black and white, blue or green in the final "Super Sports" leaflet printed in spring 1939. Reviewing the Rudge 1939 models, Cycling of 12 October 1938 said "At £9 15s., the Olympic Road is an ideal mount for the connoisseur, with a really high-quality specification, including a frame of '531' tubing, A. and P. resilient racing-type chromium-plated forks, Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres, Airlite hubs, a choice of handlebars, Brooks B17 Champion saddle and an attractive finish." How I Got It It's not often one realizes, finally, a "Holy Grail" bicycle but for me, one of the 1937-39 top-end Rudge lightweights by Jack Lauterwasser was always at the top of the list. Hitherto, I had never even seen a photo of a real one "in the flesh" in any stage of restoration or condition. And to find one in my size (or as big they come) and in original paint with some of the original components was more than one could have hoped for. This came to me by pure chance and circumstance when, in the course of researching for an article on the Rudge lightweights 1937-39, I happened on a recent posting to Bike Forum.com asking for information on an old Rudge. It was easy enough to identify it as a 1939 Olympic Road model albeit with only the remaining original components being the seat pillar, Brooks B17 saddle, headset and handlebar stem. It had, oddly, a late 50s Rudge three-speed chainset, generic early 70s 27”x1¼" wheelset, an alloy stem and set up as a single speed. In any event, I asked the poster to contact me should he ever wish to sell it. And the rest is as they say, history. The seller purchased it in summer 2017 at a "bike junk sale" at Sports Basement in the San Francisco area. It has an original pre-war Hans Orht bike shop decal on it so most likely never left California in its first 79 years. The Restoration Significantly, this came with the original paint, lining and transfers... showing the full measure of 79 years wear and tear but certainly not deserving of being ruined by repainting. But I soon discovered that what arrived as an olive drab bicycle was really a polychromatic platinum blue underneath a horrible and persistent coating of probably decades of tar and nicotine stains. The only traces of the original colour being the bb shell. It took a week of cleaning variously with TCP, ammonia and white vinegar, then rubbing compound, then polishing compound, Meguiars Mirror Glaze No. 7 and then finally waxing to restore it to something approaching its original but still weathered and chipped finish. The only damage to the frame is a shallow dent on the non-driveside seat tube and one on the top tube. No "retouching" or "improvements" have been attempted and the only concession in this regard was the use of a correct replica (Lloyd decals) of the early Reynolds 531 butted transfer as the original had weathered to little more than a silvered square with the outlines of the lettering remaining. The remains of the original remain under the replacement. Being a California bike, there is almost no rust or corrosion and the chrome fork, headset and stem came back to a remarkably good shine. The Brooks saddle, the pre-war version of the B17 Champion Narrow, also came back to astonishingly good condition using Preservation Solutions Leather Rejuvenator for Damaged Leather and Restoration Leather Conditioner. The fork is original to the machine and clearly a Rudge pattern, but it is track pattern without mudguard eyelets, lamp bracket boss and narrowier crown without mudguard clearance. It is factory drilled for a front brake and the rake is comparable to the standard road version. The machine has been outfitted almost completely per original catalogue spec although the bottom bracket is not original pending the acquisition of a proper Chater-Lea one. The Olympic Road came as either three-speed Cyclo derailleur or Sturmey-Archer hub geared or, the traditional fixed/free single speed, and I opted for the later. All of the parts added were carefully chosen for their complimentary "patina" to the original frame and parts. Brake levers identical to those pictured in the 1939 Rudge catalogue were sourced from a 1940 Sun Wasp but these had to be rechromed as they were war-time economy silver painted and rusted out. The brake cable is NOS 1940s silver cloth housing. The handlebar rubber sleeves are NOS Shockstop No. 57 in blue. Specifications Frame: Reynolds 531 butted main tubes, Reynolds 531 tapered chainstays and backstays Bottom bracket shell: Chater-Lea CL1601 Fork: A&P blades, "D" to round pattern, Resilient type with Rudge pattern sloping fork crown. No mudguard clearance, no mudguard fitting eyelets and no lamp bracket pips. Entirely chromium plated. Steerer tube stamped A&P B.S.T. 9/100 B Braze ons: pump pegs on down tube. Finish: polychromatic steel blue-gray with white lining and silver transfers. Original Hans Ohrt dealer sticker and U.S. flag (48-stars). Fully chromed front fork. Size: seat tube 23” (c to t), top tube 22” (c to c) Angles: 71˚ (head) 71˚ (seat) Fork rake: 2½” Wheelbase: 41¼” Bottom bracket height: 11" Chainstay length: 17¼" Rear spacing: 118 mm Lugs: Chater-Lea fishtailed Components Wheelset: Rims: 27”x1¼" Dunlop Special Lightweight 32/40 chromed steel rims. Spoking: 15/17g double-butted galvanised spokes 3x front and 4x rear. Front hub: 32-hole Airlite low-flange. Rear hub: 40-hole Airlite low-flange. Gripfast wingnuts.Tyres: Schwinn Super Sports (clone of Dunlop High Pressure Road Racing) 27x1" wire-on. 90 psi Chainset: Williams C1000 chromed steel, detachable 3-pin 46t chainring with 6¾” cranks Pedals: Constrictor Boa quill Gears: 46t chainwheel. 15t fixed sprocket-- 88.4" gear. 16T Villiers freewheel --82.8" gear Chain: Coventry ⅛” Brakes: side-pull calipers and levers, silver cloth cable housing. Top tube brake cable clips: rubber Headset: Rudge-Whitworth headclip fixing, chromed steel (original) Stem & handlebars: Rudge pattern 2" chromed stem (original), chromed 15" 15/16th Bailey pattern 'bars, Shockstop no. 57 6½" rubber sleeve grips Saddle: Brooks B17 Champion Narrow with black enameled undercarriage (original) Seat pin: 27mm domed steel (original) Pump: 15" x ⅞" Bluemel’s silver Tour de France celluloid Weight: Bare frame: 4.89 lbs Fork: 1.9 lbs. Built up: 25 lbs. 6 ozs.

Rudge-Whitworth Olympic Road model no. 92 serial no. 46637 47 Made in Hayes, Middlesex, England in April 1939 Purchased on 9 January 2018 Back on the road 19 May 2018 Some History "Worthy descendant of the long line of Rudge high-speed machines which on road and track have built the unsurpassed records of successes enjoyed by Rudge, this new "True-Poise" model is one of an entirely new range incorporating every modern feature that scientific research has made possible. It is the ace of clubmen's mounts-- a thoroughbred of Rudge quality." Rudge advertisement for the the Olympic Road, Cycling 21 January 1939 The last of the "real" Rudge road lightweights, the Olympic Road model for 1939 replaced the Aero-Olympic model as the top-of-the-line road model. It introduced "upright angles" (71 parallel) and a reworked specification to drop its price down to £9. 15s from the £13 of the '38 Aero-Olympic. This entailed replacing the costlier and lighter alloy chainwheel, stem and 'bars with steel ones and fitting Dunlop HP rims in either 26" or 27" as standard. The chainset was a Williams C1000 with Constrictor Boa pedals. The built-up weight for the standard model with fixed/free single-speed gearing was 24 lbs. 14 ozs vs. 20 lbs. for the Aero-Olympic. Not by coincidence, the new Rudge Olympic Road cost the same as the Raleigh Record Ace yet it was both lighter (24 lbs. 14 ozs. vs 25 lbs. 4 ozs.), boasted all Reynolds butted 531 frame and forks (the RRA was built with older HM tubing in the rear triangle and fork blades and Chrome Molybdenum main triangle), had more modern upright "mass start" geometry and the more contemporary Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres and came in fixed/free, hub or derailleur gear options. By any standard, it was among the best high-end, well spec'd factory made lightweight of the year for the money and represented a remarkable value. Its main competition at the same price point was the comparable Carlton Mass Start model. The main frame triangle and rear stays were butted Reynolds 531 but advertisements at the time of the Cycle Show in mid November 1938 spec'd the front fork as "A&P [Accles & Pollock] resilient racing type" but this was changed to Reynolds 531 in the main brochure. The colours, too, changed with "Magpie", blue or green first advertised in November 1938, then black, blue, green or "Tango" in the main 1939 brochure and finally, black and white, blue or green in the final "Super Sports" leaflet printed in spring 1939. Reviewing the Rudge 1939 models, Cycling of 12 October 1938 said "At £9 15s., the Olympic Road is an ideal mount for the connoisseur, with a really high-quality specification, including a frame of '531' tubing, A. and P. resilient racing-type chromium-plated forks, Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres, Airlite hubs, a choice of handlebars, Brooks B17 Champion saddle and an attractive finish." How I Got It It's not often one realizes, finally, a "Holy Grail" bicycle but for me, one of the 1937-39 top-end Rudge lightweights by Jack Lauterwasser was always at the top of the list. Hitherto, I had never even seen a photo of a real one "in the flesh" in any stage of restoration or condition. And to find one in my size (or as big they come) and in original paint with some of the original components was more than one could have hoped for. This came to me by pure chance and circumstance when, in the course of researching for an article on the Rudge lightweights 1937-39, I happened on a recent posting to Bike Forum.com asking for information on an old Rudge. It was easy enough to identify it as a 1939 Olympic Road model albeit with only the remaining original components being the seat pillar, Brooks B17 saddle, headset and handlebar stem. It had, oddly, a late 50s Rudge three-speed chainset, generic early 70s 27”x1¼" wheelset, an alloy stem and set up as a single speed. In any event, I asked the poster to contact me should he ever wish to sell it. And the rest is as they say, history. The seller purchased it in summer 2017 at a "bike junk sale" at Sports Basement in the San Francisco area. It has an original pre-war Hans Orht bike shop decal on it so most likely never left California in its first 79 years. The Restoration Significantly, this came with the original paint, lining and transfers... showing the full measure of 79 years wear and tear but certainly not deserving of being ruined by repainting. But I soon discovered that what arrived as an olive drab bicycle was really a polychromatic platinum blue underneath a horrible and persistent coating of probably decades of tar and nicotine stains. The only traces of the original colour being the bb shell. It took a week of cleaning variously with TCP, ammonia and white vinegar, then rubbing compound, then polishing compound, Meguiars Mirror Glaze No. 7 and then finally waxing to restore it to something approaching its original but still weathered and chipped finish. The only damage to the frame is a shallow dent on the non-driveside seat tube and one on the top tube. No "retouching" or "improvements" have been attempted and the only concession in this regard was the use of a correct replica (Lloyd decals) of the early Reynolds 531 butted transfer as the original had weathered to little more than a silvered square with the outlines of the lettering remaining. The remains of the original remain under the replacement. Being a California bike, there is almost no rust or corrosion and the chrome fork, headset and stem came back to a remarkably good shine. The Brooks saddle, the pre-war version of the B17 Champion Narrow, also came back to astonishingly good condition using Preservation Solutions Leather Rejuvenator for Damaged Leather and Restoration Leather Conditioner. The fork is original to the machine and clearly a Rudge pattern, but it is track pattern without mudguard eyelets, lamp bracket boss and narrowier crown without mudguard clearance. It is factory drilled for a front brake and the rake is comparable to the standard road version. The machine has been outfitted almost completely per original catalogue spec although the bottom bracket is not original pending the acquisition of a proper Chater-Lea one. The Olympic Road came as either three-speed Cyclo derailleur or Sturmey-Archer hub geared or, the traditional fixed/free single speed, and I opted for the later. All of the parts added were carefully chosen for their complimentary "patina" to the original frame and parts. Brake levers identical to those pictured in the 1939 Rudge catalogue were sourced from a 1940 Sun Wasp but these had to be rechromed as they were war-time economy silver painted and rusted out. The brake cable is NOS 1940s silver cloth housing. The handlebar rubber sleeves are NOS Shockstop No. 57 in blue. Specifications Frame: Reynolds 531 butted main tubes, Reynolds 531 tapered chainstays and backstays Bottom bracket shell: Chater-Lea CL1601 Fork: A&P blades, "D" to round pattern, Resilient type with Rudge pattern sloping fork crown. No mudguard clearance, no mudguard fitting eyelets and no lamp bracket pips. Entirely chromium plated. Steerer tube stamped A&P B.S.T. 9/100 B Braze ons: pump pegs on down tube. Finish: polychromatic steel blue-gray with white lining and silver transfers. Original Hans Ohrt dealer sticker and U.S. flag (48-stars). Fully chromed front fork. Size: seat tube 23” (c to t), top tube 22” (c to c) Angles: 71˚ (head) 71˚ (seat) Fork rake: 2½” Wheelbase: 41¼” Bottom bracket height: 11" Chainstay length: 17¼" Rear spacing: 118 mm Lugs: Chater-Lea fishtailed Components Wheelset: Rims: 27”x1¼" Dunlop Special Lightweight 32/40 chromed steel rims. Spoking: 15/17g double-butted galvanised spokes 3x front and 4x rear. Front hub: 32-hole Airlite low-flange. Rear hub: 40-hole Airlite low-flange. Gripfast wingnuts.Tyres: Schwinn Super Sports (clone of Dunlop High Pressure Road Racing) 27x1" wire-on. 90 psi Chainset: Williams C1000 chromed steel, detachable 3-pin 46t chainring with 6¾” cranks Pedals: Constrictor Boa quill Gears: 46t chainwheel. 15t fixed sprocket-- 88.4" gear. 16T Villiers freewheel --82.8" gear Chain: Coventry ⅛” Brakes: side-pull calipers and levers, silver cloth cable housing. Top tube brake cable clips: rubber Headset: Rudge-Whitworth headclip fixing, chromed steel (original) Stem & handlebars: Rudge pattern 2" chromed stem (original), chromed 15" 15/16th Bailey pattern 'bars, Shockstop no. 57 6½" rubber sleeve grips Saddle: Brooks B17 Champion Narrow with black enameled undercarriage (original) Seat pin: 27mm domed steel (original) Pump: 15" x ⅞" Bluemel’s silver Tour de France celluloid Weight: Bare frame: 4.89 lbs Fork: 1.9 lbs. Built up: 25 lbs. 6 ozs.

Rudge-Whitworth Olympic Road model no. 92 serial no. 46637 47 Made in Hayes, Middlesex, England in April 1939 Purchased on 9 January 2018 Back on the road 19 May 2018 Some History "Worthy descendant of the long line of Rudge high-speed machines which on road and track have built the unsurpassed records of successes enjoyed by Rudge, this new "True-Poise" model is one of an entirely new range incorporating every modern feature that scientific research has made possible. It is the ace of clubmen's mounts-- a thoroughbred of Rudge quality." Rudge advertisement for the the Olympic Road, Cycling 21 January 1939 The last of the "real" Rudge road lightweights, the Olympic Road model for 1939 replaced the Aero-Olympic model as the top-of-the-line road model. It introduced "upright angles" (71 parallel) and a reworked specification to drop its price down to £9. 15s from the £13 of the '38 Aero-Olympic. This entailed replacing the costlier and lighter alloy chainwheel, stem and 'bars with steel ones and fitting Dunlop HP rims in either 26" or 27" as standard. The chainset was a Williams C1000 with Constrictor Boa pedals. The built-up weight for the standard model with fixed/free single-speed gearing was 24 lbs. 14 ozs vs. 20 lbs. for the Aero-Olympic. Not by coincidence, the new Rudge Olympic Road cost the same as the Raleigh Record Ace yet it was both lighter (24 lbs. 14 ozs. vs 25 lbs. 4 ozs.), boasted all Reynolds butted 531 frame and forks (the RRA was built with older HM tubing in the rear triangle and fork blades and Chrome Molybdenum main triangle), had more modern upright "mass start" geometry and the more contemporary Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres and came in fixed/free, hub or derailleur gear options. By any standard, it was among the best high-end, well spec'd factory made lightweight of the year for the money and represented a remarkable value. Its main competition at the same price point was the comparable Carlton Mass Start model. The main frame triangle and rear stays were butted Reynolds 531 but advertisements at the time of the Cycle Show in mid November 1938 spec'd the front fork as "A&P [Accles & Pollock] resilient racing type" but this was changed to Reynolds 531 in the main brochure. The colours, too, changed with "Magpie", blue or green first advertised in November 1938, then black, blue, green or "Tango" in the main 1939 brochure and finally, black and white, blue or green in the final "Super Sports" leaflet printed in spring 1939. Reviewing the Rudge 1939 models, Cycling of 12 October 1938 said "At £9 15s., the Olympic Road is an ideal mount for the connoisseur, with a really high-quality specification, including a frame of '531' tubing, A. and P. resilient racing-type chromium-plated forks, Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres, Airlite hubs, a choice of handlebars, Brooks B17 Champion saddle and an attractive finish." How I Got It It's not often one realizes, finally, a "Holy Grail" bicycle but for me, one of the 1937-39 top-end Rudge lightweights by Jack Lauterwasser was always at the top of the list. Hitherto, I had never even seen a photo of a real one "in the flesh" in any stage of restoration or condition. And to find one in my size (or as big they come) and in original paint with some of the original components was more than one could have hoped for. This came to me by pure chance and circumstance when, in the course of researching for an article on the Rudge lightweights 1937-39, I happened on a recent posting to Bike Forum.com asking for information on an old Rudge. It was easy enough to identify it as a 1939 Olympic Road model albeit with only the remaining original components being the seat pillar, Brooks B17 saddle, headset and handlebar stem. It had, oddly, a late 50s Rudge three-speed chainset, generic early 70s 27”x1¼" wheelset, an alloy stem and set up as a single speed. In any event, I asked the poster to contact me should he ever wish to sell it. And the rest is as they say, history. The seller purchased it in summer 2017 at a "bike junk sale" at Sports Basement in the San Francisco area. It has an original pre-war Hans Orht bike shop decal on it so most likely never left California in its first 79 years. The Restoration Significantly, this came with the original paint, lining and transfers... showing the full measure of 79 years wear and tear but certainly not deserving of being ruined by repainting. But I soon discovered that what arrived as an olive drab bicycle was really a polychromatic platinum blue underneath a horrible and persistent coating of probably decades of tar and nicotine stains. The only traces of the original colour being the bb shell. It took a week of cleaning variously with TCP, ammonia and white vinegar, then rubbing compound, then polishing compound, Meguiars Mirror Glaze No. 7 and then finally waxing to restore it to something approaching its original but still weathered and chipped finish. The only damage to the frame is a shallow dent on the non-driveside seat tube and one on the top tube. No "retouching" or "improvements" have been attempted and the only concession in this regard was the use of a correct replica (Lloyd decals) of the early Reynolds 531 butted transfer as the original had weathered to little more than a silvered square with the outlines of the lettering remaining. The remains of the original remain under the replacement. Being a California bike, there is almost no rust or corrosion and the chrome fork, headset and stem came back to a remarkably good shine. The Brooks saddle, the pre-war version of the B17 Champion Narrow, also came back to astonishingly good condition using Preservation Solutions Leather Rejuvenator for Damaged Leather and Restoration Leather Conditioner. The fork is original to the machine and clearly a Rudge pattern, but it is track pattern without mudguard eyelets, lamp bracket boss and narrowier crown without mudguard clearance. It is factory drilled for a front brake and the rake is comparable to the standard road version. The machine has been outfitted almost completely per original catalogue spec although the bottom bracket is not original pending the acquisition of a proper Chater-Lea one. The Olympic Road came as either three-speed Cyclo derailleur or Sturmey-Archer hub geared or, the traditional fixed/free single speed, and I opted for the later. All of the parts added were carefully chosen for their complimentary "patina" to the original frame and parts. Brake levers identical to those pictured in the 1939 Rudge catalogue were sourced from a 1940 Sun Wasp but these had to be rechromed as they were war-time economy silver painted and rusted out. The brake cable is NOS 1940s silver cloth housing. The handlebar rubber sleeves are NOS Shockstop No. 57 in blue. Specifications Frame: Reynolds 531 butted main tubes, Reynolds 531 tapered chainstays and backstays Bottom bracket shell: Chater-Lea CL1601 Fork: A&P blades, "D" to round pattern, Resilient type with Rudge pattern sloping fork crown. No mudguard clearance, no mudguard fitting eyelets and no lamp bracket pips. Entirely chromium plated. Steerer tube stamped A&P B.S.T. 9/100 B Braze ons: pump pegs on down tube. Finish: polychromatic steel blue-gray with white lining and silver transfers. Original Hans Ohrt dealer sticker and U.S. flag (48-stars). Fully chromed front fork. Size: seat tube 23” (c to t), top tube 22” (c to c) Angles: 71˚ (head) 71˚ (seat) Fork rake: 2½” Wheelbase: 41¼” Bottom bracket height: 11" Chainstay length: 17¼" Rear spacing: 118 mm Lugs: Chater-Lea fishtailed Components Wheelset: Rims: 27”x1¼" Dunlop Special Lightweight 32/40 chromed steel rims. Spoking: 15/17g double-butted galvanised spokes 3x front and 4x rear. Front hub: 32-hole Airlite low-flange. Rear hub: 40-hole Airlite low-flange. Gripfast wingnuts.Tyres: Schwinn Super Sports (clone of Dunlop High Pressure Road Racing) 27x1" wire-on. 90 psi Chainset: Williams C1000 chromed steel, detachable 3-pin 46t chainring with 6¾” cranks Pedals: Constrictor Boa quill Gears: 46t chainwheel. 15t fixed sprocket-- 88.4" gear. 16T Villiers freewheel --82.8" gear Chain: Coventry ⅛” Brakes: side-pull calipers and levers, silver cloth cable housing. Top tube brake cable clips: rubber Headset: Rudge-Whitworth headclip fixing, chromed steel (original) Stem & handlebars: Rudge pattern 2" chromed stem (original), chromed 15" 15/16th Bailey pattern 'bars, Shockstop no. 57 6½" rubber sleeve grips Saddle: Brooks B17 Champion Narrow with black enameled undercarriage (original) Seat pin: 27mm domed steel (original) Pump: 15" x ⅞" Bluemel’s silver Tour de France celluloid Weight: Bare frame: 4.89 lbs Fork: 1.9 lbs. Built up: 25 lbs. 6 ozs.

Rudge-Whitworth Olympic Road model no. 92 serial no. 46637 47 Made in Hayes, Middlesex, England in April 1939 Purchased on 9 January 2018 Back on the road 19 May 2018 Some History "Worthy descendant of the long line of Rudge high-speed machines which on road and track have built the unsurpassed records of successes enjoyed by Rudge, this new "True-Poise" model is one of an entirely new range incorporating every modern feature that scientific research has made possible. It is the ace of clubmen's mounts-- a thoroughbred of Rudge quality." Rudge advertisement for the the Olympic Road, Cycling 21 January 1939 The last of the "real" Rudge road lightweights, the Olympic Road model for 1939 replaced the Aero-Olympic model as the top-of-the-line road model. It introduced "upright angles" (71 parallel) and a reworked specification to drop its price down to £9. 15s from the £13 of the '38 Aero-Olympic. This entailed replacing the costlier and lighter alloy chainwheel, stem and 'bars with steel ones and fitting Dunlop HP rims in either 26" or 27" as standard. The chainset was a Williams C1000 with Constrictor Boa pedals. The built-up weight for the standard model with fixed/free single-speed gearing was 24 lbs. 14 ozs vs. 20 lbs. for the Aero-Olympic. Not by coincidence, the new Rudge Olympic Road cost the same as the Raleigh Record Ace yet it was both lighter (24 lbs. 14 ozs. vs 25 lbs. 4 ozs.), boasted all Reynolds butted 531 frame and forks (the RRA was built with older HM tubing in the rear triangle and fork blades and Chrome Molybdenum main triangle), had more modern upright "mass start" geometry and the more contemporary Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres and came in fixed/free, hub or derailleur gear options. By any standard, it was among the best high-end, well spec'd factory made lightweight of the year for the money and represented a remarkable value. Its main competition at the same price point was the comparable Carlton Mass Start model. The main frame triangle and rear stays were butted Reynolds 531 but advertisements at the time of the Cycle Show in mid November 1938 spec'd the front fork as "A&P [Accles & Pollock] resilient racing type" but this was changed to Reynolds 531 in the main brochure. The colours, too, changed with "Magpie", blue or green first advertised in November 1938, then black, blue, green or "Tango" in the main 1939 brochure and finally, black and white, blue or green in the final "Super Sports" leaflet printed in spring 1939. Reviewing the Rudge 1939 models, Cycling of 12 October 1938 said "At £9 15s., the Olympic Road is an ideal mount for the connoisseur, with a really high-quality specification, including a frame of '531' tubing, A. and P. resilient racing-type chromium-plated forks, Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres, Airlite hubs, a choice of handlebars, Brooks B17 Champion saddle and an attractive finish." How I Got It It's not often one realizes, finally, a "Holy Grail" bicycle but for me, one of the 1937-39 top-end Rudge lightweights by Jack Lauterwasser was always at the top of the list. Hitherto, I had never even seen a photo of a real one "in the flesh" in any stage of restoration or condition. And to find one in my size (or as big they come) and in original paint with some of the original components was more than one could have hoped for. This came to me by pure chance and circumstance when, in the course of researching for an article on the Rudge lightweights 1937-39, I happened on a recent posting to Bike Forum.com asking for information on an old Rudge. It was easy enough to identify it as a 1939 Olympic Road model albeit with only the remaining original components being the seat pillar, Brooks B17 saddle, headset and handlebar stem. It had, oddly, a late 50s Rudge three-speed chainset, generic early 70s 27”x1¼" wheelset, an alloy stem and set up as a single speed. In any event, I asked the poster to contact me should he ever wish to sell it. And the rest is as they say, history. The seller purchased it in summer 2017 at a "bike junk sale" at Sports Basement in the San Francisco area. It has an original pre-war Hans Orht bike shop decal on it so most likely never left California in its first 79 years. The Restoration Significantly, this came with the original paint, lining and transfers... showing the full measure of 79 years wear and tear but certainly not deserving of being ruined by repainting. But I soon discovered that what arrived as an olive drab bicycle was really a polychromatic platinum blue underneath a horrible and persistent coating of probably decades of tar and nicotine stains. The only traces of the original colour being the bb shell. It took a week of cleaning variously with TCP, ammonia and white vinegar, then rubbing compound, then polishing compound, Meguiars Mirror Glaze No. 7 and then finally waxing to restore it to something approaching its original but still weathered and chipped finish. The only damage to the frame is a shallow dent on the non-driveside seat tube and one on the top tube. No "retouching" or "improvements" have been attempted and the only concession in this regard was the use of a correct replica (Lloyd decals) of the early Reynolds 531 butted transfer as the original had weathered to little more than a silvered square with the outlines of the lettering remaining. The remains of the original remain under the replacement. Being a California bike, there is almost no rust or corrosion and the chrome fork, headset and stem came back to a remarkably good shine. The Brooks saddle, the pre-war version of the B17 Champion Narrow, also came back to astonishingly good condition using Preservation Solutions Leather Rejuvenator for Damaged Leather and Restoration Leather Conditioner. The fork is original to the machine and clearly a Rudge pattern, but it is track pattern without mudguard eyelets, lamp bracket boss and narrowier crown without mudguard clearance. It is factory drilled for a front brake and the rake is comparable to the standard road version. The machine has been outfitted almost completely per original catalogue spec although the bottom bracket is not original pending the acquisition of a proper Chater-Lea one. The Olympic Road came as either three-speed Cyclo derailleur or Sturmey-Archer hub geared or, the traditional fixed/free single speed, and I opted for the later. All of the parts added were carefully chosen for their complimentary "patina" to the original frame and parts. Brake levers identical to those pictured in the 1939 Rudge catalogue were sourced from a 1940 Sun Wasp but these had to be rechromed as they were war-time economy silver painted and rusted out. The brake cable is NOS 1940s silver cloth housing. The handlebar rubber sleeves are NOS Shockstop No. 57 in blue. Specifications Frame: Reynolds 531 butted main tubes, Reynolds 531 tapered chainstays and backstays Bottom bracket shell: Chater-Lea CL1601 Fork: A&P blades, "D" to round pattern, Resilient type with Rudge pattern sloping fork crown. No mudguard clearance, no mudguard fitting eyelets and no lamp bracket pips. Entirely chromium plated. Steerer tube stamped A&P B.S.T. 9/100 B Braze ons: pump pegs on down tube. Finish: polychromatic steel blue-gray with white lining and silver transfers. Original Hans Ohrt dealer sticker and U.S. flag (48-stars). Fully chromed front fork. Size: seat tube 23” (c to t), top tube 22” (c to c) Angles: 71˚ (head) 71˚ (seat) Fork rake: 2½” Wheelbase: 41¼” Bottom bracket height: 11" Chainstay length: 17¼" Rear spacing: 118 mm Lugs: Chater-Lea fishtailed Components Wheelset: Rims: 27”x1¼" Dunlop Special Lightweight 32/40 chromed steel rims. Spoking: 15/17g double-butted galvanised spokes 3x front and 4x rear. Front hub: 32-hole Airlite low-flange. Rear hub: 40-hole Airlite low-flange. Gripfast wingnuts.Tyres: Schwinn Super Sports (clone of Dunlop High Pressure Road Racing) 27x1" wire-on. 90 psi Chainset: Williams C1000 chromed steel, detachable 3-pin 46t chainring with 6¾” cranks Pedals: Constrictor Boa quill Gears: 46t chainwheel. 15t fixed sprocket-- 88.4" gear. 16T Villiers freewheel --82.8" gear Chain: Coventry ⅛” Brakes: side-pull calipers and levers, silver cloth cable housing. Top tube brake cable clips: rubber Headset: Rudge-Whitworth headclip fixing, chromed steel (original) Stem & handlebars: Rudge pattern 2" chromed stem (original), chromed 15" 15/16th Bailey pattern 'bars, Shockstop no. 57 6½" rubber sleeve grips Saddle: Brooks B17 Champion Narrow with black enameled undercarriage (original) Seat pin: 27mm domed steel (original) Pump: 15" x ⅞" Bluemel’s silver Tour de France celluloid Weight: Bare frame: 4.89 lbs Fork: 1.9 lbs. Built up: 25 lbs. 6 ozs.

Rudge-Whitworth Olympic Road model no. 92 serial no. 46637 47 Made in Hayes, Middlesex, England in April 1939 Purchased on 9 January 2018 Back on the road 19 May 2018 Some History "Worthy descendant of the long line of Rudge high-speed machines which on road and track have built the unsurpassed records of successes enjoyed by Rudge, this new "True-Poise" model is one of an entirely new range incorporating every modern feature that scientific research has made possible. It is the ace of clubmen's mounts-- a thoroughbred of Rudge quality." Rudge advertisement for the the Olympic Road, Cycling 21 January 1939 The last of the "real" Rudge road lightweights, the Olympic Road model for 1939 replaced the Aero-Olympic model as the top-of-the-line road model. It introduced "upright angles" (71 parallel) and a reworked specification to drop its price down to £9. 15s from the £13 of the '38 Aero-Olympic. This entailed replacing the costlier and lighter alloy chainwheel, stem and 'bars with steel ones and fitting Dunlop HP rims in either 26" or 27" as standard. The chainset was a Williams C1000 with Constrictor Boa pedals. The built-up weight for the standard model with fixed/free single-speed gearing was 24 lbs. 14 ozs vs. 20 lbs. for the Aero-Olympic. Not by coincidence, the new Rudge Olympic Road cost the same as the Raleigh Record Ace yet it was both lighter (24 lbs. 14 ozs. vs 25 lbs. 4 ozs.), boasted all Reynolds butted 531 frame and forks (the RRA was built with older HM tubing in the rear triangle and fork blades and Chrome Molybdenum main triangle), had more modern upright "mass start" geometry and the more contemporary Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres and came in fixed/free, hub or derailleur gear options. By any standard, it was among the best high-end, well spec'd factory made lightweight of the year for the money and represented a remarkable value. Its main competition at the same price point was the comparable Carlton Mass Start model. The main frame triangle and rear stays were butted Reynolds 531 but advertisements at the time of the Cycle Show in mid November 1938 spec'd the front fork as "A&P [Accles & Pollock] resilient racing type" but this was changed to Reynolds 531 in the main brochure. The colours, too, changed with "Magpie", blue or green first advertised in November 1938, then black, blue, green or "Tango" in the main 1939 brochure and finally, black and white, blue or green in the final "Super Sports" leaflet printed in spring 1939. Reviewing the Rudge 1939 models, Cycling of 12 October 1938 said "At £9 15s., the Olympic Road is an ideal mount for the connoisseur, with a really high-quality specification, including a frame of '531' tubing, A. and P. resilient racing-type chromium-plated forks, Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres, Airlite hubs, a choice of handlebars, Brooks B17 Champion saddle and an attractive finish." How I Got It It's not often one realizes, finally, a "Holy Grail" bicycle but for me, one of the 1937-39 top-end Rudge lightweights by Jack Lauterwasser was always at the top of the list. Hitherto, I had never even seen a photo of a real one "in the flesh" in any stage of restoration or condition. And to find one in my size (or as big they come) and in original paint with some of the original components was more than one could have hoped for. This came to me by pure chance and circumstance when, in the course of researching for an article on the Rudge lightweights 1937-39, I happened on a recent posting to Bike Forum.com asking for information on an old Rudge. It was easy enough to identify it as a 1939 Olympic Road model albeit with only the remaining original components being the seat pillar, Brooks B17 saddle, headset and handlebar stem. It had, oddly, a late 50s Rudge three-speed chainset, generic early 70s 27”x1¼" wheelset, an alloy stem and set up as a single speed. In any event, I asked the poster to contact me should he ever wish to sell it. And the rest is as they say, history. The seller purchased it in summer 2017 at a "bike junk sale" at Sports Basement in the San Francisco area. It has an original pre-war Hans Orht bike shop decal on it so most likely never left California in its first 79 years. The Restoration Significantly, this came with the original paint, lining and transfers... showing the full measure of 79 years wear and tear but certainly not deserving of being ruined by repainting. But I soon discovered that what arrived as an olive drab bicycle was really a polychromatic platinum blue underneath a horrible and persistent coating of probably decades of tar and nicotine stains. The only traces of the original colour being the bb shell. It took a week of cleaning variously with TCP, ammonia and white vinegar, then rubbing compound, then polishing compound, Meguiars Mirror Glaze No. 7 and then finally waxing to restore it to something approaching its original but still weathered and chipped finish. The only damage to the frame is a shallow dent on the non-driveside seat tube and one on the top tube. No "retouching" or "improvements" have been attempted and the only concession in this regard was the use of a correct replica (Lloyd decals) of the early Reynolds 531 butted transfer as the original had weathered to little more than a silvered square with the outlines of the lettering remaining. The remains of the original remain under the replacement. Being a California bike, there is almost no rust or corrosion and the chrome fork, headset and stem came back to a remarkably good shine. The Brooks saddle, the pre-war version of the B17 Champion Narrow, also came back to astonishingly good condition using Preservation Solutions Leather Rejuvenator for Damaged Leather and Restoration Leather Conditioner. The fork is original to the machine and clearly a Rudge pattern, but it is track pattern without mudguard eyelets, lamp bracket boss and narrowier crown without mudguard clearance. It is factory drilled for a front brake and the rake is comparable to the standard road version. The machine has been outfitted almost completely per original catalogue spec although the bottom bracket is not original pending the acquisition of a proper Chater-Lea one. The Olympic Road came as either three-speed Cyclo derailleur or Sturmey-Archer hub geared or, the traditional fixed/free single speed, and I opted for the later. All of the parts added were carefully chosen for their complimentary "patina" to the original frame and parts. Brake levers identical to those pictured in the 1939 Rudge catalogue were sourced from a 1940 Sun Wasp but these had to be rechromed as they were war-time economy silver painted and rusted out. The brake cable is NOS 1940s silver cloth housing. The handlebar rubber sleeves are NOS Shockstop No. 57 in blue. Specifications Frame: Reynolds 531 butted main tubes, Reynolds 531 tapered chainstays and backstays Bottom bracket shell: Chater-Lea CL1601 Fork: A&P blades, "D" to round pattern, Resilient type with Rudge pattern sloping fork crown. No mudguard clearance, no mudguard fitting eyelets and no lamp bracket pips. Entirely chromium plated. Steerer tube stamped A&P B.S.T. 9/100 B Braze ons: pump pegs on down tube. Finish: polychromatic steel blue-gray with white lining and silver transfers. Original Hans Ohrt dealer sticker and U.S. flag (48-stars). Fully chromed front fork. Size: seat tube 23” (c to t), top tube 22” (c to c) Angles: 71˚ (head) 71˚ (seat) Fork rake: 2½” Wheelbase: 41¼” Bottom bracket height: 11" Chainstay length: 17¼" Rear spacing: 118 mm Lugs: Chater-Lea fishtailed Components Wheelset: Rims: 27”x1¼" Dunlop Special Lightweight 32/40 chromed steel rims. Spoking: 15/17g double-butted galvanised spokes 3x front and 4x rear. Front hub: 32-hole Airlite low-flange. Rear hub: 40-hole Airlite low-flange. Gripfast wingnuts.Tyres: Schwinn Super Sports (clone of Dunlop High Pressure Road Racing) 27x1" wire-on. 90 psi Chainset: Williams C1000 chromed steel, detachable 3-pin 46t chainring with 6¾” cranks Pedals: Constrictor Boa quill Gears: 46t chainwheel. 15t fixed sprocket-- 88.4" gear. 16T Villiers freewheel --82.8" gear Chain: Coventry ⅛” Brakes: side-pull calipers and levers, silver cloth cable housing. Top tube brake cable clips: rubber Headset: Rudge-Whitworth headclip fixing, chromed steel (original) Stem & handlebars: Rudge pattern 2" chromed stem (original), chromed 15" 15/16th Bailey pattern 'bars, Shockstop no. 57 6½" rubber sleeve grips Saddle: Brooks B17 Champion Narrow with black enameled undercarriage (original) Seat pin: 27mm domed steel (original) Pump: 15" x ⅞" Bluemel’s silver Tour de France celluloid Weight: Bare frame: 4.89 lbs Fork: 1.9 lbs. Built up: 25 lbs. 6 ozs.

Rudge-Whitworth Olympic Road model no. 92 serial no. 46637 47 Made in Hayes, Middlesex, England in April 1939 Purchased on 9 January 2018 Back on the road 19 May 2018 Some History "Worthy descendant of the long line of Rudge high-speed machines which on road and track have built the unsurpassed records of successes enjoyed by Rudge, this new "True-Poise" model is one of an entirely new range incorporating every modern feature that scientific research has made possible. It is the ace of clubmen's mounts-- a thoroughbred of Rudge quality." Rudge advertisement for the the Olympic Road, Cycling 21 January 1939 The last of the "real" Rudge road lightweights, the Olympic Road model for 1939 replaced the Aero-Olympic model as the top-of-the-line road model. It introduced "upright angles" (71 parallel) and a reworked specification to drop its price down to £9. 15s from the £13 of the '38 Aero-Olympic. This entailed replacing the costlier and lighter alloy chainwheel, stem and 'bars with steel ones and fitting Dunlop HP rims in either 26" or 27" as standard. The chainset was a Williams C1000 with Constrictor Boa pedals. The built-up weight for the standard model with fixed/free single-speed gearing was 24 lbs. 14 ozs vs. 20 lbs. for the Aero-Olympic. Not by coincidence, the new Rudge Olympic Road cost the same as the Raleigh Record Ace yet it was both lighter (24 lbs. 14 ozs. vs 25 lbs. 4 ozs.), boasted all Reynolds butted 531 frame and forks (the RRA was built with older HM tubing in the rear triangle and fork blades and Chrome Molybdenum main triangle), had more modern upright "mass start" geometry and the more contemporary Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres and came in fixed/free, hub or derailleur gear options. By any standard, it was among the best high-end, well spec'd factory made lightweight of the year for the money and represented a remarkable value. Its main competition at the same price point was the comparable Carlton Mass Start model. The main frame triangle and rear stays were butted Reynolds 531 but advertisements at the time of the Cycle Show in mid November 1938 spec'd the front fork as "A&P [Accles & Pollock] resilient racing type" but this was changed to Reynolds 531 in the main brochure. The colours, too, changed with "Magpie", blue or green first advertised in November 1938, then black, blue, green or "Tango" in the main 1939 brochure and finally, black and white, blue or green in the final "Super Sports" leaflet printed in spring 1939. Reviewing the Rudge 1939 models, Cycling of 12 October 1938 said "At £9 15s., the Olympic Road is an ideal mount for the connoisseur, with a really high-quality specification, including a frame of '531' tubing, A. and P. resilient racing-type chromium-plated forks, Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres, Airlite hubs, a choice of handlebars, Brooks B17 Champion saddle and an attractive finish." How I Got It It's not often one realizes, finally, a "Holy Grail" bicycle but for me, one of the 1937-39 top-end Rudge lightweights by Jack Lauterwasser was always at the top of the list. Hitherto, I had never even seen a photo of a real one "in the flesh" in any stage of restoration or condition. And to find one in my size (or as big they come) and in original paint with some of the original components was more than one could have hoped for. This came to me by pure chance and circumstance when, in the course of researching for an article on the Rudge lightweights 1937-39, I happened on a recent posting to Bike Forum.com asking for information on an old Rudge. It was easy enough to identify it as a 1939 Olympic Road model albeit with only the remaining original components being the seat pillar, Brooks B17 saddle, headset and handlebar stem. It had, oddly, a late 50s Rudge three-speed chainset, generic early 70s 27”x1¼" wheelset, an alloy stem and set up as a single speed. In any event, I asked the poster to contact me should he ever wish to sell it. And the rest is as they say, history. The seller purchased it in summer 2017 at a "bike junk sale" at Sports Basement in the San Francisco area. It has an original pre-war Hans Orht bike shop decal on it so most likely never left California in its first 79 years. The Restoration Significantly, this came with the original paint, lining and transfers... showing the full measure of 79 years wear and tear but certainly not deserving of being ruined by repainting. But I soon discovered that what arrived as an olive drab bicycle was really a polychromatic platinum blue underneath a horrible and persistent coating of probably decades of tar and nicotine stains. The only traces of the original colour being the bb shell. It took a week of cleaning variously with TCP, ammonia and white vinegar, then rubbing compound, then polishing compound, Meguiars Mirror Glaze No. 7 and then finally waxing to restore it to something approaching its original but still weathered and chipped finish. The only damage to the frame is a shallow dent on the non-driveside seat tube and one on the top tube. No "retouching" or "improvements" have been attempted and the only concession in this regard was the use of a correct replica (Lloyd decals) of the early Reynolds 531 butted transfer as the original had weathered to little more than a silvered square with the outlines of the lettering remaining. The remains of the original remain under the replacement. Being a California bike, there is almost no rust or corrosion and the chrome fork, headset and stem came back to a remarkably good shine. The Brooks saddle, the pre-war version of the B17 Champion Narrow, also came back to astonishingly good condition using Preservation Solutions Leather Rejuvenator for Damaged Leather and Restoration Leather Conditioner. The fork is original to the machine and clearly a Rudge pattern, but it is track pattern without mudguard eyelets, lamp bracket boss and narrowier crown without mudguard clearance. It is factory drilled for a front brake and the rake is comparable to the standard road version. The machine has been outfitted almost completely per original catalogue spec although the bottom bracket is not original pending the acquisition of a proper Chater-Lea one. The Olympic Road came as either three-speed Cyclo derailleur or Sturmey-Archer hub geared or, the traditional fixed/free single speed, and I opted for the later. All of the parts added were carefully chosen for their complimentary "patina" to the original frame and parts. Brake levers identical to those pictured in the 1939 Rudge catalogue were sourced from a 1940 Sun Wasp but these had to be rechromed as they were war-time economy silver painted and rusted out. The brake cable is NOS 1940s silver cloth housing. The handlebar rubber sleeves are NOS Shockstop No. 57 in blue. Specifications Frame: Reynolds 531 butted main tubes, Reynolds 531 tapered chainstays and backstays Bottom bracket shell: Chater-Lea CL1601 Fork: A&P blades, "D" to round pattern, Resilient type with Rudge pattern sloping fork crown. No mudguard clearance, no mudguard fitting eyelets and no lamp bracket pips. Entirely chromium plated. Steerer tube stamped A&P B.S.T. 9/100 B Braze ons: pump pegs on down tube. Finish: polychromatic steel blue-gray with white lining and silver transfers. Original Hans Ohrt dealer sticker and U.S. flag (48-stars). Fully chromed front fork. Size: seat tube 23” (c to t), top tube 22” (c to c) Angles: 71˚ (head) 71˚ (seat) Fork rake: 2½” Wheelbase: 41¼” Bottom bracket height: 11" Chainstay length: 17¼" Rear spacing: 118 mm Lugs: Chater-Lea fishtailed Components Wheelset: Rims: 27”x1¼" Dunlop Special Lightweight 32/40 chromed steel rims. Spoking: 15/17g double-butted galvanised spokes 3x front and 4x rear. Front hub: 32-hole Airlite low-flange. Rear hub: 40-hole Airlite low-flange. Gripfast wingnuts.Tyres: Schwinn Super Sports (clone of Dunlop High Pressure Road Racing) 27x1" wire-on. 90 psi Chainset: Williams C1000 chromed steel, detachable 3-pin 46t chainring with 6¾” cranks Pedals: Constrictor Boa quill Gears: 46t chainwheel. 15t fixed sprocket-- 88.4" gear. 16T Villiers freewheel --82.8" gear Chain: Coventry ⅛” Brakes: side-pull calipers and levers, silver cloth cable housing. Top tube brake cable clips: rubber Headset: Rudge-Whitworth headclip fixing, chromed steel (original) Stem & handlebars: Rudge pattern 2" chromed stem (original), chromed 15" 15/16th Bailey pattern 'bars, Shockstop no. 57 6½" rubber sleeve grips Saddle: Brooks B17 Champion Narrow with black enameled undercarriage (original) Seat pin: 27mm domed steel (original) Pump: 15" x ⅞" Bluemel’s silver Tour de France celluloid Weight: Bare frame: 4.89 lbs Fork: 1.9 lbs. Built up: 25 lbs. 6 ozs.

Rudge-Whitworth Olympic Road model no. 92 serial no. 46637 47 Made in Hayes, Middlesex, England in April 1939 Purchased on 9 January 2018 Back on the road 19 May 2018 Some History "Worthy descendant of the long line of Rudge high-speed machines which on road and track have built the unsurpassed records of successes enjoyed by Rudge, this new "True-Poise" model is one of an entirely new range incorporating every modern feature that scientific research has made possible. It is the ace of clubmen's mounts-- a thoroughbred of Rudge quality." Rudge advertisement for the the Olympic Road, Cycling 21 January 1939 The last of the "real" Rudge road lightweights, the Olympic Road model for 1939 replaced the Aero-Olympic model as the top-of-the-line road model. It introduced "upright angles" (71 parallel) and a reworked specification to drop its price down to £9. 15s from the £13 of the '38 Aero-Olympic. This entailed replacing the costlier and lighter alloy chainwheel, stem and 'bars with steel ones and fitting Dunlop HP rims in either 26" or 27" as standard. The chainset was a Williams C1000 with Constrictor Boa pedals. The built-up weight for the standard model with fixed/free single-speed gearing was 24 lbs. 14 ozs vs. 20 lbs. for the Aero-Olympic. Not by coincidence, the new Rudge Olympic Road cost the same as the Raleigh Record Ace yet it was both lighter (24 lbs. 14 ozs. vs 25 lbs. 4 ozs.), boasted all Reynolds butted 531 frame and forks (the RRA was built with older HM tubing in the rear triangle and fork blades and Chrome Molybdenum main triangle), had more modern upright "mass start" geometry and the more contemporary Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres and came in fixed/free, hub or derailleur gear options. By any standard, it was among the best high-end, well spec'd factory made lightweight of the year for the money and represented a remarkable value. Its main competition at the same price point was the comparable Carlton Mass Start model. The main frame triangle and rear stays were butted Reynolds 531 but advertisements at the time of the Cycle Show in mid November 1938 spec'd the front fork as "A&P [Accles & Pollock] resilient racing type" but this was changed to Reynolds 531 in the main brochure. The colours, too, changed with "Magpie", blue or green first advertised in November 1938, then black, blue, green or "Tango" in the main 1939 brochure and finally, black and white, blue or green in the final "Super Sports" leaflet printed in spring 1939. Reviewing the Rudge 1939 models, Cycling of 12 October 1938 said "At £9 15s., the Olympic Road is an ideal mount for the connoisseur, with a really high-quality specification, including a frame of '531' tubing, A. and P. resilient racing-type chromium-plated forks, Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres, Airlite hubs, a choice of handlebars, Brooks B17 Champion saddle and an attractive finish." How I Got It It's not often one realizes, finally, a "Holy Grail" bicycle but for me, one of the 1937-39 top-end Rudge lightweights by Jack Lauterwasser was always at the top of the list. Hitherto, I had never even seen a photo of a real one "in the flesh" in any stage of restoration or condition. And to find one in my size (or as big they come) and in original paint with some of the original components was more than one could have hoped for. This came to me by pure chance and circumstance when, in the course of researching for an article on the Rudge lightweights 1937-39, I happened on a recent posting to Bike Forum.com asking for information on an old Rudge. It was easy enough to identify it as a 1939 Olympic Road model albeit with only the remaining original components being the seat pillar, Brooks B17 saddle, headset and handlebar stem. It had, oddly, a late 50s Rudge three-speed chainset, generic early 70s 27”x1¼" wheelset, an alloy stem and set up as a single speed. In any event, I asked the poster to contact me should he ever wish to sell it. And the rest is as they say, history. The seller purchased it in summer 2017 at a "bike junk sale" at Sports Basement in the San Francisco area. It has an original pre-war Hans Orht bike shop decal on it so most likely never left California in its first 79 years. The Restoration Significantly, this came with the original paint, lining and transfers... showing the full measure of 79 years wear and tear but certainly not deserving of being ruined by repainting. But I soon discovered that what arrived as an olive drab bicycle was really a polychromatic platinum blue underneath a horrible and persistent coating of probably decades of tar and nicotine stains. The only traces of the original colour being the bb shell. It took a week of cleaning variously with TCP, ammonia and white vinegar, then rubbing compound, then polishing compound, Meguiars Mirror Glaze No. 7 and then finally waxing to restore it to something approaching its original but still weathered and chipped finish. The only damage to the frame is a shallow dent on the non-driveside seat tube and one on the top tube. No "retouching" or "improvements" have been attempted and the only concession in this regard was the use of a correct replica (Lloyd decals) of the early Reynolds 531 butted transfer as the original had weathered to little more than a silvered square with the outlines of the lettering remaining. The remains of the original remain under the replacement. Being a California bike, there is almost no rust or corrosion and the chrome fork, headset and stem came back to a remarkably good shine. The Brooks saddle, the pre-war version of the B17 Champion Narrow, also came back to astonishingly good condition using Preservation Solutions Leather Rejuvenator for Damaged Leather and Restoration Leather Conditioner. The fork is original to the machine and clearly a Rudge pattern, but it is track pattern without mudguard eyelets, lamp bracket boss and narrowier crown without mudguard clearance. It is factory drilled for a front brake and the rake is comparable to the standard road version. The machine has been outfitted almost completely per original catalogue spec although the bottom bracket is not original pending the acquisition of a proper Chater-Lea one. The Olympic Road came as either three-speed Cyclo derailleur or Sturmey-Archer hub geared or, the traditional fixed/free single speed, and I opted for the later. All of the parts added were carefully chosen for their complimentary "patina" to the original frame and parts. Brake levers identical to those pictured in the 1939 Rudge catalogue were sourced from a 1940 Sun Wasp but these had to be rechromed as they were war-time economy silver painted and rusted out. The brake cable is NOS 1940s silver cloth housing. The handlebar rubber sleeves are NOS Shockstop No. 57 in blue. Specifications Frame: Reynolds 531 butted main tubes, Reynolds 531 tapered chainstays and backstays Bottom bracket shell: Chater-Lea CL1601 Fork: A&P blades, "D" to round pattern, Resilient type with Rudge pattern sloping fork crown. No mudguard clearance, no mudguard fitting eyelets and no lamp bracket pips. Entirely chromium plated. Steerer tube stamped A&P B.S.T. 9/100 B Braze ons: pump pegs on down tube. Finish: polychromatic steel blue-gray with white lining and silver transfers. Original Hans Ohrt dealer sticker and U.S. flag (48-stars). Fully chromed front fork. Size: seat tube 23” (c to t), top tube 22” (c to c) Angles: 71˚ (head) 71˚ (seat) Fork rake: 2½” Wheelbase: 41¼” Bottom bracket height: 11" Chainstay length: 17¼" Rear spacing: 118 mm Lugs: Chater-Lea fishtailed Components Wheelset: Rims: 27”x1¼" Dunlop Special Lightweight 32/40 chromed steel rims. Spoking: 15/17g double-butted galvanised spokes 3x front and 4x rear. Front hub: 32-hole Airlite low-flange. Rear hub: 40-hole Airlite low-flange. Gripfast wingnuts.Tyres: Schwinn Super Sports (clone of Dunlop High Pressure Road Racing) 27x1" wire-on. 90 psi Chainset: Williams C1000 chromed steel, detachable 3-pin 46t chainring with 6¾” cranks Pedals: Constrictor Boa quill Gears: 46t chainwheel. 15t fixed sprocket-- 88.4" gear. 16T Villiers freewheel --82.8" gear Chain: Coventry ⅛” Brakes: side-pull calipers and levers, silver cloth cable housing. Top tube brake cable clips: rubber Headset: Rudge-Whitworth headclip fixing, chromed steel (original) Stem & handlebars: Rudge pattern 2" chromed stem (original), chromed 15" 15/16th Bailey pattern 'bars, Shockstop no. 57 6½" rubber sleeve grips Saddle: Brooks B17 Champion Narrow with black enameled undercarriage (original) Seat pin: 27mm domed steel (original) Pump: 15" x ⅞" Bluemel’s silver Tour de France celluloid Weight: Bare frame: 4.89 lbs Fork: 1.9 lbs. Built up: 25 lbs. 6 ozs.

Rudge-Whitworth Olympic Road model no. 92 serial no. 46637 47 Made in Hayes, Middlesex, England in April 1939 Purchased on 9 January 2018 Back on the road 19 May 2018 Some History "Worthy descendant of the long line of Rudge high-speed machines which on road and track have built the unsurpassed records of successes enjoyed by Rudge, this new "True-Poise" model is one of an entirely new range incorporating every modern feature that scientific research has made possible. It is the ace of clubmen's mounts-- a thoroughbred of Rudge quality." Rudge advertisement for the the Olympic Road, Cycling 21 January 1939 The last of the "real" Rudge road lightweights, the Olympic Road model for 1939 replaced the Aero-Olympic model as the top-of-the-line road model. It introduced "upright angles" (71 parallel) and a reworked specification to drop its price down to £9. 15s from the £13 of the '38 Aero-Olympic. This entailed replacing the costlier and lighter alloy chainwheel, stem and 'bars with steel ones and fitting Dunlop HP rims in either 26" or 27" as standard. The chainset was a Williams C1000 with Constrictor Boa pedals. The built-up weight for the standard model with fixed/free single-speed gearing was 24 lbs. 14 ozs vs. 20 lbs. for the Aero-Olympic. Not by coincidence, the new Rudge Olympic Road cost the same as the Raleigh Record Ace yet it was both lighter (24 lbs. 14 ozs. vs 25 lbs. 4 ozs.), boasted all Reynolds butted 531 frame and forks (the RRA was built with older HM tubing in the rear triangle and fork blades and Chrome Molybdenum main triangle), had more modern upright "mass start" geometry and the more contemporary Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres and came in fixed/free, hub or derailleur gear options. By any standard, it was among the best high-end, well spec'd factory made lightweight of the year for the money and represented a remarkable value. Its main competition at the same price point was the comparable Carlton Mass Start model. The main frame triangle and rear stays were butted Reynolds 531 but advertisements at the time of the Cycle Show in mid November 1938 spec'd the front fork as "A&P [Accles & Pollock] resilient racing type" but this was changed to Reynolds 531 in the main brochure. The colours, too, changed with "Magpie", blue or green first advertised in November 1938, then black, blue, green or "Tango" in the main 1939 brochure and finally, black and white, blue or green in the final "Super Sports" leaflet printed in spring 1939. Reviewing the Rudge 1939 models, Cycling of 12 October 1938 said "At £9 15s., the Olympic Road is an ideal mount for the connoisseur, with a really high-quality specification, including a frame of '531' tubing, A. and P. resilient racing-type chromium-plated forks, Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres, Airlite hubs, a choice of handlebars, Brooks B17 Champion saddle and an attractive finish." How I Got It It's not often one realizes, finally, a "Holy Grail" bicycle but for me, one of the 1937-39 top-end Rudge lightweights by Jack Lauterwasser was always at the top of the list. Hitherto, I had never even seen a photo of a real one "in the flesh" in any stage of restoration or condition. And to find one in my size (or as big they come) and in original paint with some of the original components was more than one could have hoped for. This came to me by pure chance and circumstance when, in the course of researching for an article on the Rudge lightweights 1937-39, I happened on a recent posting to Bike Forum.com asking for information on an old Rudge. It was easy enough to identify it as a 1939 Olympic Road model albeit with only the remaining original components being the seat pillar, Brooks B17 saddle, headset and handlebar stem. It had, oddly, a late 50s Rudge three-speed chainset, generic early 70s 27”x1¼" wheelset, an alloy stem and set up as a single speed. In any event, I asked the poster to contact me should he ever wish to sell it. And the rest is as they say, history. The seller purchased it in summer 2017 at a "bike junk sale" at Sports Basement in the San Francisco area. It has an original pre-war Hans Orht bike shop decal on it so most likely never left California in its first 79 years. The Restoration Significantly, this came with the original paint, lining and transfers... showing the full measure of 79 years wear and tear but certainly not deserving of being ruined by repainting. But I soon discovered that what arrived as an olive drab bicycle was really a polychromatic platinum blue underneath a horrible and persistent coating of probably decades of tar and nicotine stains. The only traces of the original colour being the bb shell. It took a week of cleaning variously with TCP, ammonia and white vinegar, then rubbing compound, then polishing compound, Meguiars Mirror Glaze No. 7 and then finally waxing to restore it to something approaching its original but still weathered and chipped finish. The only damage to the frame is a shallow dent on the non-driveside seat tube and one on the top tube. No "retouching" or "improvements" have been attempted and the only concession in this regard was the use of a correct replica (Lloyd decals) of the early Reynolds 531 butted transfer as the original had weathered to little more than a silvered square with the outlines of the lettering remaining. The remains of the original remain under the replacement. Being a California bike, there is almost no rust or corrosion and the chrome fork, headset and stem came back to a remarkably good shine. The Brooks saddle, the pre-war version of the B17 Champion Narrow, also came back to astonishingly good condition using Preservation Solutions Leather Rejuvenator for Damaged Leather and Restoration Leather Conditioner. The fork is original to the machine and clearly a Rudge pattern, but it is track pattern without mudguard eyelets, lamp bracket boss and narrowier crown without mudguard clearance. It is factory drilled for a front brake and the rake is comparable to the standard road version. The machine has been outfitted almost completely per original catalogue spec although the bottom bracket is not original pending the acquisition of a proper Chater-Lea one. The Olympic Road came as either three-speed Cyclo derailleur or Sturmey-Archer hub geared or, the traditional fixed/free single speed, and I opted for the later. All of the parts added were carefully chosen for their complimentary "patina" to the original frame and parts. Brake levers identical to those pictured in the 1939 Rudge catalogue were sourced from a 1940 Sun Wasp but these had to be rechromed as they were war-time economy silver painted and rusted out. The brake cable is NOS 1940s silver cloth housing. The handlebar rubber sleeves are NOS Shockstop No. 57 in blue. Specifications Frame: Reynolds 531 butted main tubes, Reynolds 531 tapered chainstays and backstays Bottom bracket shell: Chater-Lea CL1601 Fork: A&P blades, "D" to round pattern, Resilient type with Rudge pattern sloping fork crown. No mudguard clearance, no mudguard fitting eyelets and no lamp bracket pips. Entirely chromium plated. Steerer tube stamped A&P B.S.T. 9/100 B Braze ons: pump pegs on down tube. Finish: polychromatic steel blue-gray with white lining and silver transfers. Original Hans Ohrt dealer sticker and U.S. flag (48-stars). Fully chromed front fork. Size: seat tube 23” (c to t), top tube 22” (c to c) Angles: 71˚ (head) 71˚ (seat) Fork rake: 2½” Wheelbase: 41¼” Bottom bracket height: 11" Chainstay length: 17¼" Rear spacing: 118 mm Lugs: Chater-Lea fishtailed Components Wheelset: Rims: 27”x1¼" Dunlop Special Lightweight 32/40 chromed steel rims. Spoking: 15/17g double-butted galvanised spokes 3x front and 4x rear. Front hub: 32-hole Airlite low-flange. Rear hub: 40-hole Airlite low-flange. Gripfast wingnuts.Tyres: Schwinn Super Sports (clone of Dunlop High Pressure Road Racing) 27x1" wire-on. 90 psi Chainset: Williams C1000 chromed steel, detachable 3-pin 46t chainring with 6¾” cranks Pedals: Constrictor Boa quill Gears: 46t chainwheel. 15t fixed sprocket-- 88.4" gear. 16T Villiers freewheel --82.8" gear Chain: Coventry ⅛” Brakes: side-pull calipers and levers, silver cloth cable housing. Top tube brake cable clips: rubber Headset: Rudge-Whitworth headclip fixing, chromed steel (original) Stem & handlebars: Rudge pattern 2" chromed stem (original), chromed 15" 15/16th Bailey pattern 'bars, Shockstop no. 57 6½" rubber sleeve grips Saddle: Brooks B17 Champion Narrow with black enameled undercarriage (original) Seat pin: 27mm domed steel (original) Pump: 15" x ⅞" Bluemel’s silver Tour de France celluloid Weight: Bare frame: 4.89 lbs Fork: 1.9 lbs. Built up: 25 lbs. 6 ozs.

Rudge-Whitworth Olympic Road model no. 92 serial no. 46637 47 Made in Hayes, Middlesex, England in April 1939 Purchased on 9 January 2018 Back on the road 19 May 2018 Some History "Worthy descendant of the long line of Rudge high-speed machines which on road and track have built the unsurpassed records of successes enjoyed by Rudge, this new "True-Poise" model is one of an entirely new range incorporating every modern feature that scientific research has made possible. It is the ace of clubmen's mounts-- a thoroughbred of Rudge quality." Rudge advertisement for the the Olympic Road, Cycling 21 January 1939 The last of the "real" Rudge road lightweights, the Olympic Road model for 1939 replaced the Aero-Olympic model as the top-of-the-line road model. It introduced "upright angles" (71 parallel) and a reworked specification to drop its price down to £9. 15s from the £13 of the '38 Aero-Olympic. This entailed replacing the costlier and lighter alloy chainwheel, stem and 'bars with steel ones and fitting Dunlop HP rims in either 26" or 27" as standard. The chainset was a Williams C1000 with Constrictor Boa pedals. The built-up weight for the standard model with fixed/free single-speed gearing was 24 lbs. 14 ozs vs. 20 lbs. for the Aero-Olympic. Not by coincidence, the new Rudge Olympic Road cost the same as the Raleigh Record Ace yet it was both lighter (24 lbs. 14 ozs. vs 25 lbs. 4 ozs.), boasted all Reynolds butted 531 frame and forks (the RRA was built with older HM tubing in the rear triangle and fork blades and Chrome Molybdenum main triangle), had more modern upright "mass start" geometry and the more contemporary Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres and came in fixed/free, hub or derailleur gear options. By any standard, it was among the best high-end, well spec'd factory made lightweight of the year for the money and represented a remarkable value. Its main competition at the same price point was the comparable Carlton Mass Start model. The main frame triangle and rear stays were butted Reynolds 531 but advertisements at the time of the Cycle Show in mid November 1938 spec'd the front fork as "A&P [Accles & Pollock] resilient racing type" but this was changed to Reynolds 531 in the main brochure. The colours, too, changed with "Magpie", blue or green first advertised in November 1938, then black, blue, green or "Tango" in the main 1939 brochure and finally, black and white, blue or green in the final "Super Sports" leaflet printed in spring 1939. Reviewing the Rudge 1939 models, Cycling of 12 October 1938 said "At £9 15s., the Olympic Road is an ideal mount for the connoisseur, with a really high-quality specification, including a frame of '531' tubing, A. and P. resilient racing-type chromium-plated forks, Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres, Airlite hubs, a choice of handlebars, Brooks B17 Champion saddle and an attractive finish." How I Got It It's not often one realizes, finally, a "Holy Grail" bicycle but for me, one of the 1937-39 top-end Rudge lightweights by Jack Lauterwasser was always at the top of the list. Hitherto, I had never even seen a photo of a real one "in the flesh" in any stage of restoration or condition. And to find one in my size (or as big they come) and in original paint with some of the original components was more than one could have hoped for. This came to me by pure chance and circumstance when, in the course of researching for an article on the Rudge lightweights 1937-39, I happened on a recent posting to Bike Forum.com asking for information on an old Rudge. It was easy enough to identify it as a 1939 Olympic Road model albeit with only the remaining original components being the seat pillar, Brooks B17 saddle, headset and handlebar stem. It had, oddly, a late 50s Rudge three-speed chainset, generic early 70s 27”x1¼" wheelset, an alloy stem and set up as a single speed. In any event, I asked the poster to contact me should he ever wish to sell it. And the rest is as they say, history. The seller purchased it in summer 2017 at a "bike junk sale" at Sports Basement in the San Francisco area. It has an original pre-war Hans Orht bike shop decal on it so most likely never left California in its first 79 years. The Restoration Significantly, this came with the original paint, lining and transfers... showing the full measure of 79 years wear and tear but certainly not deserving of being ruined by repainting. But I soon discovered that what arrived as an olive drab bicycle was really a polychromatic platinum blue underneath a horrible and persistent coating of probably decades of tar and nicotine stains. The only traces of the original colour being the bb shell. It took a week of cleaning variously with TCP, ammonia and white vinegar, then rubbing compound, then polishing compound, Meguiars Mirror Glaze No. 7 and then finally waxing to restore it to something approaching its original but still weathered and chipped finish. The only damage to the frame is a shallow dent on the non-driveside seat tube and one on the top tube. No "retouching" or "improvements" have been attempted and the only concession in this regard was the use of a correct replica (Lloyd decals) of the early Reynolds 531 butted transfer as the original had weathered to little more than a silvered square with the outlines of the lettering remaining. The remains of the original remain under the replacement. Being a California bike, there is almost no rust or corrosion and the chrome fork, headset and stem came back to a remarkably good shine. The Brooks saddle, the pre-war version of the B17 Champion Narrow, also came back to astonishingly good condition using Preservation Solutions Leather Rejuvenator for Damaged Leather and Restoration Leather Conditioner. The fork is original to the machine and clearly a Rudge pattern, but it is track pattern without mudguard eyelets, lamp bracket boss and narrowier crown without mudguard clearance. It is factory drilled for a front brake and the rake is comparable to the standard road version. The machine has been outfitted almost completely per original catalogue spec although the bottom bracket is not original pending the acquisition of a proper Chater-Lea one. The Olympic Road came as either three-speed Cyclo derailleur or Sturmey-Archer hub geared or, the traditional fixed/free single speed, and I opted for the later. All of the parts added were carefully chosen for their complimentary "patina" to the original frame and parts. Brake levers identical to those pictured in the 1939 Rudge catalogue were sourced from a 1940 Sun Wasp but these had to be rechromed as they were war-time economy silver painted and rusted out. The brake cable is NOS 1940s silver cloth housing. The handlebar rubber sleeves are NOS Shockstop No. 57 in blue. Specifications Frame: Reynolds 531 butted main tubes, Reynolds 531 tapered chainstays and backstays Bottom bracket shell: Chater-Lea CL1601 Fork: A&P blades, "D" to round pattern, Resilient type with Rudge pattern sloping fork crown. No mudguard clearance, no mudguard fitting eyelets and no lamp bracket pips. Entirely chromium plated. Steerer tube stamped A&P B.S.T. 9/100 B Braze ons: pump pegs on down tube. Finish: polychromatic steel blue-gray with white lining and silver transfers. Original Hans Ohrt dealer sticker and U.S. flag (48-stars). Fully chromed front fork. Size: seat tube 23” (c to t), top tube 22” (c to c) Angles: 71˚ (head) 71˚ (seat) Fork rake: 2½” Wheelbase: 41¼” Bottom bracket height: 11" Chainstay length: 17¼" Rear spacing: 118 mm Lugs: Chater-Lea fishtailed Components Wheelset: Rims: 27”x1¼" Dunlop Special Lightweight 32/40 chromed steel rims. Spoking: 15/17g double-butted galvanised spokes 3x front and 4x rear. Front hub: 32-hole Airlite low-flange. Rear hub: 40-hole Airlite low-flange. Gripfast wingnuts.Tyres: Schwinn Super Sports (clone of Dunlop High Pressure Road Racing) 27x1" wire-on. 90 psi Chainset: Williams C1000 chromed steel, detachable 3-pin 46t chainring with 6¾” cranks Pedals: Constrictor Boa quill Gears: 46t chainwheel. 15t fixed sprocket-- 88.4" gear. 16T Villiers freewheel --82.8" gear Chain: Coventry ⅛” Brakes: side-pull calipers and levers, silver cloth cable housing. Top tube brake cable clips: rubber Headset: Rudge-Whitworth headclip fixing, chromed steel (original) Stem & handlebars: Rudge pattern 2" chromed stem (original), chromed 15" 15/16th Bailey pattern 'bars, Shockstop no. 57 6½" rubber sleeve grips Saddle: Brooks B17 Champion Narrow with black enameled undercarriage (original) Seat pin: 27mm domed steel (original) Pump: 15" x ⅞" Bluemel’s silver Tour de France celluloid Weight: Bare frame: 4.89 lbs Fork: 1.9 lbs. Built up: 25 lbs. 6 ozs.

Rudge-Whitworth Olympic Road model no. 92 serial no. 46637 47 Made in Hayes, Middlesex, England in April 1939 Purchased on 9 January 2018 Back on the road 19 May 2018 Some History "Worthy descendant of the long line of Rudge high-speed machines which on road and track have built the unsurpassed records of successes enjoyed by Rudge, this new "True-Poise" model is one of an entirely new range incorporating every modern feature that scientific research has made possible. It is the ace of clubmen's mounts-- a thoroughbred of Rudge quality." Rudge advertisement for the the Olympic Road, Cycling 21 January 1939 The last of the "real" Rudge road lightweights, the Olympic Road model for 1939 replaced the Aero-Olympic model as the top-of-the-line road model. It introduced "upright angles" (71 parallel) and a reworked specification to drop its price down to £9. 15s from the £13 of the '38 Aero-Olympic. This entailed replacing the costlier and lighter alloy chainwheel, stem and 'bars with steel ones and fitting Dunlop HP rims in either 26" or 27" as standard. The chainset was a Williams C1000 with Constrictor Boa pedals. The built-up weight for the standard model with fixed/free single-speed gearing was 24 lbs. 14 ozs vs. 20 lbs. for the Aero-Olympic. Not by coincidence, the new Rudge Olympic Road cost the same as the Raleigh Record Ace yet it was both lighter (24 lbs. 14 ozs. vs 25 lbs. 4 ozs.), boasted all Reynolds butted 531 frame and forks (the RRA was built with older HM tubing in the rear triangle and fork blades and Chrome Molybdenum main triangle), had more modern upright "mass start" geometry and the more contemporary Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres and came in fixed/free, hub or derailleur gear options. By any standard, it was among the best high-end, well spec'd factory made lightweight of the year for the money and represented a remarkable value. Its main competition at the same price point was the comparable Carlton Mass Start model. The main frame triangle and rear stays were butted Reynolds 531 but advertisements at the time of the Cycle Show in mid November 1938 spec'd the front fork as "A&P [Accles & Pollock] resilient racing type" but this was changed to Reynolds 531 in the main brochure. The colours, too, changed with "Magpie", blue or green first advertised in November 1938, then black, blue, green or "Tango" in the main 1939 brochure and finally, black and white, blue or green in the final "Super Sports" leaflet printed in spring 1939. Reviewing the Rudge 1939 models, Cycling of 12 October 1938 said "At £9 15s., the Olympic Road is an ideal mount for the connoisseur, with a really high-quality specification, including a frame of '531' tubing, A. and P. resilient racing-type chromium-plated forks, Dunlop high pressure rims and tyres, Airlite hubs, a choice of handlebars, Brooks B17 Champion saddle and an attractive finish." How I Got It It's not often one realizes, finally, a "Holy Grail" bicycle but for me, one of the 1937-39 top-end Rudge lightweights by Jack Lauterwasser was always at the top of the list. Hitherto, I had never even seen a photo of a real one "in the flesh" in any stage of restoration or condition. And to find one in my size (or as big they come) and in original paint with some of the original components was more than one could have hoped for. This came to me by pure chance and circumstance when, in the course of researching for an article on the Rudge lightweights 1937-39, I happened on a recent posting to Bike Forum.com asking for information on an old Rudge. It was easy enough to identify it as a 1939 Olympic Road model albeit with only the remaining original components being the seat pillar, Brooks B17 saddle, headset and handlebar stem. It had, oddly, a late 50s Rudge three-speed chainset, generic early 70s 27”x1¼" wheelset, an alloy stem and set up as a single speed. In any event, I asked the poster to contact me should he ever wish to sell it. And the rest is as they say, history. The seller purchased it in summer 2017 at a "bike junk sale" at Sports Basement in the San Francisco area. It has an original pre-war Hans Orht bike shop decal on it so most likely never left California in its first 79 years. The Restoration Significantly, this came with the original paint, lining and transfers... showing the full measure of 79 years wear and tear but certainly not deserving of being ruined by repainting. But I soon discovered that what arrived as an olive drab bicycle was really a polychromatic platinum blue underneath a horrible and persistent coating of probably decades of tar and nicotine stains. The only traces of the original colour being the bb shell. It took a week of cleaning variously with TCP, ammonia and white vinegar, then rubbing compound, then polishing compound, Meguiars Mirror Glaze No. 7 and then finally waxing to restore it to something approaching its original but still weathered and chipped finish. The only damage to the frame is a shallow dent on the non-driveside seat tube and one on the top tube. No "retouching" or "improvements" have been attempted and the only concession in this regard was the use of a correct replica (Lloyd decals) of the early Reynolds 531 butted transfer as the original had weathered to little more than a silvered square with the outlines of the lettering remaining. The remains of the original remain under the replacement. Being a California bike, there is almost no rust or corrosion and the chrome fork, headset and stem came back to a remarkably good shine. The Brooks saddle, the pre-war version of the B17 Champion Narrow, also came back to astonishingly good condition using Preservation Solutions Leather Rejuvenator for Damaged Leather and Restoration Leather Conditioner. The fork is original to the machine and clearly a Rudge pattern, but it is track pattern without mudguard eyelets, lamp bracket boss and narrowier crown without mudguard clearance. It is factory drilled for a front brake and the rake is comparable to the standard road version. The machine has been outfitted almost completely per original catalogue spec although the bottom bracket is not original pending the acquisition of a proper Chater-Lea one. The Olympic Road came as either three-speed Cyclo derailleur or Sturmey-Archer hub geared or, the traditional fixed/free single speed, and I opted for the later. All of the parts added were carefully chosen for their complimentary "patina" to the original frame and parts. Brake levers identical to those pictured in the 1939 Rudge catalogue were sourced from a 1940 Sun Wasp but these had to be rechromed as they were war-time economy silver painted and rusted out. The brake cable is NOS 1940s silver cloth housing. The handlebar rubber sleeves are NOS Shockstop No. 57 in blue. Specifications Frame: Reynolds 531 butted main tubes, Reynolds 531 tapered chainstays and backstays Bottom bracket shell: Chater-Lea CL1601 Fork: A&P blades, "D" to round pattern, Resilient type with Rudge pattern sloping fork crown. No mudguard clearance, no mudguard fitting eyelets and no lamp bracket pips. Entirely chromium plated. Steerer tube stamped A&P B.S.T. 9/100 B Braze ons: pump pegs on down tube. Finish: polychromatic steel blue-gray with white lining and silver transfers. Original Hans Ohrt dealer sticker and U.S. flag (48-stars). Fully chromed front fork. Size: seat tube 23” (c to t), top tube 22” (c to c) Angles: 71˚ (head) 71˚ (seat) Fork rake: 2½” Wheelbase: 41¼” Bottom bracket height: 11" Chainstay length: 17¼" Rear spacing: 118 mm Lugs: Chater-Lea fishtailed Components Wheelset: Rims: 27”x1¼" Dunlop Special Lightweight 32/40 chromed steel rims. Spoking: 15/17g double-butted galvanised spokes 3x front and 4x rear. Front hub: 32-hole Airlite low-flange. Rear hub: 40-hole Airlite low-flange. Gripfast wingnuts.Tyres: Schwinn Super Sports (clone of Dunlop High Pressure Road Racing) 27x1" wire-on. 90 psi Chainset: Williams C1000 chromed steel, detachable 3-pin 46t chainring with 6¾” cranks Pedals: Constrictor Boa quill Gears: 46t chainwheel. 15t fixed sprocket-- 88.4" gear. 16T Villiers freewheel --82.8" gear Chain: Coventry ⅛” Brakes: side-pull calipers and levers, silver cloth cable housing. Top tube brake cable clips: rubber Headset: Rudge-Whitworth headclip fixing, chromed steel (original) Stem & handlebars: Rudge pattern 2" chromed stem (original), chromed 15" 15/16th Bailey pattern 'bars, Shockstop no. 57 6½" rubber sleeve grips Saddle: Brooks B17 Champion Narrow with black enameled undercarriage (original) Seat pin: 27mm domed steel (original) Pump: 15" x ⅞" Bluemel’s silver Tour de France celluloid Weight: Bare frame: 4.89 lbs Fork: 1.9 lbs. Built up: 25 lbs. 6 ozs.

Purchased as frameset only on eBay (Netherlands) in May 2009. Back on the road 27 July. An early example of this iconic racing machine indeliably associated with the famous Brooklyn Chewing Gum team of the 1970s and especially Roger De Vlaeminck. This frame is notable for its unusual chromed rear triangle in addition to the customary all-chromed fork. Other notable features of the first Gios Professionals seen here are the brake cable clips instead of braze-ons and no gold outlining of the white lettering. This frame also has the remains of a Gios Olympic rings decal on the bottom tube just below the head lug. The Ride Exceptional. Unique. A short top tube (57.5 cm on a 61 cm c-t-t seat tube), very light frame building into a very light bike (20.5 lbs. with full Super Record) and tight angles make this the first Italian racing bike I’ve ridden with that “light” quality I associate with French machines. A perfect sprinter’s machine so no wonder a favourite of De Vlaeminck, this is one sweet, fast ride. Frame Material: Columbus SL double butted tubing frame and forks Finish: original Brooklyn Team livery (cobalt blue) with all-chromed fork and rear triangle socks. Size: seat tube 60 cm c to c, 61 cm (c to t) (24.255”), top tube 57.5 cm (c to c) Chainstay length: 42 cm (c to c) Bottom bracket height: 10.5 inches Wheelbase: 101 cm (40) inches (c to c) Angles: 73º head 73º seat Fork offset: 1½ inches Rear spacing: 120 mm Lugs: Bocama Fork Crown: Vagner pattern Dropouts: Campagnolo forged, rear drop-out drilled Braze-ons: Campagnolo cable guides top of bb shell and chain stay cable stop Serial nos: none Components Rear derailleur: Campagnolo Super Record pat. 75 Front deralleur: Campagnolo Nuovo Record 1052/1 Gear levers: Campagnolo 1014 Chainset: Campagnolo Record Strada 1049, 46t x 53t, 172.5 cm cranks, no date code with Gios pantographed large ring Bottom bracket: Campagnolo Super Record with hollow titanium spindle Headset: Campagnolo Super Record Italian thread Stem: Cinelli 1A, 135 mm Handlebars: Cinelli Criterium, no. 65, 40 cm, Velox white plastic tape and white REG 'bar plugs Brakes: Campagnolo Nuovo Record 2040 side-pull, nutted bolt fitting Brake levers: Campagnolo Super Record Brake cable clips: Campagnolo chrome-plated Seatpost: Campagnolo Super Record, 27 mm Seat binder bolt: Campagnolo Saddle: Cinelli Unicanitor Pedals: Campagnolo Super Record with titanium spindles Toeclips and straps: REG chrome Special toeclips, Alfredo Binda toe straps Rims: Fiamme Ergal polished alloy 36-hole sprints Hubs: Campagnolo Record 36-hole low-flange with Campagnolo straight-lever quick release skewers Spokes: 3x 15g straight gauge stainless steel Freewheel: Regina Oro, 13-14-15-16-17t, five-speed Chain: Sedis Tyres: Tufo Jet Pro 700x19 sew-ups Accessories: Brooklyn Team Mariplast bidon and REG chromed steel holder. Weight: bare frame: 4.2 lbs (1.92 kg), bare fork 1.6 lbs (0.72 kg), complete machine: 20.2 lbs.

Purchased as frameset only on eBay (Netherlands) in May 2009. Back on the road 27 July. An early example of this iconic racing machine indeliably associated with the famous Brooklyn Chewing Gum team of the 1970s and especially Roger De Vlaeminck. This frame is notable for its unusual chromed rear triangle in addition to the customary all-chromed fork. Other notable features of the first Gios Professionals seen here are the brake cable clips instead of braze-ons and no gold outlining of the white lettering. This frame also has the remains of a Gios Olympic rings decal on the bottom tube just below the head lug. The Ride Exceptional. Unique. A short top tube (57.5 cm on a 61 cm c-t-t seat tube), very light frame building into a very light bike (20.5 lbs. with full Super Record) and tight angles make this the first Italian racing bike I’ve ridden with that “light” quality I associate with French machines. A perfect sprinter’s machine so no wonder a favourite of De Vlaeminck, this is one sweet, fast ride. Frame Material: Columbus SL double butted tubing frame and forks Finish: original Brooklyn Team livery (cobalt blue) with all-chromed fork and rear triangle socks. Size: seat tube 60 cm c to c, 61 cm (c to t) (24.255”), top tube 57.5 cm (c to c) Chainstay length: 42 cm (c to c) Bottom bracket height: 10.5 inches Wheelbase: 101 cm (40) inches (c to c) Angles: 73º head 73º seat Fork offset: 1½ inches Rear spacing: 120 mm Lugs: Bocama Fork Crown: Vagner pattern Dropouts: Campagnolo forged, rear drop-out drilled Braze-ons: Campagnolo cable guides top of bb shell and chain stay cable stop Serial nos: none Components Rear derailleur: Campagnolo Super Record pat. 75 Front deralleur: Campagnolo Nuovo Record 1052/1 Gear levers: Campagnolo 1014 Chainset: Campagnolo Record Strada 1049, 46t x 53t, 172.5 cm cranks, no date code with Gios pantographed large ring Bottom bracket: Campagnolo Super Record with hollow titanium spindle Headset: Campagnolo Super Record Italian thread Stem: Cinelli 1A, 135 mm Handlebars: Cinelli Criterium, no. 65, 40 cm, Velox white plastic tape and white REG 'bar plugs Brakes: Campagnolo Nuovo Record 2040 side-pull, nutted bolt fitting Brake levers: Campagnolo Super Record Brake cable clips: Campagnolo chrome-plated Seatpost: Campagnolo Super Record, 27 mm Seat binder bolt: Campagnolo Saddle: Cinelli Unicanitor Pedals: Campagnolo Super Record with titanium spindles Toeclips and straps: REG chrome Special toeclips, Alfredo Binda toe straps Rims: Fiamme Ergal polished alloy 36-hole sprints Hubs: Campagnolo Record 36-hole low-flange with Campagnolo straight-lever quick release skewers Spokes: 3x 15g straight gauge stainless steel Freewheel: Regina Oro, 13-14-15-16-17t, five-speed Chain: Sedis Tyres: Tufo Jet Pro 700x19 sew-ups Accessories: Brooklyn Team Mariplast bidon and REG chromed steel holder. Weight: bare frame: 4.2 lbs (1.92 kg), bare fork 1.6 lbs (0.72 kg), complete machine: 20.2 lbs.