Help identify an old Malvern Star

[Pecky]

Hi Folks,

I've been reading various posts about singlespeeds and fixies for some
time now and started to keep an eye out for an old road frame with
horizontal dropouts to have an experiment with.
Driving back from the polling booth saturday I picked up a bike, plus
an old Shimano 3 spd hub laced to a 26 inch rim and a coaster brake
hub laced to a 28 inch rim from the nature strip of a very helpful
bloke who was cleaning out some of a garage full of bikes.

I wonder if anyone could help me ID the bike. It's a Malvern Star
maybe 60s or 70s vintage. It had mudguards a flat (ish) handle bar a
rear caliper brake and no front brakes. It has 28 inch steel rims and
horizontal (rear facing, track style) dropouts. The rear wheel is a
flip flop type fixed one side freewheel the other. The seat stays bolt
through the seat lug and bolt to the chain stay. (ie they seem to be
completely removable!). The BB has 61/62 stamped on it and the right
hand dropout has a serial number stamped on it.

I tried the canberra bicyle museum website but they only have pictures
of the top of the line "5 star" bikes. I'm thinking this might be a 1
or 2 star.

Anyone got any ideas?

I pumped up the tyres, oiled the chain and flipped the hub to the
fixed side and rode it up and down my street a few times. Do people
seriously ride fixed gears clipped into the pedals! Wow it felt weird,
just managed to do two U turns and a short uphill and downhill without
dabbing my feet down.

Can you get alloy 28 inch rims cheap? or should I convert to 700C or
not bother with this bike?

Cheers Pecky

 

[hippy]

"Pecky" <[email protected]> wrote
> I wonder if anyone could help me ID the bike. It's a Malvern Star
> maybe 60s or 70s vintage. It had mudguards a flat (ish) handle bar a
> rear caliper brake and no front brakes. It has 28 inch steel rims and
> horizontal (rear facing, track style) dropouts. The rear wheel is a
> flip flop type fixed one side freewheel the other. The seat stays bolt
> through the seat lug and bolt to the chain stay. (ie they seem to be
> completely removable!). The BB has 61/62 stamped on it and the right
> hand dropout has a serial number stamped on it.

Nice find! Any chance of photos? It'd help with the ID.

> I pumped up the tyres, oiled the chain and flipped the hub to the
> fixed side and rode it up and down my street a few times. Do people
> seriously ride fixed gears clipped into the pedals! Wow it felt weird,

Well, if you don't have a hand brake, disconnecting your feet
from the pedals is a BAD thing, i.e. no slowing at all. Even if
you do have brakes, do you really want to hold your feet
above those whirring pedals?

> Can you get alloy 28 inch rims cheap? or should I convert to 700C or
> not bother with this bike?

28 inch.. I'm gonna leave this one for the older/wiser crew..

hippy