Is this cool, or am I a fool?

Marx SS said:

My dad’s got his old Malvern Star something from 1961 sittin’ in his
garage, never uses it.

<snip>

Quoted message said:

You reckon it’s worth restoring to it’s original state?

That depends. What sort of Malvern star is it? The very best ones were called five stars, with five stars on the head tube. If it's one of these, then it's very much worth some care and attention. However, post 1960 Malvern Star bikes went rapidly down-hill, replacing quality bits with chrome, until eventually they realised they couldn't compete with cheap imports, so stopped making bikes altogether and imported them instead.

There's some information on old Malvern Stars on the Canberra Bicycle Museum website, at http://canberrabicyclemuseum.com.au/MalvernStar/

Rolf Lunsman (contact through the museum website) is the acknowledged guru about Malvern Stars. He helped identify my 1947 five star, and gave me a fantastic amount of information about it.

As to restoring, parts can be found if you're patient. For example, I just bought a set of Airlite (top-of-the-line in the '50s) hubs on ebay, but expect to pay through the nose, especially if the stuff is in really good condition.

Regards,

Suzy

Thanks suzy. I'll check it out.

My dad's bike has heaps of detailing on the frame which made me pull it out from under the [censored] he had in the garage.
It's one very much like this one (pic from Camberra musium site) except it's blue/violet & white, still way scratched & faded but.

[IMG]canberrabicyclemuseum.com.auCl%20T%20Bike%20M.jpgOpen ↗[/IMG]

I suppose next time I'm up & their place I better get some tyres for it & do a lap of the block before I make a decision.
I was thinking that it couldn't be harder than riding my MTB on a big road ride (150kms+ in one sitting big for me).

I'll post pix if I go ahead with it.....

I reckon it would be extra cool.
😎

We must be sharing Dads 😄 Mine has a very similar bike which he has similarly modified...

Only difference is while his has derailleur mounting points, it runs a three speed sturmey archer.

Intrigued me for a while and I looked into resurrecting it as a retro commuter, but just couldn't get used to the heavy feeling wheels and slow handling - but I'm still intrigued in it. Am currently getting him to peek at that website and if he tells me what it is I'll let you all know. I know it's from the 1950s sometime, so it could be an interesting restore job somewhere down the track.

Eddie (who looked slightly confused when Dad mentioned something about 'cotter pins'! 😕 )