..and no, the front fork isn’t scratched. Those pictures were taken the day I collected him (you can tell by the mileage) and they are merely tricks of the light!
The mileometer actually reads in Km as that was the only one I could find. Looks the part though and I couldn’t bring myself to put a Cateye on it.
Ah, the mileometer. I had one of these for years when a kid, on my 3/4 framed BSA Star Flyer. I clocked up hundreds of miles, I think I even clocked it. It was easily damaged when I fell off (quite frequently at that age). I would love another! Well done.
I was going to ask what you called a mileometer that read in km, as I could only come up with…a kilometer.
Then I remembered that both are actually called odometers!
I acquired one of these via EBAY, but it is of poor quality being made from plastic and I can’t see it very durable. The original ‘Cyclometer’ was produced by Lucas, they produced one for a 28″ wheel which measured in miles.
Mine too is plastic but in my opinion is far more preferable than the ‘Cateyes’ I have on my other bikes. It looks the part and is working well so for the sake of a fiver I thought it the most appropriate solution. I tried in vain to find an original so this was the best option I thought.
Fellow riders may be interested that the ‘mileometer’, should be correctly know as cyclometer, is again listed on eBay. See Andrew’s posting on 23 Dec. for link, there are 6 available at the time of this posting.
Hello chaps (felt that was an appropriate adjective for this website),
Have mounted one of the above to my home made roadster (also possessing of the magnificently sized 28″ wheels), however it’s counting backwards (clocked over from 00000 to 99999). Is this normal? It’s mounted in the same way as the picture above, beside the right fork, numbers facing the saddle. I feel I am being obtuse here, but can’t for the life of me figure out how.
Hi Ben……….I guess what you’ve done is located the metal striker to a spoke outside the plastic 6 pointed drive wheel! This striker must be inside so this plastic wheel rotates clockwise, see directional arrow marks moulded on plastic wheel……..safe riding, one and all, Geoff.
Of course, it has to hit the bottom of the wheel not the top to reverse the direction. What a foolish mistake! Thanks Geoff you’ve saved me a lot of head scratching.
Good afternoon one and all,
Well I’ve given the cyclometer a good go, but it had to go! I found the constant ticking very annoying and then the clear plastic cover fell off, probably due to the state of the Cornish highways and byways , not unlike the rest of the UK!
So, I’m now having to guesstimate my mileage covered, still it’s good old imperial miles not these ‘johnnie foreigner’ kilometers.
Safe riding, Geoff ‘Duchy Wheeler’.
Good Morning Geoff, I have similar thoughts after fitting the cyclometer but am persevering with the ticking. It has survived intact over 500k of the unmade roads of Hertfordshire into London. At times I even find the sound of the ticking refreshing, it tells me I’m still alive/moving, and I’m on more peaceful lanes :-)
Easy on the climbs.
Just a quick ‘heads-up’ if you have fitted a cyclometer.
I had one of these until recently, see my comment above. I was routinely checking the spokes for tension etc. and found one had become loose. Yes, you’ve guessed, it was the spoke to which the striker had been secured. Probably caused by the constant trapping setting up resonance through the spoke, which in turn loosened the nipple, so best check!
Safe riding one and all, Geoff.
Hi Folks,
I have 2 fine solutions ….. knotted string & a G.P.S unit, best option being a walkers hand held unit with possibly a remote antenna ….that way the widget is on you not the bike (backpack of course … shame I know)… that will tell you your mileage as well as amount of elevation on your trip ….but there is the weight issue …. a bag of jellie babies is roughly the same weight as a G.P.S & with this in mind I would be likely to say stuff the facts & figures & go with the array of fruity lovelliness with the macarbre act of biting into a human effigy … but still you can pretend they were that white van wally that nearly wiped you a few miles back and smugly bite his head off…. so jelly babies chaps … the essentials omly ;o)
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice pictures James ;)
..and no, the front fork isn’t scratched. Those pictures were taken the day I collected him (you can tell by the mileage) and they are merely tricks of the light!
The mileometer actually reads in Km as that was the only one I could find. Looks the part though and I couldn’t bring myself to put a Cateye on it.
Ah, the mileometer. I had one of these for years when a kid, on my 3/4 framed BSA Star Flyer. I clocked up hundreds of miles, I think I even clocked it. It was easily damaged when I fell off (quite frequently at that age). I would love another! Well done.
I was going to ask what you called a mileometer that read in km, as I could only come up with…a kilometer.
Then I remembered that both are actually called odometers!
That looks excellent, it would certainly suit my Brompton. Do you know where it was bought?
Here you are Sir… good old eBay. This is the chap I got mine from. £5 of your English pounds !
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-MILEOMETER-SPEEDOMETER-RALEIGH-CHOPPER-NEW-MINT_W0QQitemZ320465581138QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR?hash=item4a9d3cb452#ht_500wt_1003
I acquired one of these via EBAY, but it is of poor quality being made from plastic and I can’t see it very durable. The original ‘Cyclometer’ was produced by Lucas, they produced one for a 28″ wheel which measured in miles.
Hallo Geoff.
Mine too is plastic but in my opinion is far more preferable than the ‘Cateyes’ I have on my other bikes. It looks the part and is working well so for the sake of a fiver I thought it the most appropriate solution. I tried in vain to find an original so this was the best option I thought.
Fellow riders may be interested that the ‘mileometer’, should be correctly know as cyclometer, is again listed on eBay. See Andrew’s posting on 23 Dec. for link, there are 6 available at the time of this posting.
Hello chaps (felt that was an appropriate adjective for this website),
Have mounted one of the above to my home made roadster (also possessing of the magnificently sized 28″ wheels), however it’s counting backwards (clocked over from 00000 to 99999). Is this normal? It’s mounted in the same way as the picture above, beside the right fork, numbers facing the saddle. I feel I am being obtuse here, but can’t for the life of me figure out how.
Hi Ben……….I guess what you’ve done is located the metal striker to a spoke outside the plastic 6 pointed drive wheel! This striker must be inside so this plastic wheel rotates clockwise, see directional arrow marks moulded on plastic wheel……..safe riding, one and all, Geoff.
Of course, it has to hit the bottom of the wheel not the top to reverse the direction. What a foolish mistake! Thanks Geoff you’ve saved me a lot of head scratching.
Good afternoon one and all,
Well I’ve given the cyclometer a good go, but it had to go! I found the constant ticking very annoying and then the clear plastic cover fell off, probably due to the state of the Cornish highways and byways , not unlike the rest of the UK!
So, I’m now having to guesstimate my mileage covered, still it’s good old imperial miles not these ‘johnnie foreigner’ kilometers.
Safe riding, Geoff ‘Duchy Wheeler’.
Good Morning Geoff, I have similar thoughts after fitting the cyclometer but am persevering with the ticking. It has survived intact over 500k of the unmade roads of Hertfordshire into London. At times I even find the sound of the ticking refreshing, it tells me I’m still alive/moving, and I’m on more peaceful lanes :-)
Easy on the climbs.
Cliff
Just a quick ‘heads-up’ if you have fitted a cyclometer.
I had one of these until recently, see my comment above. I was routinely checking the spokes for tension etc. and found one had become loose. Yes, you’ve guessed, it was the spoke to which the striker had been secured. Probably caused by the constant trapping setting up resonance through the spoke, which in turn loosened the nipple, so best check!
Safe riding one and all, Geoff.
Hi Folks,
I have 2 fine solutions ….. knotted string & a G.P.S unit, best option being a walkers hand held unit with possibly a remote antenna ….that way the widget is on you not the bike (backpack of course … shame I know)… that will tell you your mileage as well as amount of elevation on your trip ….but there is the weight issue …. a bag of jellie babies is roughly the same weight as a G.P.S & with this in mind I would be likely to say stuff the facts & figures & go with the array of fruity lovelliness with the macarbre act of biting into a human effigy … but still you can pretend they were that white van wally that nearly wiped you a few miles back and smugly bite his head off…. so jelly babies chaps … the essentials omly ;o)
TTFN