The camel bike

Most of this document is not edited. So are many typing mistakes and spelling mistakes. I consider editing a waste of time. you might find it slightly harder to read than other documents, but you still get the gist of what it's all about

This is a story about my pushbike, called the camel.

All my friends nicknamed it the camel. I'm not sure but I think they named it that because it looks like a camel.

I first started writing this when I had an incident on the bike the other day. At first I thought I would just wrote an email to tell my friends about it. But then I thought why not put it on a webpage that way I can keep it forever. I thought it's just going be a short story that is easy to write. Well it turned out to be much bigger than that. I've had fun putting it all together, hope you have fun reading. Especially those that grew up with me and the bike.

It's not just a push bike. By today's standards it's a very old push bike. I recently discovered it's at least 70 years old. I don't know anybody else that has a push bike that's 70 years old. Also I don't know anybody else thats got a push bike that's got an Australian emblem embossed on it. Actually 2 Australian Emblems. And it was not originally my bike. It was given to me by my uncle Norm. Norm Fella.

Today, Thursday 18th of April, I had to get a few things done on my car by the local mechanic. As we now only have one car, I put my old push bike in the back of the car and drove down to the mechanics. I'm not as fit as I used to be, so look for ways to not ride up and down hills and go as little distance as possible. The mechanic is in a suburbs right next to ours but there is a railway line separating the two suburbs. Rather than riding out to the main road, along that and then back into the other suburb, in the past I have just gone across the railway line. But to do that I have to jump over a 2. 5 metre high chain wire fence. And of course get the bike over the fence. I did this a few months ago without to much of a problem. So did the same thing today.

On putting the bike over the fence, the last time I did it, I caught it on the wire at the top of the fence, climbed over the fence myself and then lifted the bike down from where it was caught at the top of the fence.

But this time the bike was actually in the way of me trying to get over the fence. I climbed over the same place where the bike was hanging. While I'm perched, at the top of the fence, I released the bike, which fell to the ground, so that I can easy get over to other side of the fence. It went down front wheel first. Thinking nothing of it I picked up the bike and started riding. The steering felt a bit sloppy, and then the handlebars came away in my hand. The handlebars head stem had broken. I guess it was fair enough seeing it had dropped about 2 1/2 metres from the top of the fence right onto the handlebars. The fact that the bike is also older than me, may also have something to do with why it broke. I'm sure if I had a landed on my head from that height I would have broken as well.

I guess I could have walked the bike home. I was now in our suburb and only a few kilometres from home. But I thought it can't be too difficult riding a bike and steering with what remained of the head stem. I looked around and found a stick that I could put into what remained of the head stem still connect to the bike. That sort of worked but required a lot of balancing when I first started off. I thought there must be something I can do. I had a bag on the pack rack at the back that was being held on by a Bungie. Also in the bag was an old spoke. I thought perhaps I could bend the spoke and have it hold the head stem where it head sheared off. Alash, it was too short and too difficult to bend at the right place. So I persisted just trying to hold onto the remaining part of the head stem. But also complicated things that in addition to holding onto the broken head stem I had to also hold on to the free floating handlebars. This made the handlebars lower than they normally would be and so the cable for the front derailleur was so slack that it was getting caught up in the pedal crank. So I fell off the bike a few times.

I thought I better ring Marg and tell her why Im taking quite a while to get home.

The Bungie had lost all it's elasticity. But still could be used basically as a rope. I tried wrapping it a few times around the broken part of the head stem and the handle bars. This was not real successful, but it did alleviate the need to separately hold a handlebars. Also meant that the front derailleur cable was no longer getting in the way of the peddle cranking.

I found when I got up a little bit more speed that things became a lot more stable. but I was worried about getting up too much speed going downhill. Luckily because of the way I had bungied The handlebars to the brokenhead steam, I was able to apply the rear brake, so not pick up too much speed going downhill. Likely most of going home was down hill.

I arrived home with a slightly sore hand from holding a broken head stem to the handlebars.

As later in the afternoon I would have to go back to pick up the car, I had to fix the bike to be able to write back to the mechanic.

Actually I didn't have to I could have caught a taxi or Uber, but I wanted to.

Luckily some time ago I have bought an bike at the tip. It had a head stem.

I bought the bike from the tip because I have been unable to buy tyres for my bike. Currently old 27 by 1 and three quarters tyres are no longer made. That means at some stage in the future I'm going to have to have to change to new modern metric wheels. If I want to still be able to ride the bike.

It took me a few hours to remove the old head stem and handlebars. At first I thought I can just use the handlebars off the tip bike. But these were a fraction narrower than my ones and it would also mean I would have to take off all the brakes and derailleurs of my bikes handlebars and put it on the tip bike handlebars. It was easier just to take off 1 brake handle and 1 derailleur control. Also it meant I had more of the original bike. What there is of it.

When taking off the brake handle I had to remove the old tape off the handlebars. It was old fabric tape. I think it might have been the original tape that my uncle had put on many years ago. Amazing that had lasted so long and was actually difficult to remove. I don't think you can get fabric-based tape anymore. Even if you can it wouldn't last as long as this stuff had.

I always thought that the bike was older than me. But I didn't know how much older. So I rang my Auntie Gwen. Uncle Norm's Widow.

Auntie Gen is currently 85 and she got married when she was 19. Uncle Norm had the bike then. Actually she started going out with Uncle when she was 15 and Uncle Norm had the bike then. He was 21 at the time. Auntie Gwen was born in 1934

So adding the 15 years to 1934 makes it 1949. Which means the bike is at least 70 years old.

Uncle Norm used to race the bike as a Trak Racer. I think he told me he had it personally built for him and it was built by Bates Cycles in Preston.

So in or before 1949 Norm Fella who then lived in Mount Road Preston bought a push bike from I think Bates cycles in High Street Preston. I remember Batess having a retail bike store in High Street Preston in the 70s. I also remember somewhere along a railway line close to a station there was a building we're bicycles were manufactured. Or if not manufactured at least built. Maybe I will look that up on the Internet. It may not have been Bates Cycles.

When my uncle Norm bought the bike it was a track Racer. So a fixed wheel He originally thought the frame was made from aluminium. I remember him mentioning that to me once. But I definitely know it was not aluminium because I had it welded once. He probably meant it was some light alloy. The idea being to make racing bikes as lights possible at the time.

I remember Uncle Norm telling me about some time when he was racing his bike at the I think Reservoir Velodrome. It was one of the few times his father had come to see him race. Unfortunately during the race Uncle Norm, because of a spectacular crash, had gone over the top of the track, as often happened, and when he climbed back onto the track, on looking around he discovered his father had left. So had not seen his spectacular crash.

Aunty Gwen was living with my mum and dad at 10 Grandview Grove Northcote. Uncle Norm would come they're on his push bike. And dink Aunty Gwen to Mount Street Preston to have dinner with Uncle norms parents. And then later dink her back home to Northcote. Auntie Gwen said it was very uncomfortable.

About 1964 like all kids at the time, I wanted to have a push bike. My parents couldn't afford to buy me one. So Dad arranged with Uncle Norm to get his old bike. Dad being a painter, painted the bike for me, so that it looked almost like new. I have a rough recollection that itwas painted white, and was speckled with blue and red paint from a toothbrush. At the time I was going to Westgarth Central and it was a really great privilege to be able to ride a push bike to school.

I have a very Vivid memory of one day arriving at Westgarth school and we were meant to hand in an assignment. I went to the teacher and said I left mine at home and could I go home and get it. She said yes. I hoped on my bike and raced home got the assignment and race back to school and handed it in. The teacher said to me, I know you just went downstairs and wrote the assignment then. I said nothing. I was a good fast rider, but there was no way I could have written that amount of material in that time. another one of the unfair things that happened at school that I never stood up for.

The bike was Fixed Wheel with no brakes. It had different sized cogs on either side of the real wheel. A relic form is old track racing days.

I remember one of the first times I went for what I thought was a long ride. Down to the rail line that went from Fairfield Station to The Paper Mill on Heidelberg Road. I thought I was almost in a completely different world. I had never ventured that far away from home by myself before. The bike was a real Freedom Machine. Freeing me to go where I wanted to go. All I had to do was pedal.

Somewhere along the line Michael gave me a 3 speed Sternley Archer rear wheel. Also some breaks. Now I could go much much faster, and also stop a lot quicker. Making things much safer as well.

I remember riding to Northcote High School. Long Basting Street, up the hill to High Street, turning left, and then almost immediately right then going down Westbourne Grove to St Georges Road.

In 1966 we moved from Northcote to Watsonia. Having established all my friends at Northcote High School I didn't want to change schools. So I road my bike from 44 Middleton Street Watsonia to Northcote High School and back every school day. I remember it's being 9 miles each way.

I just put it into Google Maps and it tells me it's 15 km and would take 54 minutes on a pushbike. I recall doing it in far less time than that.

I've become extremely fit during those few years they rode the bike to school and back.

One day when riding home I passed someone that was older than me riding a racing bike. He quickly jumped in behind me and followed me most the way home. At the top of the hill in Plenty Road. He pulled up beside me and asked me what club I rode for. I told him I wasn't in any Club. He said well you should be because you can ride well. Perhaps i would have been a competitive rider, I never knew.

Riding with Michael to see Ray who was on a scout camp at Warrandyte.

Riding with David Huntley to Mickleham, and as a consequence diverting see the construction taking place at what was to become Tullamarine Airport.

I was dinking Ray home to his place one day and we were in St Georges Road just coming up to Atherton Road. There was a mighty bang then both of us ended up on the roadway. Turned out the tyer had burst, the rim of the wheel with both our weight on it collapsed, and the frame ended up being bent upwards.

I don't know where I did it but at some stage I had an accident where I think I ran into a car. It put to big bends in the two pieces of the frame that go to the headstem. The one the people sit on when you're dinking them and the one that goes down to peddle crank cluster.

Dad was working for Quick plumbing at the time, as I did also on a casual basis after school. We arrange for one of their guys in the factory to weld up the frame for me. Of course that then required another repaint of the frame. At that stage I was very good at stripping everything off the frame so that it they could be painted.

The Welding job was ok , but wasn't going to last too long because it was very difficult to weld such thin tube.

I remember riding along one day and noticing I was getting ever so slowly closer to the ground. the welds have given away and the bike was slowly sinking to the ground. I'm not sure if it was me or Dad that arranged to get a new top bar and head stem to the Pedal Cluster tubes install. And so another repaint job. All these times when something went wrong I can't remember how I got the busted bike home. I guess I must have just walked and carried it.

The last year I was at Northcote High I started getting sick riding a bike all that distance, so we started catching the train. As the bike wasn't used very often I think Dad put it under the house.

Later I got married and completely forgot about the bike.

But Martin Fella got to the age when he wanted a bike. So the bike went to him.

He rode it for a few years and then again I think it ended up under the house At Gwen and Norms place.

Martin email me about it on 19/6/19 after reading this. He wrote:

“ You might like to add an extra paint job cos when it came to me I re-painted it as well. I think I added some brakes as well????? I’d ride back and forth to school and there was always something going wrong. I’m sure I walked with the bike more than I rode it!! Great memories!!”

After I'd been living at Sunbury for a few years I think I got to the point where I wanted to get fit again. I asked Auntie Gwen about the bike. It was still there so I came and picked it up.

Of course it had to be repainted. But I now I had money to spend on it.

Even before The bike went to Martin I remember having trouble with the bearing cups for the main peddle shaft. I think I or someone else had stripped the thread at some stage and and the locking ring was the only thing holding the bearing Cup in place. Of course with constant riding it just got looser and looser.

Off to a bike shop to see what they could do about it. That might have been the one and Ballarat Road Footscray. The guy told me I could get a new thread turned which would mean stripping down the whole bike and repainting it again or I could buy this mechanism basically that just fitted inside the existing peddle frame cluster. Benefit was that I could then start using cordless cracks. These were much better then having to put Cotter Pins in and changing them all the time. Cotter pins always seem to work ther way loose.

I'm not sure when it happened but at some stage I went out and bought 10 Derailleur gears and fit to the bike. I think I bought them from some guy in a bike shop in Ballarat Road Footscray. or was that the guy the fixed the seat downtube of the frame. That's why I want to write all this down because I'm already forgetting.

I'm not sure if it was when I lived in Sunbury or when we move to Glenroy that I took the bike to a powder coating place in Coburg and got it powdercoated. Most likely when I was in Glenroy as I don't know why I would have gone from Sunbury to Coburg. Actually I think it was after have written the bike into the city and down to Albert Park Lake to see the practice session of the first of the modern Australian Grand Prix. On the way home after riding up St Kilda Road to Flinders Street station and at the intersection of Swanston Street and Flinders Street I was talking to a guy that was also on a pushbike, Whilst at red light. He pointed out to me that there was a special Traffic light just push bikes. When the light came on and I started pedaling I heard a clunk noise. The rest of the ride home all the way to Glenroy the bike felt a bit sloppy. When I got home I discovered that the main seat bar going down to the Pedal cluster had completely snapped. and was only held together by my weight on the seat.

So off to a bike shop in Ballarat Road Footscray. One of the few that actually repaired bike frames. I think it was after that that I got it powder coated in Coburg

When the kids came along they eventually got bikes as well. So when they were quite Young we would take them along the footpaths on our bikes and show them how to stop at each intersection and check if there was traffic.

As the kids got older they would get together with the other kids in the street and ride around and I would sometimes join them on my bike.

I remember, helped by seeing the photo, of the time that Mary arrived with Steven and I put Steven on the handle bars and Glen on the bar and we went for a rid around the block. No way Steven or Glen could fit on that part of the bike today.

Whilst living at Glenroy we would often go to Fraser National Park on Lake Eildon and take all the bike with us. Either on the Bike rack on the back of the Charade or under to Yacht (cameraman) on the trailor. Sometimes Nana and Par would go with us as well.

Another place we would ride around is Jellibrand Hill National Park out near the Airport.

When Kristi went to Sancta Sophia Collage she went with the school to Japan to ther sister school Serei. Whilst ther she stayed with the Karamurra family. The Karamurras then can out and visited us in Glenroy. To Show then around we go some extra bikes for Mr Karamurra and his Son Shilsuke and Glen and I went for a ride with them around the streets of Glenroy.

From March to November 1993 I worked at Melbourne college of textiles. As it was only a few suburbs away from where we lived, practically every day I rode the bike there and back. According to Google Maps it's only 4.9 km and would take 15 minutes to ride or 10 minutes to drive. Not much extra advantage and driving. 5 minutes. At the time it brought back memories of riding to school and back each day. The ride to Melbourne college of textiles and back was nice and easy because it was dead flat. The only problems were which way the wind was blowing and if it was raining or not.

The textile College had showers. So I could ride to work, work for an hour or so, while l cooled down and then go have a shower. So I was not only saving money on petrol, but also saving money by not having to have a shower at home.

At the end of 1996 we moved to Queensland and of course the Bike moved with us. As I was quite often riding then, I mainly worked from home and we lived 5 KM from the major shopping center I would often ride down to the the Grand Plaza shopping center to do the shopping.

As the best way to explore a new area is via push bike I would also ride to new places I had not been to before. Perhaps a hangover from the first time I rode to somewhere I had never been before when I first got the bike.

When we first arrived in Brisbane Marg got me a free pass to the Brisbane International Boat show. Southside Marine had a display ther and where selling a hand held GPS. A new fangled devise at the time that showed where you where, where you had been and how far you had traveled. That became another essential part of every bike ride I went on. Actually it became a essential part of where ever I went for them on. I have recorded practically every where I have been ever since. All over the world.

One of those Bike rides I had ridden for quite a few hours and when I look at the distance i had traveled on the GPS it showed 45 KM. That ment I had to ride 45 KM back home. And I had no water with me and it was summer. I was quite buggered at the end of the day.

Because I was riding so much, it was putting a tole on the bike. The chain would come off often and when I had a close look at the front cog I saw that the teeth on it has actually worn down and some where missing completely. Went off to the Logan Recycling center (tip) and bought a kike for a few dollar that had better cogs and derailers.

The center peddle cluster mechanism broke in to to . Metal fatigue. It had not lasted as long as the original peddle bearings, time wise. Not sure in terms of total revolutions. The new cluster was wider then the old requiring me to put a big washer next to its locking ring so that it would not slop around.

As all things dont last forever, more metal fatigue was setting in. The next on was the front forks that snapped on one side. Luckily only one side of a fold in needed provided the wheel is bolted securely to it , so I have no effect in riding. But as that meant that now all the forces where on one side of the fork, that would not have the same strength at a double sided oe I decided to replace the front forks. Had one from the bike I bought from the tip. But it meant painting. But only the forks. Marg had got some SLOB (SLow moving OBsolete) stock paint for the paint mob she worked for. Expensive protective coating paint they where selling to the Navy. It was Navy Gray. As other parts of the frame have broken and been repaired I have painted them with that Navy Gray. Matches the powder coated blue. It shows up what has been repaired.

Spokes breaking and working ther was loose where also a constant problem. Even though ther are far less moving parts on a push bike compared to a car it seem ther is a lot of maintenance to do when you think about it.

Cant seem to find photos of theses last 2 repairs. That proberly because for some time I have not been religiously renaming the photos I take.

The tab/slot where the rear forks allows the wheel to be bolted on snapped off. As I have never had any work done on the frame in Brisbane it took me some time to find a frame repairer. I eventually did so in Rocklea. Whilst at it I got the guy to put on the reverse rear wheel tabs to make it easier to fit the rear derailers and I could the also use quick release weals. Also go him to widen the rear forks so that I could use a 6 cog (12 Speed) rear gear cluster.

Although I now have 12 gears I can usually only use 10 of them because of the click gear selectors I have have a limited movement I can have the lowest gear and not the highest, the highest and not the lowest. Because I tend to spend more time going up steep hills than coming down them, I opted to be able to use the lowest gear (first). It cost a disproportanate amount of money to get that done to the bike considering that would be worth nothing if I tried to sell it. But it is priceless to me.

For some time ther was a small hole in the very thing rear tube that goes down from the seat to where the rear folks attach the rear wheel. I could also see rust in the inside of the hole and well a the surrounds of the hole. Of course one day that snapped. I did not want to have to get the whole tube replaced at that would have meant a complete frame strip down and repaint. I took it to the local engineering guy who has done repairs to my ride on mower. He said he could not weld the tube but could fit a bit of slightly thicker tube around the existing tube and weld on. He did and although it does not look real great it has now been like that for a number or years and shows no sign of giving away. That being a repair point on the frame I painted it with the Navy Gray paint.

Over the years I would have spent well over $1,000 on the bike. I could have got a pretty good bike for that. But it would not have Australia embalms on it, would not now be over 70 years old, would not have been give to me by my Uncle, would not have had 3 generations use it and would not have any sentimental value .

When Margaret I rather than going shopping on the bike we now go shopping in the shopping in the car. so the bike is far less used as a consequence doesn't wear out it's quick. The main times I use the bike is when I take the car down to the local mechanic.

At some point in time I will no longer ride the bike. It may just sit in the back shed and slowly rust away. Perhaps one of the kids may keep it for sentimental reasons. Or when im gone they may just throw in down the tip. Perhaps the same may happen to this document. I dont no.

I would like to think at least somthing is preserved. in some form.

In August 2019 I bought an e-bike from kogan. This was the only new bike I have ever bought. I had been riding the camel to and from the men's shed for a few months but because both Ray and Michael had ebikes I decided to buy one. So haven't ridden the camel just under 2 years.

I've just finished writing an email to kogan who I bought the e-bike from. A weld in the head stem has cracked. Kogan reckon that's fair wear and tear considering the age of the bike. I've put it to them that I have another bike that has never had one of its welds give way and it is over 70 years old. I will see what ther reply to that is.

I have looked on the internet for “Bicycle Australian Emblem” and found nothing“. The closest thing I could find was some old adds for Malvern Star 5 Star and a more modern colour photo of one. At least these show what the bike would have looked like when it was new.

I now have had the Kogan Ebike for over 3 years and had many, many things go wrong with it. It most definitely is not built as good as the camel. As a consequence because the Ebike has failed multiple times and I ride to the Men's shed very often, I ride the camel still. So it continues to be used and I can use it as an excuse to Kogan as to how long I expect a bicycle to last.

I'm now on my 3rd Kogan bike. With the troubles I had with the first one they eventually sent me another one but that had an electrical fault after a few weeks so they sent me yet another one.

Today I have done over 3,500 km on it. If I add that to the 6,500 km I did on the first one thats over 10,000km. I no this because it has an electronic odometer

I thought I may have ridden the Ebike more in distance than I rode the Camel. After sitting down and working it out, in the 4 years riding the camel to school and back, that would be over 22,000 KMs alone.

14 km each way x 2 x 5 days a week x 40 weeks a year X 4 years = 22,400 kms.

So the Ebike has to do a lot more Kms to catch up with the Camel