the stubby fenders seem kinda pointless and distracting

The short mudguards(fenders to my stateside readers) were all the rage in the 70s. They marked a bike out as being a “racer”. It was a marketing thing I think. Just thought of something else I haven’t seen for a few years. Tub savers. A little piece of sprung wire mounted from the brake bolt that rested on the top of the tyre to help dislodge flints,thorns and the odd bit of glass. Back to this bike. I love it. Good to see things kept so well after so many years.

they (fenders)were merely a fashion at the time.StingRay type bikes had em too.That Heron head chainring is cool.I’ve had one on the shop wall for years made into a clock.

Yeh, just needed new gloves every week instead. I went through a phase of supergluing all the glass cuts on my folding tyres after every ride. Used to be a lot of glass on the roads in Hackney in the 80s. 1 of my Michelin bib sports tyres had more glue than rubber by the time I chucked it. Still my favorite tyre ever. Replaced it with a specialized turbo S. 1 of the 1st with kevlar bead. Damn, it was a bugger to get on and off. I read at the time that they managed to blow rims apart before the tyre would go when they tested them. My brother swore by his tubulars for racing. I couldn’t be bothered with all the faff of gluing them to the rims and having to unstitch them to fix punctures. And I’d seen more than a few roll off the rims on tight corners in races. I stuck with clinchers. Greater choice of sizes,tread pattern and cheaper price. All good selling points in my book.I think clinchers have come a long way since the early 80s. I wonder what the pros ride.

we should take this sort of thing over to MFGMB#2 to keep comment section short.cheers