Townsend steel bike

byrnem31

Bought this for €60 yesterday. Changed the front wheel and two tyres I had with spare ones. Tyres were 32 and are now 38 making it very comfortable. Grand workhorse.

I bought it as I live in tallaght and I have a giant defy advanced 2 2020 that I can't leave anywhere. I was on the defy yesterday in tallaght and I put my hand out to turn left and someone stole my watch.

Anyway, it's great having a banger again as it's something I can work on myself and it's about enjoying cycling, not trying to get somewhere as fast as possible.

Does anyone know anything about the bike ? It's a Townsend steel bike with index system written on it.

byrnem31

See here

magicbastarder

no photos; have you tried attaching them in the post?

Harrybelafonte

English company, used to also make Al carter MTBs. Budget end of the scale but nothing wrong wth then.

lennymc

do you have the name of townsend bike? I used to have one years ago - a townsend trail 531, with shimano exage (iirc) groupset and biopace chainrings. It was a great bike, and the 531 tubing was lovely. Did many many miles on it, until it was stolen - in tallaght (nah, not really, but had you going). It was stolen in fairview.

byrnem31

magicbastarder wrote: »

no photos; have you tried attaching them in the post?

Hi,

Its saying the file is too large but it's a standard photo that I took on the phone ? Any idea how to fix it please ?

Weepsie

I think I had a Townsend mountain bike I got in 94/95/96. Cant remember which year, but was one of those

Effects

I used to have a Towsend Hot Iron. My sister bought it cause she fancied a guy who had a mountain bike, in the early 90s. She never used it, so I got to use it all the time. Got fairly trashed, including some príck in east wall who damaged the top tube trying to smash the lock off with a rock.
My dad and sister still won't get rid of the bike, even though it's taking up space in the shed.

Harrybelafonte

I had one from maybe 14-19. Bought in Greysteel... only a few weeks before the massacre afair.

Used it in college. The forgot it there. Then went back for it and walked it from UCD to Ohibsboro cos I had no way to fix punctures. I have no memory of whether I got it all the way back there, abandoned it or if it was stolen.

byrnem31

lennymc wrote: »

do you have the name of townsend bike? I used to have one years ago - a townsend trail 531, with shimano exage (iirc) groupset and biopace chainrings. It was a great bike, and the 531 tubing was lovely. Did many many miles on it, until it was stolen - in tallaght (nah, not really, but had you going). It was stolen in fairview.

Its a hybrid with no stickers on it except for indexed system on the seat stay and a chain slap guard with Townsend wrotten on it. I'd say it had stickers on it at some stage. My mate reckons it's 30 years old. The guy I bought it off changed the gear shifters to revoshifters. They are 7 speed shifters but it's a 2 X 5.

Weepsie

Weepsie wrote: »

I think I had a Townsend mountain bike I got in 94/95/96. Cant remember which year, but was one of those

Me too, mine was definitely 1994. Lovely sky blue colour. By god it took some battering over the following 10 years. At that age I wasn't exactly worried about bike maintenance outside of keeping air in the tyres.

I was 18 speed I think with the old thumb shifters. Took me up Bellewstown hill through the race course 5 days a week over a summer to pick strawberries. Oh to be my 15 y/o self in terms my legs

In fairness the one thing I really remember that stood out about the bike was how much lighter it was compared to my brothers bike or friends ones.

byrnem31

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Me too, mine was definitely 1994. Lovely sky blue colour. By god it took some battering over the following 10 years. At that age I wasn't exactly worried about bike maintenance outside of keeping air in the tyres.

I was 18 speed I think with the old thumb shifters. Took me up Bellewstown hill through the race course 5 days a week over a summer to pick strawberries. Oh to be my 15 y/o self in terms my legs

In fairness the one thing I really remember that stood out about the bike was how much lighter it was compared to my brothers bike or friends ones.

It is light enough for what it is, ie. a 30 year old steel framed cheap run around.

byrnem31

byrnem31 wrote: »

It is light enough for what it is, ie. a 30 year old steel framed cheap run around.

See here

gingernut79

Had ideas about doing up my Townsend Destiny, bought about 96 (first ever bike I bought), until just a few months ago, the frame was in pretty good nick, could pedal it, but it literally needed everything else doing. The miles I covered as a teenager, the freedom... Good times!

8valve

Nicely saved.

Even the lower end steel bikes like these are worth saving, simply because they're becoming rare, and are generally made from better quality steel (and better painted/corrosion resistant) than cheap, modern steel low-end bikes.

They also tended to be built from fairly robust components.