Extrastahlohr Titanus

[us56456712]

1. Old 1920s Italian racing bike frame. It's got top of the line for the time Extrastahlohr Titanus tubing made by Oria. It's been in a crash so there is some straightening to be done. All old race bikes have been pretty much crashed and this one is rare, especially since its large, 58 CM. Large, unbent, 1920s racing frames are almost impossible to find. It's got Italian threading and track type drop outs and non original but added bottle cage braze ons.
   Frame with a straight non original fork.
   
   
   
   Original fork with a bent fork tube.
   
   
   
   Track slide ins.
   
   
   
   Oil hole in the BB with the filler cup removed. There is a large drain hole in the bottom of the BB that I will plug and cap the original open type seat post.
   
   
   
   
   us56456712, Yesterday at 12:48 PMEditDeleteReport
   #1Reply
   RustyGold, Jersey Dan, hammer mechanic and 1 other person like this.

 

[us56456712]

The photos didn't transfer when I moved this from BO 14

Frame after facing and reaming the head tube to get it straight and a used but straight fork, no binding

Original fork with bent fork tube. It bound bad

Oil hole with the oil cup removed

Track slide outs and frame prior to removing the BB spindle. The plan is to replace it with an original style cottered crank

Small crack in the seat post tube, probably from a seat post being up too high.

 

[us56456712]

Parts for the bike. From left, new Pista bars, Italian spindles, 1940 track pedals with English thread, New 1960s Atom pedals with French thread, Nevar 3 pin cottered crank with English pedal threads, Adupart 3 pin cottered crank with French pedal threads, bran new TA skip tooth track chainring, bran new 1940s Campagnolo large flange telephone dial track hubs, bran new 1930s track slider stem, bran new skip tooth cog, lower in picture is 1940s brake lever for a front brake, new chrome seat post, new headset and new Italian BB cups with bearings. The brake are 1940s side pull and not shown.

 

[Ty Henderson]

so cool... I'd love to build a track bike from that era... if I could ever find one

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Very cool!

 

[us56456712]

so cool... I'd love to build a track bike from that era... if I could ever find one

Hard to find and most are bent from crashes. I have another vintage track frame and fork, also large, but not as big as this one. It's also slightly bent and has a frozen stem, seat post and BB. Someday I'll work on that one. My son bought the 1920s frame and fork and shipped it to me to fix for him but I think it needs to go to a frame builder to straighten and replace some of the tubing. I had to soak the BB in penetrating oil for 5 days. I used 4 minutes (2 minutes on each BB cup) of ultrasonic vibration daily for 5 days plus two warmings with a propane torch and daily hammer tapping on the spindle to get the cups out. Old and stuck.

 

[toro1978]

This pile of vintage parts is just crazy! I like these pedals and even more these three pin cranks with the skip tooth chainwheel+cog.
What impresses me most is the stem!
The hubs look terrific too with those huge flanges and thin achsles.

 

[us56456712]

It actually got pretty nice today after the 34F and rain. I went out and chased the Italian threads in the BB.

I assembled the frame using a skip tooth track sprocket and the 3 piece cottered crank with used cotters as this is a temporary build up to see if it runs straight. A picture of my crank cotter inserting/removing press. As soon as cotters get loose you have to repress them or the holes get ovalized and ruined. If pressing doesn't work then you need new cotters. Pretty easy if you grease everything well before insertion and have the cotter press.

The bike assembled with old wheels and old road bike seat post, seat, stem and old mountain bike handle bars. I used cheap pedals I had in my junk for the trial ride to see if it runs straight.

Skip tooth roller chain and skip tooth track sprocket (not the one I will use for the build) used to check the chain line. It is hard to find Italian cottered spindles so I didn't know it the one I had would work, Looks like a good chain line to me. Time to take it for a ride while it's nice out, check out how crooked or straight it rides.

 

[JimMendel]

Racing frame geometry didn't change much for a lot of years, looks like.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

View attachment 94299
View attachment 94300

Nice tools!
Build looks to be coming along nicely!

 

[us56456712]

I dismantled the bike and it is packed and ready to go the the frame builder for upgrades, alignment and fork repair.

 

[us56456712]

I sent the frame and fork out for upgrades and alignment. I have another vintage track frame and fork and I also have enough stuff to build that up. I may combine both builds here? Tomorrow I may go see if I can get the second vintage frame apart, or is everything stuck?

 

[us56456712]

I started to take the second track frame apart today and the only problem is that the BB is stuck. Everything else came loose. The headset had about a zillion loose balls in it. I have the BB soaking in Gibbs penetrating oil. I plant to douse it daily and use ultrasonic vibration on it for a week. I'll also hammer tap the spindle every day and might use touch heat until it smokes on one day, followed by Gibbs and tapping. Too much heat might make it tighter as the different alloys expand at different rates, so I'm not going nuts on heat.

 

[Ty Henderson]

I started to take the second track frame apart today and the only problem is that the BB is stuck. Everything else came loose. The headset had about a zillion loose balls in it. I have the BB soaking in Gibbs penetrating oil. I plant to douse it daily and use ultrasonic vibration on it for a week. I'll also hammer tap the spindle every day and might use touch heat until it smokes on one day, followed by Gibbs and tapping. Too much heat might make it tighter as the different alloys expand at different rates, so I'm not going nuts on heat.

I've never had the opportunity to play with bicycles this old, but I can only imagine how melded things can get with that amount of time! I've had plenty of headaches with much younger components!

Out of curiosity where do you find these gems? I'd love to start hunting down one for myself as vintage track bikes is where my love for bicycles started.

 

[us56456712]

What would to consider being too high to make the frame crack. Will a frame crack like that if a really tall seatpost is installed, but it is in a bit more in the frame than the minimum insertion line.

I don't know what caused the crack. It's in an area where a lot of heat had to be applied for brazing and the tubing is not as big for a heat sink. It could have been a little weak from the brazing heat and just cracked from the pinch bolt. Or, it's a tall Fram, 58 CM, and someone may have put the seat post up to high? Since it needed a lot of work anyway I'm having the fixed by the frame builder.

 

[us56456712]

I've never had the opportunity to play with bicycles this old, but I can only imagine how melded things can get with that amount of time! I've had plenty of headaches with much younger components!

Out of curiosity where do you find these gems? I'd love to start hunting down one for myself as vintage track bikes is where my love for bicycles started.

eBay is good if your careful. Sometimes people don't know what they have and are anxious to dump them and take low offers. Also, there are small bike shops in Europe and England that are not on eBay. Their Facebook pages have other similar vintage bike shops. France, England, Italy and the Czech Republic have them. Most are very expensive, some not so. They want cash, not PayPal because of the charge and there can be a little bit of a language problem. Shipping is around $150 and fast, once the check clears. Almost all old track racing bikes have been crashed so expect to send them to a frame maker for repairs. If components are attached to a bare frame assume the worst, stuck parts. The Extrastahlohr Titanus was modernized into a fixie with pretty high end parts that I can sell. I have a fixie kit for sale, all that's needed is a frame. Campy front hub, Bayless Wycliff rear track hub, Shimano single chainring sprocket crank with square drive, clipless pedals, Italian track stem, chain, seat, Ritchie post, quality rims and tires. etc.

 

[us56456712]

Alternate frame. Only 54 CM. It's got a stuck BB. Heat, Gibbs Penetrating oil, tapping on the spindle and ultrasonic vibration have so far failed to loosen it up. The fork seems OK, but a new head set will let me know.

 

[us56456712]

The original fork and frame are still at the frame builder for repairs. I still can't get the bottom bracket off the alternate frame pictured above. I'll probably end out drilling a hole for the spindle in a piece of square tubing and weld it onto the the BB shell. That way I will have a wrench that won't slip off. The frame above was originally from the 1950s and came with a cottered BB. I wish I had the original crank. The newer square taper BB cups are the stuck parts. I have no proof but was told it was owned by a former Olympian and that the bike has a lot of track wins and records. Bunch a hooey probably.

 

[us56456712]

Frame repairs completed.

 

[us56456712]

I mocked up this bike and everything fits and is straight now. The rear drops were replaced and widened from 114 mm to 120 mm. I did some more web browsing and found this frame on a whole bike so it can now be identified as a Gloria. I tapped the oil drain hole in the underside of the BB and threaded a slug in there. The racing track is clean, the street will get this large hole full of sand and grit so I thought if I threaded the hole it could still be brought back to original by removing the plug.