Vintage and Veteran Car dynamo power management

 Changed; 17/09/2025 - 19/09/2025

DRAFT

I discuss the development of cars and changes in culture before and during the lifetime of my lovely 1946 Lenton Sports bicycle so far.  This blog discusses car electrical systems and ways to optimise a veteran or vintage car that you wish to continue running on a dynamo.  I have also included some other historical mechanical developments of cars and bicycles.

The video right below is a Swallow (later Jaguar cars) body placed on an Austin 7 rolling chassis.

All Austin 7s had a dynamo, battery, lights and starter motor, plus a crank handle.  But the earliest may have used magneto ignition rather than Kettering ignition.   I heard in a video, but I am not sure if it is correct.

 

The first practical electric motors and generators were developed between 1832-1880s.  Two principles were demonstrated by Benjamin Franklin's electrostatic motor in 1748 and Michael Faraday's electromagnetic motor in 1821.  Practical electrostatic motors are being developed and used now; they demonstrate low-speed, high-torque, higher efficiency and lower material cost than a conventional electromagnetic motor. 

spectrum.ieee.org/electrostatic-motor 

https://www.nidec.com/en/technology/motor/glossary/item/electrostatic_motor/

https://c-motive.com/

https://youtu.be/44WM5J6AcHo?si=PDe0y7HU4WmUpUCD

Later in this blog, I include a draft untested design for a buck-boost switch-mode power supply that will deliver a little power to just about run the ignition and charge the battery when the engine is idling.  It will also fast charge the battery when the car is moving at a moderate or fast speed with the headlights on.  Or use automotive LED lighting to conserve the power used and increase the intensity of the lighting.  The benefit of the electronics I will propose is that the battery need not be charged at a high rate in order to manage periods when the electrics have traditionally had to run from the battery. 

 

Raleigh bicycles, the Austin 7, and Mini cars are all classless icons of British manufacturing in their time.  The Austin cars were technically ahead of many other makers. 

The mechanical regulator

Is like a relay, which opens a contact and reduces the dynamos' field winding current by supplying field current through a resistor.  The resistor is connected across the contact and also acts as a snubber, preventing sparking across the contact.  The contact hovers just opening, sparking slightly and continually, but contact erosion and electrical interference are modest.  Electrical interference needs to be minimised, but it won't be possible to eliminate it.  Fitting snubber, resistor and capacitor or capacitor, units, and resistive high-tension cables helps.  The current sense winding causes the output voltage to increase when the output current increases.  The regulator operates a bit like a buzzer but operates quietly, hovering and making small sparks. 

 

I do not recall the regulator buzzing on my 1960s Mini or my Anglia but continually making small sparks, but I have read that some regulators do buzz. 

Car wiring diagrams (left) are difficult to follow.  I have expanded a section so you can see how the dynamo, battery, regulator and cut-out work.  My father redrew parts of these diagrams using coloured pencils; these diagrams have details about circuits, fuses that do not seem to be in published documentation.  This 1936-39 diagram is more like a picture with smooth curves rather than a modern orthogonal diagram.  Mechanical detail drawings for servicing are better and are very good.  The basic and the earlier Austin 7 circuits had no regulator but just the cut-out. Manufacturers started including a regulator from 1934, which meant owners could add accessory's but an Austin Big 7 electrics still was not powerful enough to run a car radio, of the time, for long.  Riley made very desirable cars, but they had not introduced the regulator by 1940.  The small Ford cars had the same regulator from 1939, but the earlier cars had the cut-out with the third brush, but not the different dynamo power settings coupled with the light switch, unlike other makers' cars. 

The mechanical cut-out was invented in 1915, web AI tells me.

The dynamo became available in 1832.  The lead-acid battery became available in 1859.  Trembler coil, works like a buzzer, generating a continuous spark for running or just starting.  The magneto became available in 1902 (correction: there was a French car with a magneto in 1897), generating a single spark per combustion cycle.  Cadillac developed the first starter motor in 1911, and the Kettering ignition system was also developed.  The cut-out made automotive battery charging systems possible in 1915.  From 1930, the selenium rectifier was used on motorbike battery charging for the parking lights and in battery chargers.  In 1920, starter motor, dynamo and batteries had become common in cars, and the internal combustion engine started to overtake other forms of motive power, but the bicycle was established, straightforward, supreme people's vehicle.  It was possible to park your car outside the shop you were visiting, and places visited were different until 1970, when that romantic era for the car came to an end.

Early cars required a lot of work getting ready to go out and cleaning up after using a motor vehicle.  Steam vehicles were better, being much safer to start, and when out for a ride, could go after 90 seconds or straight away if the pilot was left lit, and an electric vehicle has always been fairly straightforward, unplug and go.  Bicycles varied between lovely to ride and difficult up until about 1930, I think.  After this time, bicycles were the best ever until 1960. 

The cut-out and current selector switch. 

Earlier cars, AL-0055-01B, did not have a voltage regulator but a high, medium, and low current rate switch and the cut-out relay.  The cut-out is a rough approximation to the diode rectifiers used in a modern alternator.  Circuit diagram created using OrCAD Capture 17, limited trial version.  The generator starts because of the little remnant magnetism in the iron of the field electromagnets. 

The three-brush dynamo was replaced by the two-brush dynamo, and the regulator was introduced by Morris from 1936, and Austin from 1934, including the Big 7, but the basic Austin 7 remained with the simple cut-out only.  Cars that did not have a regulator may have had a switch to select the charge rate and the third brush charge rate trimming adjustment. 

• The system is not accurate, and it has a lot of positive feedback, so when the dynamo voltage rises, the field winding voltage rises, and the dynamo would generate even more power when the electrical systems need less power.  The battery plays an important part in stabilising the voltage, preventing the voltage from rising.
• The dynamo iron would be sized so that the field winding saturates at, say, 6V, thereby limiting the dynamo output current, but the voltage can still increase as the engine speed increases.  The current limiting I described is true of all dynamos and alternators; it is part of their magnetic design. 
• At low current or medium current settings, the power could run away more severely with the square of the RPM.  The field winding fuse, to some degree, protects against voltage from running away.  In this case a 1.5A fuse is probably about right, not the higher values recommended I have found recommended on the internet. 
• I have guessed the switch connection between D, F1 and F2.  By comparison, Ford did not include a dynamo power setting switch before the regulator was fitted, but the third brush was also used to change the dynamo power output for summer and winter use.  Probably the best strategy is to always run an earlier Ford car with the headlights on, using the winter setting except when you need to fast charge the battery after starting the car. 

• Voltage runaway could occur if the battery has become high impedance and so it is unable to regulate the voltage very well.  This occurs if the battery is worn out or the acid level has been allowed to drop too much. 
• Some control boxes have a third relay for current limiting; I have not seen one of those, and many car makers never included a current regulator coil.  In any case, lead-acid cells are best charged with a constant voltage, but slightly increased when the charge rate is high. 

  

  Austin Cars - guessing the switch's
  internal connection.  There are two
  or three current rate settings. 

• Austin 7's later wiring diagram differs in the power setting for the side lights. 
• When lights and fast charging are required, the side lights are designed to be used instead of the headlights.  Otherwise, the headlights should be used. 
• Side lights are very dim and best only used when parked, as required on a fast road.  That is, it is a bad but necessary compromise to drive on sidelights when the higher rate of charge is required.
• Earlier Austin 7s, other cars and makes, side lights use the medium current setting.  A wire shown dotted is connected between the F1 terminals.  So, there was no high charge rate when the lighting was switched on. 

• The driver monitors the ammeter and reduces the charge rate when the battery has recovered from starting the car and the charge rate has died back.  The electrical system has no protection if the charge rate is left set high for too long.

• The driver needs to move the charge rate switch according to the ammeter, and what inspecting the battery electrolyte tells him.  Use a hydrometer, or if the battery needs topping up more often than once every two weeks, or if bubbles form after a long drive, you need to reduce the charging rate.  But if there were just a few bubbles after a long drive, the charging is about right.  [if I remember correctly].  It is necessary to adjust the third brush on the dynamo periodically. 

• The manual says the ammeter reading should come down to +2A to +4A trickle charge, which is a necessary high rate to accommodate for when the electrics are running on battery whilst idling.  Therefore, a car, as I said, was only suitable for a hands-on person.  A bicycle, walking, or public transport were usually better or only options for most people. 

• The Austin 7 electrics total was up to 70W; the dynamo was rated at 6V, 11A, but most other models and makes were rated higher than this, and earlier Austin 7s, the dynamo rating may be lower.  The battery was 50AH, probably 300A maximum?  Austin car club say 300-400A was the initial current of the starter.  This would be the short circuit current of the battery, cables and motor before the crank has movement.  100A, used to be said for starting, it could not be higher for maximum power transfer when cranking.  The spark voltage was about 25,000V, but the Austin Manual says 6,000V, no doubt, when the spark plug was connected. 

 When I was very young 1959 to 1963, I was taken on holiday 250 miles a few times, to Devon and Cornwall, in an about 1935 Austin 7 and Morris 8's.  Mum complained that she had to keep kicking in the foot well of the passenger side to keep the electric fuel pump running of one of the Morris 8s.  Later, we went further, but in bigger cars.  My father also drove his small Ford Anglia to Paris, a similar distance.  Those cars had worm and wheel steering box had a tendency to wander about on the road like the car in this video. 

 

The mechanical cut-out does not turn on or off precisely, so when the engine slows down, the dynamo will start drawing current from the battery, but when the current drawn increases enough, the cut-out will disconnect.  By comparison, an alternator provides power even when the engine is idling and the rectifier diodes switch precisely.  It is also likely that the early 4-pole type dynamo produced power even when the engine was idling, so that the inefficient cut-out only needed to operate when the engine was running and open when it is stopped. 

The regulator and cut-out;

The regulator and hydraulic brakes started to be fitted from about 1935, plus a higher-rated dynamo with forced air cooling.  These are reducing the frequency of maintenance and improving those systems.  Battery life increased from 1-2 years to 5-7 years (web search).  In modern cars, the battery lasts as long as the car and requires no maintenance, which can be over 20 years.  The earliest regulator was used on a car in about 1929, and hydraulic brakes started to be introduced in 1921. 

AL-0055-02B veteran car regulator and cut-out, wiring diagram.  The three-phase alternator replaced the dynamo, the electromagnetic regulator and the cut-out by 1970.  Many more circuits were fused, and relays were added for the high-power headlight circuits.  These schematics show component values that are not correct. 

The addition of the regulator improves the battery charging management.  The reduction of four to a two-pole dynamo, which probably occurred in the 1920s or early 1930s, no doubt meant that there would be more periods when the battery is doing work running the electrical systems and the cut-out, which is not efficient, operates more. 

The mechanical voltage regulator is quite good, and the driver did not need or have the option to manage the battery by watching the ammeter and switch charge rate, but the driver still needs to keep his tow on the throttle when idling in a queue in winter with the lights on.  No doubt the newer 2-pole dynamo was cheaper to make, using fewer assembly operations than the early 4-pole dynamo.  But the alternator has 12 to 16 poles, and a smaller, faster pulley sweeps about 6 to 16 times more poles per engine revolution and runs all the electrics even when the engine is idling by comparison.  The lead-acid battery has been very suitable for vehicles and electric vehicles for over 165 years. 

• Auxiliary equipment became more viable, and A valve car radio of the time may require 6V, 5A (guess), which is more than the ignition system, so by adding accessories, the electrical system current balance could easily be very wrong, particularly if the car's electrics did not include a regulator. 

• Some cars were negative earth, some were positive earth, a valve radio probably could cope with either, but other cars were 12V, and this sort of radio would not accommodate different battery voltage cars. 

• Car radios could be made of high-quality cast aluminium with compartmentalised sections, a vibratory inverter for the high voltage section, radio and audio sections, and all had 0V bonding to the case by the shortest path at many points.  The valve base connectors had clips.  It would therefore be very expensive. 

• The electrical system of modern cars has a high degree of interference screening and prevention, but at the sources of interference, such as the ignition, motors, and electronics.  So that the electrical systems of the car do not interfere with the in-car entertainment systems. 

• The voltage regulator regulates over a range of current loading, and allows the battery to charge as fast as the dynamo can deliver current.  But the battery is still used when the engine is idling.  The current winding in the regulator applies compensations;  A small increase in voltage when the charge current is higher,  A further increase when a lot of electricity is being used, as a compromise to somewhat compensate for when the battery is being run down faster when the car is idling. 

Alternator supplies all the power all the time that the engine is running, including when the engine is idling.  Consequently, now car batteries rarely need topping up and can last at least a few decades, but they still provide voltage stabilisation and some over-voltage protection.  The electrical system must work from 5V to double 12V battery voltage, therefore 24V, withstand 60V and a voltage spike of around 500-800V. 

The alternator has no brushes but uses slip rings that allow it to rotate faster, twice as fast as a dynamo.  When introduced, they were rated at ~30A, but the Lucas ones, like so many things then, were not well-made at first.  They used less material than a comparable but slower-spinning dynamo.  By comparison, a dynamo is an alternator combined with a synchronous rectifier, formed by the commutator and brushes.

Control box with just a cut-out. 

https://www.da7c.co.uk/technical_torque_articles/threebrush_dynamo.htm

 

Control box with voltage regulating, current compensation windings, a cut-out and fuses;

https://www.vintagecarparts.co.uk/products/rf95-12-volt-regulator-and-cut-out-type-rf95#&gid=2&pid=1

Dynamo information UK company

https://dynamoregulator.com/

Post World War two cars also included an instrument regulator which worked by causing a hot wire to get hotter, causing a bimetallic strip to open a contact when its output voltage rose, it powered the hot wire, fuel and temperature gauges. 

Dynamo replacement - always flash the field winding, to ensure that the field is magnetised a little and with the correct polarity.  That is with only the battery chassis cable connected, and the dynamo field wire F disconnected.  Connect a wire to the battery live terminal and touch it to the field winding F connection for say a minute.  This will create a big spark when you disconnect, which will hurt you if you are touching the dynamo field winding F contact; you have no reason to do that.  Finally, disconnect the battery, then complete connecting the wiring, then lastly reconnect the battery, chassis cable last.  You can prevent the big spark by connecting something resistive, such as a headlamp or stop lamp bulb, across the field winding first; this will prevent compromising the field winding insulation. 

The regulator's voltage can be adjusted by moving a screw or bending metal.  This wiring diagram/circuit with two fuses, but 12V instead of 6V before the War, is about what Lucas Industries made for British car makers after World War Two, but before the alternator system replaced them. 

Coil winding insulation; pre-war, the enamel insulation gets brittle, cracks and falls off if the wire is moved. Sometime post-war war probably in the 1950's the enamel was replaced with a type of plastic that does not become brittle.  That modern enamel insulated wire enamel melts and smokes off, so the wire does not need to be scrapped in order to remove some insulation to make a termination.  A soldering Iron may just about be hot enough to melt the insulation of a thin wire. 

Adding electronics to improve a vintage or veteran car's electrical systems;

• Using LED lighting will boost the light level and reduce the current taken, but don't use an automotive electronics unit; they can include a power-wasting load, so that the unit matches the load of a filament lamp unit. 

• A 5W LED can be equivalent to a 50W filament bulb.  An Austin 7 was fitted with 18W headlamp bulbs.  Other bulbs are 3W but would be 5W or 20W for indicator lights now; these probably would not reduce as much as 90% using cheap LED units, and less wasteful units are probably not available. 

• The Dynamo's power output can be at least tripled at high RPM, and can be made to produce a reduced power level at low RPM instead of cutting out.  And the power remains the same at the stated minimum dynamo RPM. 

• Whether a unit is home-made or manufactured, this would be an after-market product, so it does not need to comply with each of the different manufacturers' own standards they impose on their suppliers, but it does need to work with double battery voltage in this case, 24V, to work reliably with any car dynamo system.  

• Include an output circuit breaker rather than a fuse and an output voltage crowbar circuit.  That is, as well as an input crowbar type protection, which is necessary anyway and will operate normally when driving the car, such as when an auxiliary is turned off. 

• But the average field voltage must be limited to the original rating of the dynamo, 7V.  Therefore, the dynamo voltage could rise to at least 21V as long as the output current is limited to 13.5A (actually ~13A = 11A + 2A, the field current).  ~13.5A is the rating of an D45D dynamo, 11A is the figure given by Austin. 

• That is, at 3600 RPM, 3x the specified RPM and outputs, the dynamo's output voltage can be allowed to rise threefold above the specified output voltage, 21V.  The options are. 

1. Use a buck switch-mode power supply to reduce the output to 7V or less if the dynamo current starts to exceed 13.5A in this case.  This will increase the current up to threefold, 40A. 
2. Use a buck-boost switch-mode power supply to reduce or increase the output voltage to 7V or less if the dynamo current starts to exceed ~13.5A in this case.  This will also deliver reduced current when the engine is idling, even if you set a low idle speed, rather than cut out as it would have.  Could be as high as 5A = 13.5A / 2 - 2A, @ 50% specified 1200 RPM, maybe not enough to run the ignition (2A Morris), ~1A = 13.5A / 4 - 2A, at 600RPM. 

Option (2) Nexperia - simplified buck-boost converter, this circuit is duplicated a number of times, running in parallel, multiphase, to minimise the electrical noise generated.  This diagram does not show the field winding management. 

• Reduce the field voltage if not so much current is required or if the dynamo voltage is getting too high.  Use a low-frequency chopper to regulate the average field voltage.  The circuit operates from battery voltage then the dynamo produces enough power. 

• That is, don't use the regulator and cut-out.  With all these changes and option (2), the old dynamo should run all the electrical systems even when the engine is idling.

• Switched the car to a negative chassis to simplify the circuit.  That is, don't change the starter motor, but switch the polarity of the coil and any electronic auxiliaries added.  And re-magnetise the dynamo negative earth.

Option (2), you can change the car to 12V, but without needing to change the dynamo. 

Both options, you can use a 12V dynamo but run 6V electrics.  But you won't have much extension to the lower RPM working. 

Likely buck-boost modules or ICs that may suit with some additional circuitry

                                                          Vin        Iout           Note                                                                1 off

ISL81401/ISL81601/ISL81801   4.5V  40V/60V/80V   controller                                                        £3.60/£6.50/£9.70 

LM5118                                        3V    75V                     "                                                                    £4.70

MAX25431/MAX20048              2V    40V                     "                                                                    £4.25/£7.20

LTC3789                                      4V     38V                    "                                                                    £10

TPS55288                                    2.7V  36V   <16A   Internal o/p transistors external i/p transistors.  £7.35

LTM4712                                     5V     36V   6A(6Vin)  12A(12-36Vin)                                             £44

Microcontroller   Is cheap and has plenty of flexibility, but software needs to be developed. 

• Input crowbar over-voltage protection across the dynamo is required, such as a transistor or gating to turn on the two input transistors. 
• Power the field winding and the power supply from the battery, but ensure that the dynamo is generating enough power to power the field winding. 
• Use at least two modules or ICs running multiphase in order to minimise switching noise. 

Evaluation boards that will take the Field Winding current from the battery;

EVAL-LTM4712-A2Z will provide 24A at 5V-12V input and up to 48A for £160,

Or, DEMO DC3189A for LTM4712 36VIN, 6-12A Buck-Boost for £54

Evaluation boards that won't take the Field Winding current from the battery;

Or, TPS55288EVM-045 or TPS552882EVM-400kHz, 3-5A maximum output may be enough £94                                                              

Plus, in addition, veroboard to add fuses, an input over-voltage clamp circuit with a power transistor, and a 555 timer + power transistor for field coil driving, may be a low-voltage field current start-up circuit.

I may develop this improved vintage car electrical system on another blog or webpage in future?

Magneto ignition;

Villiers motorbike engines, magneto's - publications ~1950;

1. Magneto with two lighting winding types and the ignition pair of windings at the top of the picture.  Pictured is the four-pole type, but a 6-pole with 6 lighting windings was also made. 
2. Diagram the ignition coil with low voltage and high voltage windings, contact breaker points, and the capacitor.  Plus two coils for lighting, see top and bottom, 
3. Diagram showing the working of the ignition magnetism, but the HT winding and the capacitor are not shown;  My text, a b c,  explains different aspects of the spark generation cycle.

a) Contact open, is closing, poles are aligned, so the magnetism is at its maximum, 

b) Contact is closed, magnetic polarity is changing, which causes a high current in the low voltage winding, and that current tends to resist the magnetism from changing. 

c) Contact opens, magnetism rapidly changes, the capacitor slows the rapid rate of voltage rise, so that the spark occurs in the spark plug but not the contact breaker points. 

I do not have experience with a 1920s car, but my 1970s motorbike, which used a selenium bridge rectifier, had no regulator but a switch to connect higher current windings into the circuit when the head lights were turned on, but it ran the battery down if ridden using the parking lights.  The battery was then used in the conventional Kettering ignition system, which also includes a current-limiting series resistor.  That is, it was different to a Villiers motorbike engine.

Some Villiers engines had a selenium rectifier and a battery for the parking lights from 1930.  Riley was still using a magneto on a few of their cars until 1932. 

Magneto-electrics could be improved by adapting some of these suggestions; electronics-design-project-bicycle.html

The simplest spark ignition uses a moving fixed magnet and a stationary high voltage coil wound on soft iron.  A blunt wedge edge rotating magnet, and a stationary blunt wedge edge iron with the high voltage coil.  Parts pass each other closely, generating a high voltage spark.  The engine, such as a lawnmower, has to be cranked quickly in order to start. 

Modern ignition systems probably do not use the inductive discharge Kettering system but have an oscillator circuit driving a step-up transformer to produce very short bursts of high voltage spark.  Placed on top of each sparking plug, thereby containing the spark current pulses' path more closely with the spark plug and thereby reducing electromagnetic interference. 

Non-electric spark ignition; using compression ignition (diesel) and a glow plug, before that, hot tube ignition. 

Hand cranked starting;  You did not always need to crank a veteran car to start it.  It might start when the trembler coil (spark box) was turned on, but they did break a lot of people's thumbs or arms, hand-cranking them.  One car in the Beaulieu motor museum had injured 10 or so people in over a century of its existence.

The Mini Metro was launched in 1980.  Cars had now become what the Lenton sport bicycle already was in 1946, a vehicle you could use with just some minor servicing points to observe and deliver when new without faults. 

 

Bickerton folding bicycle

 Changed; 31-10-2024, 16-11-2024

The bicycle is now running well, and I like it.  It is, as is said of it, a floppy frame.  Trying to not lean or pull on the handlebars is difficult, and they will slip back or forward to the stops, but that issue is now improved by fitting a stronger handlebar locking bolt. 

 

     

 

I have added the rack and replaced the handlebar locking bolt with a stronger bolt, but I now need spanners to fold the bike.  The handlebars still move back and forth as I cycle, though, but not so much so my ride is better.  I am advised that a stronger seat pillar clamp is available now, but what I have done works well enough.

Frame number; A3249 made in about 1976, is the date on the variable speed hub.

Weight; 9Kg.  MK1, a British-made, lightweight, aluminium frame bike since 1972.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bickerton_(bicycle)

3-speed AW gear hub dated August 1976.  I have greased the water-repelling labyrinths.  Put the hub bearing nuts back with the slack corrected, which fixed the grinding when I got the bike and have over-oiled the hub which washed out a little rust.

These bikes could be purchased in 1977 in USA from UK for; $360 plus postage. About £200. I don't know what the price was in the UK?

The handlebars fold down to form the bike's

stand.  But a side stand can be fitted.

The sprockets are; 13 and 57 tooth.  The gearing is quite high, and the bike is poor for hill climbing.  The five-speed hub option would give lower and higher speeds.  The bike is a low speed bike and goes fast enough but it feels like a lower gear would be helpful on hills. 

 

The bikes gearing in metres per pedal stroke; 

1. Gear 2.1 m/stroke is only a little lower than 2nd on my Universal adult bike.
2. Gear 2.8 m/stroke, is a little lower than 3rd gear on my Universal adult bike. 
3. Gear 3.7 m/stroke, is higher than my Lenton but lower than my Peugeot sports bikes highest speeds. 

In conclusion the bike is not capable of very low speed unlike a modern stiff frame short wheelbase bikes.  3 to 8MPH, with 5mph is okay.  But 2.5 to 12MPH are about the limits.

This original version Bickerton is made with off the shelf parts, aluminium tubes, rod, and beam, with minimal machining and cutting, bolted together.  There is no aluminium welding, though that is a good method of joining parts because it does not fracture unlike steel welding that is brittle and does.

I purchased the bike in September 2024.  It has been used for parts, so I scavenging parts for the bike.  The bike is very maintainable and despite the manual warning to not take the gear hub apart, they both don't need much maintenance but for oiling they can be dissembled if you take lots of care, and read up on how to do that, the parts put back the right way and don't disassemble them more than you need too to clean or replace a pawl spring say.  AW hubs if oiled regularly can be going fine at 1 million miles and 40 years on a postman's bike for example. 

Engine oil is a good general-purpose oil for the transmission you can also use grease on the cable parts and the sliding tubes.  Don't use 3-in-one oil inside the gear hub but it's okay on the chain as it leaves a hard protective coating.

The bike is allowed on most trains and buses folded and depending on guard, driver discretion and company policy full-size bikes are often allowed off-peak. 

No bike side stand is fitted but you can unlock, move and lock the handlebars to use those as a stand, the manual suggests or have a side stand fitted as an extra.

 

The removal of the rear wheel requires loosening the seat post clamp and moving it a little.   Once I put the washer back on the hub and the one with the anti-rotation washers on each hub side of the shaft with the locators facing out to the frame, the pair of down tubes were extremely tight and scrapped aluminium when I moved them.  The flats on the shaft are now horizontal but they were probably intended to be in line with the diagonal tubes to the seat post, which is also difficult to do and seems less than ideal.

Making do and mend with parts, I have adapted, such as a pipe clamp and a piece of metal tubing for the gear cable anchor.

For newer Bickerton bikes the tube from the seat post is bolted to the horizontal tube rather than sharing the hub shaft. 

All the tubes have been greased, fortunately, so they do slide as they should, leaving a silver of grease and aluminium on your hands though.  The bike became much less wobbly to ride once I had greased the steering bearing, that can be the case with other bikes.  Unsurprisingly, lubricating and correcting adjustments have made the bike lighter to ride.

A tool bag attached to the tube between the seat post lock and the crank would be useful.

The Bell chimes ding-dong on push then release.

The bike feels strange to ride, it is necessary to start in low gear 1 of 3, but it did not take many rides to learn to ride it.  The direction I go in is determined by the way I wobble, more than any other bike I have ridden.  The bike is best not ridden fast.  The pedals are nearer the ground than any other bikes I've ridden and can hit the ground, the manual warns to not let a pedal scrape the ground when leaning into a corner.  The bike is heavy to pedal up hills and would be helped by having a lower gear provided by a 5-speed gear hub option or a lower speed more tooth cog.

Bikes do vary in how light comfortable, heavy, uncomfortable or stable they are, but there is no real rule about what frame design feature results in.  This is the lightest adult bike I've experienced and heaviest to pedal but for its very low speed and low gearing.  Postwar long-wheelbase bikes were the best of the best when Raleigh was at its height.  This bike has shorter 60mm pedal arms compared to the normal 70mm that adult bikes have had for at least the past 80 years, but that is not enough to make the bike noticeably heavier to pedal.

The handlebar; one of the locking bolts was rusted and thread ruined, in any case, another did not lock the handlebars well.  I replaced it with a bolt and a wing nut, but better still was a blind bolt with internal locking, foil wrapped around it a washer and a nut.  Finally, I found a smaller-sized metric nut, that an old 1/2" ring spanner fitted tightly on.  The ride is now much better, although the handlebars do slide, but less so. 

• I am advised that a modern seat post clamp would do a better job clamping the handlebars.  Having said that, what I have done is a good solution. 
  

• In mitigation Bickerton says that the floppyness of the handlebars is intensional allowing the cyclist to lean back and pedal harder on hills.  They also say it takes getting used but I worried about falling off backwards.
  

Greasing the steering bearings needed a stop pin to be pressed out. 

• The pin is a C-shaped roll of spring steel, tapered on both ends so it can be pressed back in from either end. I used a vice with the jaws open a little to press against and flat tool against the pin and a hammer.

• The bearings were clean but dry, which I greased with Castrol LM grease.

• The bearing nut was screwed tight, to ensure that the thread runs smoothly, then slacked to finger tight then held at 1/4 to 1/2 turn slack and the locking nut tightened onto it.

• The pin was then hammered back in using the tool again between the pin to hammer against.

• The pins function as stops. The steering now does not have any stiffness, consequently, the bike is now a little less wobbly to ride.

• Then a sawn-off nail tip to give a filed flat end nail to hammer the pin through the hole and out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The seat is nearly over the back wheel hub, so be careful leaning back, and it also feels necessary to be careful when braking hard and falling forward.   I hit a small pothole under fallen leaves at very low speed and came off standing up okay.  The bike is good for short-distance rides of 1 km or so on fairly flat terrain with wobble room. 

 

A bicycle rack was added. Many of the welds broke on it over the 50 years since I purchased it, it also broke the fixings on my Lenton Sports.  I have used tie wraps and pipe clamps to hold it, and I am hoping they will not need to be taken off or cut to take the back wheel off.  Taking the rear wheel off is in any case difficult. 

The cyclist needs to take care to not let what is carried overhang the front sides of the rack.  If you do what you carry will hit your heels, but correct it don't push the pedals from the bridge of your feet, which is not good for your orthopaedic health and will result in needing more effort to go.

 

https://www.bickertonportables.co.uk/wp-content/themes/twentytenfive/images/bickerton-story.pdf 

https://starostneradost.wordpress.com/tag/bickerton/

 

The author created the web page whilst he was putting this bike back together for a friend. 

https://jepspectro.com/htm/bickerton.htm

 

The Bickerton Facebook group is useful and there is a bike manual, which has a nice informative storytelling style, in the files section.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Bickerton

The sliding spanner on one pedal for unscrewing it to stow it out of the way; 

The sliding spanner for unscrewing and removing the pedal.  The hole in the frame is for storing the pedal but it is a thread clearance hole with no extra clearance for a grommet.  The thread is anti-clockwise, so it tends to tighten as you pedal.

Pushing in or pull the saddle out
is difficult even after greasing the
seat post but the seat slides down
unless tightened very tight.

It is like an anti-theft device, but I am sure the aluminium pedal arm's thread would not last under normal use and abuse if it had been used often?   The hole between the seat post and the back wheel on the frame is to hold the pedal but it is missing a grommet or something.   That is so it can go into its carry bag which I don't have. 

The pedal drops into the storage hole but it is not locked in place.  The pedal would squeeze between the mudguard and the seat post but as the bike is now is a loose fit.

 

In conclusion,  

Everything seems to have been done using all the bicycle design rules to make the bicycle stable and least difficult to ride, despite its light and flimsy.  That is, it is not as bad as expected, but the bike gives a reasonable low-speed ride.  I am sure that the bicycle would be bent by hitting a pothole and the cyclist injured that is the risk with using such a bike, but in mitigation that is obvious.  Folding bicycles are not suitable for learning to ride a bike.

I have hit a slightly raised manhole cover at very low speed under leaves and instead of falling off and the bike braking I found myself standing up holding the handlebars.

The bike is fiddly to fold and unfold.  It helps to measure the saddle height against myself, so I can pull it out to about the right height.  The bike is okay without lowering the seat on a bus. 

I carry some tools and straps to fold and
 carry the bike.  This IKEA bag is strong.

More modern Bickerton folding bicycles are heavier at 13 kg, a little lighter than my Lenton Sports and heavier than my Peugeot Course sports bike.  Brompton now claims to offer the lightest folding bike at about 8 kg.  Both are British-made bikes. 

 

The Bickerton on the train was hard work lugging and trying to roll the bike to the rail replacement bus folded.  It has been recommanded that a bag with a shoulder strap helps or small wheels fitted to the back of the rack helps.  There is no comfortable way of carrying the bike up stairs the balance is in the wrong place if I hold the bike unfolded by the saddle tube below the clamp where it is not greased.

A lovely, still, sunny day at the end of September, so I put the bike on the train and visited the seaside. 

The cycle route along is flat between Hastings Old Town and West St Leonard's, seafront is okay until the hill to Ore and the hills behind to Bexhill-on-sea.  The bike drew many friendly comments as well as that it is dangerous, which it is if I hit a pothole and the bike collapses under me.  Lots of stops at lovely cafes like these and a bit of shopping, which is placed to not overhang the front of the rack. 

This is just the sort of outing the little bike is well suited to, but my full size sports bikes cope with hills and potholes better when visiting Ore or Bexhill.  They are light enough to put an off-peak train.

Android apps;

• 

  Caynax rout plotter app. with graphical statistics
  

  Google Maps is clearly readable but the bicycle and walking routes given are regular roads which can be bad, such as Southborough and High Brooms to Tonbridge the only route offered is via the A26.  This app will give verbal instructions until you get near your destination when it stops.  It tells you when to get off the train but tells you there are two stops to go when there is one stop.
  
• Movit gives good bicycle routes the A21 cycle path is offered instead of the A26 road.  But the screen is cluttered.  It Dings three times before a train stops you need to get off, the last being a double ding.  This App. grow too large to remain installed on my Doro smartphone.
  
• Both apps. Can show the train stops that the train is not going to stop at and may not show the right connections? 
• Both Apps will find a route and may adjust that route if you detour, but they must be started with an internet connection such as Wi-Fi.
• Any app. you might be able to select an alternative route with Google Maps use a bicycle route map (paper or one of the cycle route websites), select cycle or walk now, and place as many stop points on your route to steer it towards suggesting a fit with your rough plan.  Other apps you can use their website to navigate and pull the route the way you want to go then use your creation on a smartphone.
• Caynax is a good tracker with a good automatic pause.  ITO Pedometer,  is simple, reliable and automatic for walking.  Nix games Speedometer, is good.   See this blog. 

The Doro 8030 "smartphone" I use is not very smart, but the camera is okay.  Android 5 does not support some of the good cycling apps Stava and Rides With GPS any more.

For more bicycles and maintenance please look at my other blog links on the right-hand margin of this blog such as; pandemic-and-cycling-going-forward