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Narrow Drum Speedia

Alan Rose

Alan Rose

Senior Member & Supporter
I took a punt on a narrow drum speedia on eBay this week. It was £47 with seconds left and I idly lobbed in a £48 bid and won (I’m so sorry if it was you on £47!)

Anyway, the reel arrived today and, as expected, needed a bit of tlc. The seller claimed it hadn’t been used for forty years but ran well (it didn’t). There was about 200m of various lines on it, like rock strata 😂

Once that was all off, I had a better look. No damage to line pillars- all good. No real corrosion to tensioner and spool release- all good. Grub screw seized up, but after a couple of hours with oil left to soak, it was fine. A thorough clean of the bushing and polish of the spindle, some grease here and there, a bit of oil on the handles and I have a nice Speedia that spins freely and increasingly quietly (as the oil does its work) for 2min 30secs with zero wobble 🥳

Not the best one I’ve seen cosmetically, but for just shy of fifty bob for a mechanically perfect one, I’m really chuffed. It’s amazing what lighter fluid, cotton buds, Autosol and sewing machine oil will accomplish!

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Don't know anything about them Alan but I know the fun which I get getting something for little or no cost and it turns out to be great. My 9 made up rods split to 3 which cost a lot as bespoke peregrines and 6 which stand me in just 350 for the lot. Love them all. Enjoy your purchase
 
Alan Rose said:
I took a punt on a narrow drum speedia on eBay this week. It was £47 with seconds left and I idly lobbed in a £48 bid and won (I’m so sorry if it was you on £47!)

Anyway, the reel arrived today and, as expected, needed a bit of tlc. The seller claimed it hadn’t been used for forty years but ran well (it didn’t). There was about 200m of various lines on it, like rock strata 😂

Once that was all off, I had a better look. No damage to line pillars- all good. No real corrosion to tensioner and spool release- all good. Grub screw seized up, but after a couple of hours with oil left to soak, it was fine. A thorough clean of the bushing and polish of the spindle, some grease here and there, a bit of oil on the handles and I have a nice Speedia that spins freely and increasingly quietly (as the oil does its work) for 2min 30secs with zero wobble 🥳

Not the best one I’ve seen cosmetically, but for just shy of fifty bob for a mechanically perfect one, I’m really chuffed. It’s amazing what lighter fluid, cotton buds, Autosol and sewing machine oil will accomplish!

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Nice one Alan but I think you’re getting your “bobs” mixed up with “quids” Fifty Bob was £2- 10 shillings (£2.50p) but I know what you meant 🤣🤣👍
 
Now’t wrong with that Alan. Tidy looking reel for the money.

Only thing I can see that might be of slight concern is that the ratchet pawl looks a little rounded over on the point of contact. Might be worth contacting Gary Mills to see if he has a replacement. I always lithium grease the teeth on the ratchet wheel and the pawl by the way rather than using oil.

It’s amazing how absorbed you can be in spinning a centrepin reel when you first get your hands on it. Infinitely more compelling than watching Saturday night tv, in my opinion.
 
Haydn Clarke said:
Now’t wrong with that Alan. Tidy looking reel for the money.

Only thing I can see that might be of slight concern is that the ratchet pawl looks a little rounded over on the point of contact. Might be worth contacting Gary Mills to see if he has a replacement. I always lithium grease the teeth on the ratchet wheel and the pawl by the way rather than using oil.

It’s amazing how absorbed you can be in spinning a centrepin reel when you first get your hands on it. Infinitely more compelling than watching Saturday night tv, in my opinion.
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Cheers Hadyn, I will only use it to trot with so the ratchet will only be engaged when setting up/packing away/unhooking fish etc 👍🏻
 
If you want to make it look really good, soak both parts of the reel in neat Dettol for 48 hours and all the black paint will flake off. It will then polish up really nicely with suitable metal polish.
 
Bargain! The amount of line on the reel made me chuckle, I inherited two MKIV deluxe from my late uncle. Two owners from new, Mick and me. One of them had miles of well embedded line and was initially used when salmon fishing on the Avon and Stour - bouncing a bomb with prawns or lobworms. The second was his barbel/chub reel. Both had home made cork arbours which are well worn and deformed. I did strip the line off but chose to keep the arbours just as they are. I also wont do anything with the paintwork wear & tear either.

Superb reels which I now use for my increasingly rare barbel sessions, the ratchets are the best alarms known to man if a bit noisy!

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Neil Blood said:
If you want to make it look really good, soak both parts of the reel in neat Dettol for 48 hours and all the black paint will flake off. It will then polish up really nicely with suitable metal polish.
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I did similar with a previous Speedia and it looked lovely. May do the same with this one, but it’s not too bad tbh.
 
Alan,
I have only recently " lost my cherry" to centre pin river fishing and am really enjoying it.
I have a tfg reel which I originally purchased for close range carp fishing. It's a nice reel, but I fancy something older ( still talking reels here). Looking at the mechanics, speedia, trudex and rapidex all appear very similar. Could you give me your thoughts on the differences and which you would choose for trotting the Derwent.
Thanks
Mike
 
Mike Thompson said:
Alan,
I have only recently " lost my cherry" to centre pin river fishing and am really enjoying it.
I have a tfg reel which I originally purchased for close range carp fishing. It's a nice reel, but I fancy something older ( still talking reels here). Looking at the mechanics, speedia, trudex and rapidex all appear very similar. Could you give me your thoughts on the differences and which you would choose for trotting the Derwent.
Thanks
Mike
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I’ll drop you a PM Mike 👍🏻
 
A little update on my Speedia.

The reel foot was a little bit bent, so I made some inquiries about having a brass one fashioned for it. One well known reel maker was too expensive, so I reached out to someone I was aware of through another forum. The upshot was that I posted the reel early this week, and on Thursday had a call saying it was ready! It’s had a new foot machined from brass stock, and incredibly the kind gentleman charged me £10 for the work!

The outcome can be seen in the pics below—I’m well happy with it. The chap who did it also put some of his hand-made floats in the box ☺️


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Alan Rose said:
A little update on my Speedia.

The reel foot was a little bit bent, so I made some inquiries about having a brass one fashioned for it. One well known reel maker was too expensive, so I reached out to someone I was aware of through another forum. The upshot was that I posted the reel early this week, and on Thursday had a call saying it was ready! It’s had a new foot machined from brass stock, and incredibly the kind gentleman charged me £10 for the work!

The outcome can be seen in the pics below—I’m well happy with it. The chap who did it also put some of his hand-made floats in the box ☺️


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I think he deserves a mention Alan if he’ll allow you 👍
 
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