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| Does anyone here have any helpful hints on getting a secure friction fit with the 'pie plate' section in a gearcase? I'm having trouble with it working loose after a few minutes into a ride, and am beginning to understand why most of the unrestored bikes I see are missing theirs. Thanks a lot. |
| My father was a machinist-toolmaker. His trick was to use a paper "shim" between the pieces. This should also work on tough-to-tighten seat posts. |
| If you slightly crimp the return bend on the chaincase in a few places the plate will stay in OK. Regards, Tim |
| Mike, Are you referring to the gearcase on your long-awaited Superbe from H. Russell? I'd like to see pictures of this restoration. Is the gearcase an original one, or an aftermarket, made-in-India variety? Normally, I don't think there's a problem with these working loose. David |
| Thanks to all for the advice. It's greatly appreciated. Will try again tomorrow, and there will be no quarter asked nor given. David, That's the one! Turns out it's a '64 with an FG. I installed my NOS Lucas bell and Carradice Pendle and with that big red '4' on the shifter, she's gorgeous. I'll get with you. Part of my gearcase problem may be the new paint, and what I now think is happening is that having two coats is causing part(s) of the plate to not seat fully all the way around (i.e.,just one or two thousandths) and as the metal of the case itself (original Raleigh) is pretty flexy, maybe it's working out because it's actually too tight in places. We'll see. |
| Hi, does anyone know of a US or European comapny that still makes 3 speed roadsters (kind with the full chain case, rod brakes, frame pump etc)? I've found companies in India that make them and some in Asia, but that's not a great solution considering the distance, shipping etc. Thanks for the help. |
| Umberto dei in Italia , Puch in Austria, Raleigh and many others in The Netherlands(they are top notch too!). GOOD LUCK! |
| www.benotto.com.mx they make a rod brake single.and a cable brake derailer 10speed with 28" wheels---sam |
| Please tell me those prices are in pesos! |
| Schwinn makes a 3 speed roaster. It had a S/A 3 speed internal hub, chrome fenders, roadster style handlebars and 2.1 white wall tires. Up here in Canada you can buy them at Canadian Tire i think the price on them is $399 (CDN)Pricey but i think worth it. In the US i am guessing you could check where ever Schwinns are sold.....Oh, the bike comes in both Mens and Ladies. |
| oh i forgot.....these bikes have coaster brakes....and no frame pump mount :( Mayne your best bet is to take a trip and bring a bike home :p |
| Pesos,that's what they use in Mx.Divide by 10 for dollars! |
| the Danish Raleigh makes various old Raleigh style bikes with 3,5 and 7 speed SA or SRAM gear hubs, some of their bikes are nearly identical to raleighs of the 1950s. raleigh.dk In Holland, Gazelle (once owned by raleigh) and Bratavus make similar bikes with internal gear hubs. Pashley in the UK, makes old fashioned english 3 speeds, Cycles of Yesteryear sells restored 3 speeds. Wanderer in germany makes bicycles that could be described as modern interpretations of english 3 speeds, I don't know if they are available with internal gear hubs though, but their "classic" models are beautiful. I don't know how one would go about ordering any of these bikes in the US. |
| Don't forget the English Roadster. The Pashley Prospero and the elegant Princess. Up to date brand new and available, check out the Pashley website. Ride safe, pedal past on Pashley push bikes. Matthew |
| Anyone know what a backstay bridge clip is? We have a Raleigh Industries parts box with a stick-on label for "backstay bridge clips"? The box is 4"x4"x1.25" and held six. Vintage of the box is 1950s back to the '30s. |
| i think they refer to the clip/bracket that can secure mudguards onto your brake bridge. i had a box that said the same thing but they were made by malvern star. |
| Correct. They are the clips for rear mudguards. Tim |
| It's not a roadster, but the experts are here... I'm hoping to date this Royale, which is equipped with 27" Sturmey Archer rims, 32 hole front, 40 rear, Presta drilled, on Raleigh bolt-on hubs; 10 speed gearing with Raleigh steel cottered half-step cranks; Simplex derailleurs; GB Coureur "66" centerpulls; Brooks B5N saddle; alloy Milremo stem and drop bars with GB Arret levers. Pump pegs under top tube; lamp boss on the right fork leg. Ser# 4344961 under crank shell. RetroRaleighs offers no encouragement as to the serial#. The description of the '62 Sprite is close, except for the valve drilling and the pump location. I can take some pictures of lettering and headbadge, if someone wants to help me out. Thanks. |
| Went to bike swap today here in Northern Cal. Grateful to find a nice B72 I needed for the Superbe in the midst of Campy and Shimano when...what's that I see next door, a men's Tourist? I meander over and the vendor says 75 bucks. I ponder it while an autonomic reflex grabs my wallet and takes out four twentys! He's a '78, straight and all there w/original tires. Paint on ch-guard and frame is fine while thin on fenders. So many bicycles, so little time... |
| Why..... You...... LUCK SON OF A GUN!!!!! Congrats! That's allright.... every dawg will have his day! Later! Boneman (still lookin' fer the ever-elusive DL-1 in the PA / NY / NJ area) |
| Persons-Majestic is offering $10 off all Brooks saddles to reduce inventory. www.permaco.com |
| Perhaps because Brooks quality has really sunk since the Italians took over. |
| In Boston - pick up or I'll ship at cost... 21" complete women's frame Tyler (Polish) w/3-spd Shimano. Free. 18" complete women's frame Free Spirit (Austrian) 10-speed, fenders, upright bars, etc 26 x 1 3/8 tires. Free. 21" women's frame Raleigh Sports. Mattress saddle, needs a grip. $20. E mail to beand at comcast.net |
| Oops. beandk at comcast.net |
| wowzers! I have not check out the site for a minute, but I am glad to be back. 400,000 hits a week, awesome! I remember when it was under 20,000. Any body out there got any DL-1 tourist rims. I need a forty spoke for my rear aw-3. It is a 1977. These bikes are "super" rare around here in louisville, ky. or anywhere else in kentucky for that matter. Not like new england where sheldon is. Is chistopher robin still out there? bicyclepriest |
| Yes, still here. I'm too far immersed this magic to just up and le0ave. Nothing new really since the Flying Scot knocked my breath away. Missed a Raleigh Space rider the other day. Yesterday was interesting, almost got whalloped by a cyclist. The fellow at the garage sale who was in riding outfit with helmet did not like it that I grabbed his chrome Schwinn Paramount with the Campagnolo Rally gears. I saw the bike and was asking ready to snap it up and be gone but it was not for sale, the owner was inside in the dark looking at things and I saw the bike first. I had to pry my quivering hands off of the bike and say: "I'm sorry dude, it's a marvelous machine." He did not like it, no, not one bit. I had laid my hands on his Chrome Paramount. Yes, I was ready to snap it up too. The guy who ran the sale did have a bike, and he said he'd call. So far he has not. I'll wait 27 years more and buy up that Paramount yet! That's how it works! Have fun. Go find those bikes. You will have to. I am too busy and am not finding the stuff like I used to. As far as your cool old bikes go be prepared to fend off folks like me who will offer you 50.00 on the Paramount! |
| I just picked up a raleigh superbe in a trade (for a Nishiki so don't tell the lightweight guys).It is in fairly good shape, has a front dyno hub, all the lights, the hockey stick chainguard, heron chainring, heron light bracket on stem, locking fork (no key of course), and Brooks saddle. It has a hub marked SW 58-8 and its serial number under the seat appears to be 64703 RC. I looked on the chart and it wasn't there. The shifter says Wico Cycle 3 Speed, and the bike is green with gold highlights around the front lugs. Is it a '58 as the hub would suggest or has the rear hub been swapped in out of an older one. I will certainly have more questions later as I resore this bike but for now......Mike |
| The easiest way to spot era's is by the Raleigh decal script. A 58 frame would have a block capitals serifed Raleigh. The late 60's and 70's had italicized san serif decals. There are many other subtleties. Your frame should have a mounting hole for the enclosed chaincase even though it doesn't have one. The rear seat stays are larger in diameter than in later years. The "keyed" front axle slots could be on the outside of the fork dropouts and the axle nuts have a lip as opposed to the cones. A 58 should also have the braze-on for the pulley wheel at the intersection of the top and seat tubes. I'm sure there are others but these are all I can pull from the top of my head. Anyone else? Of course you can cheat and go to... http://sheldonbrown.com/raleigh.html for lots of info. Go to http://sheldonbrown.com/raleigh.html for lots of info. |
| Hi all. Most of my experience with bikes is with Schwinn lightweights. I needed a nice 3 speed donor bike for parts so I picked one up this morning for parts. It rode and shifted nice, that's all I needed to know. I got home and went to go about cutting the rear hub out of the wheel and noticed the date. 1953. I thought just by looking at it that this was just another 70's bike. I went back and talked with the owner. No, they had infact bought the bike sometime in the 50's. Now I do not like to destroy bikes this old. Not when I need them for just a few parts. My question is should I do as I want with this bike, or should I leave it intact and look for another donor bike? Is an early 50's British bike something that one should preserve, or is this just another mass produced bike? Thanks, Kevin |
| Details please...if it's just parts you want, myself and many others have them for next to nothing. Don't part it out until you know it's not "special". |
| Hi. Yea, details. Sorry. It's a man's frame, nice redish/maroon paint. Paint on 1-10 is about a 7. Mudguards are very nice with no real dents/damage. Wrong saddle. Chrome on bars and stem pitted.3speed of course. Dunlop rims in fair condition. Not really rusty but rather the chrome peeled. I've a Schwinn cantilever frame/project here and needed the old boy for parts. But if this is something that should remain intact then that's a different story. Thanks and I'll wait for your response. Kevin |
| I say don't part that old 3 Speed out. I've had one hell of a time finding any half way decent english bikes from the 50s or earlier that aren't horribly expensive. If you really do need parts, private dealers on ebay, on here or bike store websites have many options. If you're not entirely sure, get the parts from some other source and find out more about the English bike you have. There's a chance it's a real find. |
| I say don't part that old 3 Speed out. I've had one hell of a time finding any half way decent english bikes from the 50s or earlier that aren't horribly expensive. If you really do need parts, private dealers on ebay, on here or bike store websites have many options. If you're not entirely sure, get the parts from some other source and find out more about the English bike you have. There's a chance it's a real find. |
| Hi Guys. That's always the way it is. I gave $10 for it. Now it looks like I'll just have to swap out the bike for the parts I need, unless I decide to add a Foremost to the Schwinn Club here in the basement. Thanks for the advice. Kevin |
| Hi Guys. That's always the way it is. I gave $10 for it. Now it looks like I'll just have to swap out the bike for the parts I need, unless I decide to add a Foremost to the Schwinn Club here in the basement. Thanks for the advice. Kevin |
| I had an exciting moment the other day; while riding up a steep hill on my Folder, my cuff got caught on the L cotter and would around the spindle. It stopped me and I was stuck (and could have hurt my foot) since the hill made it impossible to roll forward and get my foot out! I'm glad it was the Folder and not a regular frame. My Q: has anyone come up with a good remedy for the cotter-cuff problem? Trouser bands or tucking into socks is inconvenient and reversing the cotters doesn't really solve the problem. I've thought of a glob of silicone seal or some sort of rounded clip over the ends of the cotters. Ideas? |
| Hot melt glue would be easier to get off than RTV silicone. I used to catch shoelaces on the cotter nuts all the time (a Raleigh Twenty, my "work bike"), but this hasn't happened much since I had the crank rebuilt and they used non-Raleigh pins, not as pointy or something I guess. |
| I noticed that on the DL-1 I recently acquired, the plain end of the cotter barely protrudes above the crankarm. If an acorn nut (R-nut) were used on the other end, there would be little chance of catching. Since the original cotters are so hard to get ahold of, I wonder if cotter problems aren't at least partially the result of ill-fitting replacement cotters? |
| Now a chance for one of you fine fellows to own a Sunbeam: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2196866434&category=420 David, who can't wait until his Sunbeam arrives! |
| the sunbeam is garbage, the owner sent me pics, beware. |
| Does anyone know of a half-way decent way of securing a saddle bag? I have an old style three strap one (one on each seat loop and one around the verticle pipe). I hate having to take it on and off when I park! I've thought of using small plastic zip ties to secure it, but wasn't sure about the value of that. Let me know if anyone has been able to commute or park their bike while still keeping their saddle bag safe on it. Thanks |
| If you use velcro straps (available at fabric stores) you can remove and install the bag much quicker than buckle straps. |
| One of the hardest things for me to do is to park and lock up my Superbe, and dissapear into a large building for more than 15 minutes. Zip ties work well for slowing down the "opportunity" thief, because once he's worked the buckles loose he's not prepared to cut through the zip ties. But if you park your bike at the same location frequently and someone's really got an eye out for the saddle bag, you'll have to take more drastic measures. With the bag normaly mounted on your seat, make a hole into the bag straps and pop-rivet the straps onto themselves. That is to say, the pointed end of the strap that went through the buckle and normally flaps loose, gets riveted onto the part of the strap before the buckle. If you do this properly, the rivets are not noticeable, but become very apparant when you want to undo the buckles. So what you have in the bag anyway--Grandpa's Crafstman wrenches? Put everything into a zip-lock bag then into the seat bag. When you lock up the bike, take the zip-lock bag out with you. For added security, park you bike next to a cluster of Harley-Davidsons... |
| Has anybody else snagged a pair of these from ebay? I know they are probably not much more "Brooks" than my toaster, but I just wanted leather. They are fairly nice-looking, a nice thick seam, nice baseball-glove color. I was surprised at how nice they look on my dl1, although far from OEM, yes, but considering also its Flying Pigeon chainguard, the machine is already unpure (but lovely nonetheless). The problem I am having is that the grips are so tight, that I can not get the bars to accept the final inch or so. I am killing my hands and nearly passing out from pushing, pulling, and twisting so hard. When I used to commute on this bike, I would get the Dare grips replaced every 6 months or so, and my bike shop used to shoot them onto the bars somehow with compressed air. Is there a trick I could employ to get these things seated all the way? |
| I have found that applying hairspray to the handlebars helps you to push the grips into position. Compressed air is used to remove stubborn grips. |
| As a lubricating agent, I use a syringe filled with soap and water for removal. I guess you could try this for putting them on as well. For leather grips, you could try some sort of oil. David |
| I found that just plain water will help slip grips on/off........when the water dries the grips will stay in place, not like oil that wont dry up the same.......i have only used this on rubber thom dont really know about leather. |
| Personally I use a very conservative amount of baby powder in the grip befpre installation. I put a small amount in my hand, then carefully pour it into the grip from my palm. I cover the end of the grip with my hand and shake it around inside to get good coverage. I dump out the excess then lightly blow into the grip to remove any excess. I say a very small conservative amount because I do not wish to attract moisture, I only use enough to slide the grip on. This has worked very well for me in the past without any moisture / corrosion problems. Rif |
| Dial Patterns finally wrote me back with this reply: "We can make you a pair...in rubber as a special...normally these were celluloid...[we use a substitute material...Price will be £25.85/pair. inc VAT and P@P." Go here to view them (scroll down to the bottom of the page for bicycle grips): http://www.dialpatterns.co.uk/grippics1.html I was thinking grip #17 or #18 for my 28" wheel roadsters. What you guys think? Now if we can only get them to reproduce the "torpedo" style for our "Sports" light roadsters. David |
| Funny how things suddenly come together.. today I got a quote on making the mould for the 4-inch c. 1946-66 Raleigh grey grips. Will be Made in England, rubber, top quality and colour matched to NOS. I just have to crunch some numbers to see if this is a viable endeavour. I am not too keen on having 200 pairs of cycle grips under the bed for 10 years! Let alone shelling out serious money.... so stay tuned.. P.C. Kohler |
| this would be a great time to form some sort of list. I know a man here in Canada who reproduces the Gibson pedal rubbers and a couple of others, and I am considering reproducing a small tool bag for the top tube of the early safties.....some of this could be helpful info for others considering the same type of project. A list? Mike |
| OK, here's the scoop on the grips... Replica Raleigh grey rubber grips, 4" long, duplicated from an NOS example (original Raleigh part no. M502A). BRITISH MADE and top quality. This type of grip was fitted to all Raleigh Industries roadsters and sports machines c. 1948-66 including the early Sprite variants, RSWs, Raleigh 20s, DL-1s etc. They were produced and supplied by Raleigh into the mid-1980s. Indeed they may be suitably used on any English cycle of the period. The later "Dare" black grips are not correct for pre mid 60s machines and this is the first time this earlier style has been duplicated. It is intended to make a first production batch of 100 PAIRS only. Anticipated cost: $18.00/£11.00 per pair with a minimum order of TWO PAIRS. Now I just have to get up the courage to write that cheque! Stay tuned. P.C. Kohler |
| P.C., Just wonderin'.... Offhand, do any mechanical drawings for the grips exist? If so, would it benefit yourself and / or the supplier to have a solid model CADfile? Let me know... I could possibly put one together if it at all would help. Would need a scan of the dwg. and what filetype the supplier works with. Later! Boneman |
| Good idea... the firm, Lee-Healey Co. Ltd., can make grip reproductions for such drawings OR a sample. Fortunately, I was able to send them a NOS grip in grey. It's the moulding costs that really bite of course. NOW.... will someone please provide a good condition or NOS 5" rubber sleeve grip of the sort used on British club bike dropped handlebars. This is an essential replacement item almost unobtainable. Let's get organised. We are approaching a critical stage when items like this are increasingly difficult to find as originals. And we are approaching critical mass in terms of those of needing quality, authentic replicas. The Chopper folks are way, way ahead of us roadster and club bike types. P.C. Kohler |