Originally Posted by
clubman
I'm not trying to restore it, just put it back the way it should be.
From the Cambridge dictionary. Restoration: the
act or
process of
returning something to
its earlier good
condition or
position...
Whether or not it becomes my daily rider or not, I'll likely have to keep it till I die.
Just wait till you stumble across a nicer, pristine example. It's like a new love affair.
I've been searching the web for pics and other's descriptions of various Dunelt bikes, it looks to me like the last year for the Birmingham style forks was 1963, in 1964 the forks change to the type with the flat chrome cap, and the frame looses the pump pegs as well. The Raleigh chainguard, (hockey stick style) seems to start with 1960.
Don't assume anything from what you find or see on the internet. Raleigh had a huge international market and sold different equipment on the same bikes to each market. I've seen Dunelts of the same year with Birmingham forks and D thimbles. SA hub dates are vague since they made huge inventories and we've seen many hubs with nonsensical dates, ie 14 - 61
I see quite a few with a 3 speed and coaster brake hub, but no single speed coaster brake bikes. I did see a few older single speed freewheel bikes but those looked older with the wide cg and different decals.
Same as above. Wait till you stumble across some Malaysian bikes and see what they're kitted out with. I had a 70's Raleigh with a single freewheel and rod brakes. It was a Sports, not a DL-1 or Tourist.
I'm basically comparing mine to what was sold here. Bikes with hubs dated 1961 to 63 have basically been the same as mine, same decals, same forks, same frame and pegs, same cg, and, same saddle, etc.
I was never a fan of rod brakes, the few I rode didn't work well at all and the bikes seemed clunky to me. I've seen a few 26x1 3/8" tire rod brake bikes, but most seem to be from other countries.
Who sold Dunelt here? I don't remember ever seeing one on the showroom floor anywhere over the years. I do remember Raleigh and Robin Hood, but the only RH bikes I used to see were kids bikes. They weren't in the Raleigh catalog, they weren't on the Raleigh price lists. I suspect the sub brands like Dunelt, Robin Hood, Hercules, and Armsrong were likely sold through private bike distributors and not direct through Raleigh dealers from Raleigh or Derby back then. Has anyone ever seen a catalog for Dunelt from the 60's era? Or for any of the sub brands?