Hi
I bought this bike late last year and the seller described it as a "1957 Gentlemens Roadster". I thought it looked cool and I wanted a project to restore so I bought it.
It has balloon tyres and balloon mudguards (tyres are 26 x 2 x 1 3/8)
It has drum brakes front and rear that were cable operated and a Sturney "AB" hub.
The gear roller is steel but not brazed on.
It has the Bottom Bracket oil cap on the drive side (right hand side)
The serial number on the seat tube is CN 44620 which doesn't match any of the conventions I can find online. The front hub is dated "3 52" and the rear is "52 9" so I'm fairly confident that it is a 1952.
Is this a DL-1 Export? (I am in New Zealand) It has really fat rear chain stays and straight dropouts at the rear with a tensioner (not the angled type I have seen on some Raleighs)
It has the holes predrilled for the "rockers" (fulcrums? - I'm not sure what they are called) for rod brakes so I have ordered the parts to convert her back to rod brakes. Someone had blocked these holes with self tapping screws.
So far I've stripped and repainted all the steel parts and I have parts at the chromeplaters now (rims, cranks, seatpost) - I'll post some "after" photos shortly.
The only part I am missing for the rod brake conversion is this part in the pics below. I'm not sure what it's called. Anyone know where I can get one? It's the part that is fixed to one side of the fork and and pivots when you operate the front brake
