Salubrious

The Lake Pepin tour was this last weekend.

A 1956 Riva-Sport (actually a French machine with a Brampton hub and shift; exceptionally light with its hand-made frame) in the fore, a 1951 Humber Sports roadster (equipped originally with an alloy 4-speed hub) in the middle and in the rear is a Royal Enfield roadster, ridding by Jon the Gentleman Cyclist. organizer of the Tour. He eschewed his Humber ride this year in favor of the additional 'road holding weight' (as he put it) of the 'Royal Oilfield'


Saturday started out cold but turned out to be a glorious day for a tour. Here are a few machines parked at the Nelson Cheese Factory, which also serves ice cream and hot sandwiches. Like many of the attractions on the tour, this one is found a couple of blocks off of the route.



At the first day's destination in Wabasha, a nice BSA tandem from 1937 was seen (with Lauterwasser bars), ridden solo almost the entire route (except for a detour to the Maiden Rock overlook when a stoker was employed).



The BSA employed massive drum brakes for and aft, here the K style hub integrated with the drum brake can be seen:

MeadMan2

In picture #2 taken @ the Nelson Cheese Factory, my Armstrong is the bike furthest to the right.

DQRider 

...of pictures from the Lake Pepin 3-Speed Tour.

I am going to be posting these a few at a time over the next couple days, along with a few words here and there. Since I don't write a blog anymore, this is the best I can do.

The day began, as such events often do, with a lot of milling about in a parking lot. It was cold, around thirty-something degrees Farenheit. However, the sun did make a brief appearance before retiring behind ominous clouds for the rest of the day. The lady in yellow, at left in the shot below, is our Queen; named Mary of course. You can just make out Her crown, taped in the aerodynamic position atop Her Royal Helmet.



We had our very own English bobby to escort us on our journey. Nobody told him he was riding the wrong bicycle, of course: here he is with his "sportified" Dunelt. By rights, he should have been riding my DL-1. Note the high-performance "drillium" mods to the chainguard! These days the law demands speed in their mounts - the better to chase down Evildoers, I suppose.



As Fate would have it, our first stop of the day was for ice cream at a place called "Flat Pennies"; so-named for the ancient practice of placing pennies on a railroad track so they would be flattened by the next train passing by. Most opted for something warmer, but a few hardy souls did sample the delicious, home-made confection.



I photographed several bicycles, both individually and in little groups, but those will have to wait until later tonight. Now that I am back here in the 21st century, there is much busy-ness to attend to. Until later, then.

shadaboot28

[QUOTE=clubman;18771424]Not necessarily the case with all Raleigh roadsters. It might be an export model thing as this bike is Canadian and the OP's is in Germany. @Narsinha.This is an original 57 womens roadster and has the same mounting point for the mudguard. There is one very thin and small washer under each nut on each side, best seen in the last pic. I don't think a rack could clear the mudguard to get to the axle and would have to mount at same position. You can see this type of mount in the '54 catalogue.


Okay yea I think you might be right there. But I'm pretty sure the rack should go on the hub axle.

Narsinha

Thanks all for the help regarding my little SA-Hub problem. I have looked at the answers and posts here, and at several explosion drawings of the various SA hubs there, concentrating on AB hubs (like mine).

First i realized the DL-1 bicycle was not assembled right, in fact some shims are missing, some screws did not fit into the threads they were screwed in (by force) and the former owner seems to have had a very special attitude towards technical things. It may also be that Raleigh itself did not care so much in the early 1980ies. (I found the maintencance and restoration of my Spitfire Mk3 to be somehow easier )

Originally when i got the bicycle, the two stays and the mudguard stay was all assembled with the uper screw above the axle, not on the axle itself. I saw though that with that positioning, the racket has a rear upward tilt, while i think it should be more horizonal (?).
The hole in the mudguard stay is also bigger than the holes in the other two stays, so it would easily fit on the axle, but has a lot of play on the upper screw. This was dealed with using a big washer, but i wonder ... Ok this is not a real problem, will figure out how it has to be sooner or later..

But, regarding gear change of he SA AB hub i found this:
"The right hand cone adjustment also sets the clearances for all the 3-speed parts internally, incorrect adjustment will quickly savage your hub." *

And this seems to be what happened, when i removed both sides' ball bearings, cones etc.. The right side position of the square lock nut with the cone on the axle stub seems to be off, so the gears cannot work properly.
I had mounted both cones in a way that both axle stubs left and right reach out at the same length during assembly, and this is obviously wrong - see above *.

So, how do i determine how far the axle has to reach out at the right, so the gears are in the right position internally? Meaning at which position has the cone and its square locknut at the right side to be, so that all works?

I hope i have not already destroyed something while riding in 2nd and 3rd gear for a day, with that wrong setup.

BigChief

edit...I didn't describe that well. Suffice to say that you don't have to position the axle. It ends up in the right place by it's self.

Velocivixen

@Narsinha - I only have experience with the AW 3 speed hub and just overhauled one yesterday. With the Left cones/locknuts backed off or loose, turn the Right cone until it's finger tight, then unscrew 1/4 - 1/2 turn no more than 5/8 (sometimes you have to turn a tiny bit more for the rectangular lock washer to fit on). At this point the right side is Done. Then on the left side, turn the cone until you feel it touch the bearings (finger tight), back off ever so slightly then lock washer. Accd. to Sturmey Archer there is very almost indiscernable play at the rim when you're done.

BigChief

Sorry about the brain cramp. I think I know how to explain this. When you reassembled the hub, you already aligned the axle when you when you put the planetary gear assembly over the axle and meshed the sun gear with the planetary gears. The inner races are fixed in place, so there's no place for them to go and no adjustment. The only adjustment is end play of the cones. Hope that makes sense. I'm not always good at explaining things.

DQRider 

Hello again. It's late, so I'm only going to post a few more. These images depict the ambiance of the event more than anything. Don't worry though, you Bolt-Spotters out there; I've still got plenty of drive-side goodies coming.

Here are some folks getting ready for Day 2 on Sunday morning:



Of course, I had to do at least one of these. The "Brew Up", or afternoon tea at Lake City:



I think it suits the subject matter better than stark color. But you be the judge:



Finally a shot of my "group" - the folks I rode with whenever I could find them along the way:



Okay, one more... This gentleman is called Lew. He brought a - was it Swedish? He took great pains to explain all the features to me, but I'm afraid I sort of glazed over about halfway through. Anyway, it's some Scandiwegian sort of contraption with a hammock for a saddle, and a Sturmey-Archer hub serving up the gears. I regret that I did not possess the cojones to ask if I could try it out. Maybe next year?

3speedslow

Wonderful pics. Keep them coming when you can!

B&W would be my vote, colour be damned !

Narsinha

Hello Velocivixen,
thanks this is what i will try next! I am not really sure whether there is any stopper for the cone on the axle though, if i remember right (not at home now) the thread goes a long way 'in', from the right hand side, but will look for it.

@BigChief you wrote "...you don't have to position the axle. It ends up in the right place by it's self." So you also say that there is a definite stop for the cone, hmm.
I guess the exact point for switching gears properly is defined by the position of the right cone. When this position has been found, the bearings/racers are adjusted with the left cone and nut alone.
+ i usually adjust them in a way that there is some minimal play, because the tightening of the outer axle nuts will compress the whole assembly slightly, eliminating that play. Otherwise it may be too tight..


Today i will try to get the "H60" part off its thread, to get access to the inner gear and look for damage and proper lubrication. Cannot remove the axle without disassembling further..

Thanks all, will keep reporting, and asking

Narsinha

Regarding last photo of post #10636 : It is a Pedersen or Petersen bike, afaik.

agmetal

Between the B72 and B66, which would be more appropriate for a late '30s roadster? I have a 40-50ish year old B72 on it right now, and one of the bag loops tore off the other night. I've been thinking about a new saddle anyway, since I had to re-shape and lace the one I have.

I wish they were still making the B72 in black, but then I'd have the same leather bag loops that could eventually tear. How springy is the B66 in comparison? I usually like firmer saddles, but that's on more road/touring type bikes.

arex

I'm putting a B-66S on my wife's Twenty, and it seems nice enough. The springs are soft, but not too soft. I don't recall what the bag loop situation is, though, I'm at work. I think it has metal loops slung underneath.

Salubrious

If it were me I would go with the B66. If you want a B72 in black, seems to me I have an old one available. The B66 is considerably springier.

DQRider 

Yes, that's it! Pedersen - he made sure to spell it for me. Looks comfy, I think...?

DQRider 

First, I'm going to post a few photos I took just for fun, and to stir up some discussion:










Next, a couple of hand-built bikes constructed around our revered Sturmey-Archer hubs, but with some exquisite modern touches:

Anyone ever heard of "Speedhound"?







How about "Thistle"?



Finally, here is one of my favorite Raleighs at the event. It's a Gran Sport, and this color combo is perfect! I've only ever seen them with 10-speed derailleur setup, did they offer them as 3-speeds? Or is this a conversion? Either way, I will own one some fine day...

arex

What's the rough maximum weight load that a Sports can carry, including the rider?

I had resolved to not try and ride mine again until I got my weight down to 240 or so, but I've been plateau'd at 260 for so long, I'm giving serious thought to going ahead and trying to ride it now, instead of later.

The trouble is, when I finished the bike last summer I weighed 330, and the frame flexed a LOT when I tried to ride it, enough to pull on both the rear brake cable and the shift cable, causing problems you can probably imagine. I'd like to avoid doing that again, because that can't be good for the frame.

Yay or nay? Wait, or give in to desire?

arex

Beautiful photos. I wish I was there.

agmetal

Interesting...how old is yours, what kind of shape is it in, and how much do you want for it? If you have pics, that'd be cool too. PM me!

noglider 

@DQRider, that Gran Sport is a conversion. It came with Simplex Prestige derailleurs and otherwise good equipment.

@arex, I've never heard of a Sports being overloaded, though I hear too much force can be hard on an AW hub, especially in 1st gear. It's a pretty heavy frame, so if any steel frame can take a high weight, a Sports ought to. What are you riding now?

arex

I'm riding my old chromo mountain bike-turned-commuter. It seems to do fine, even when I'm riding aggressively.

noglider 

It sounds perfect.

MeadMan2

It is a Pedersen & it is Danish. The head badge says 1900 which is when I think production began.

arex

So...you're thinking that 260 is a weight that a Sports should be able to handle, then?