Cute Boy Horse

Not quite. Stainless rims was always an optional extra, except for those couple years in the mid 50s where Superbe was upgraded to always have mudguard light, stainless rims and FG hub. Very quickly they undid that upgrade, I think as a cost reduction.

When they stopped the optional stainless I'm not sure. If I had to guess I'd say mid/late 60s. Of course this is all UK spec info.

BigChief

That's great. I love stories like this. Most of the project bikes here on this thread lean toward preservation or just getting old neglected bikes useful and on the road again. There might be some restoration or modification involved, but very rarely do you see a total, like new restoration project among the English roadster folks. Yes, please post pics of your project as it comes along. Seeing other people's projects is what makes this thread fun.

Buellster

+1 to that!

garryg

BigChief

I can recommend Tektro R559 calipers. I have them on one bike. They fit Raleigh light roadster frames perfectly and leave room for mudguards. The cables attach to the right side of the caliper so you get that neater, in my opinion cable routing like English Raleighs with right hand to front routing. I did have an issue with rear lever travel and ended up adding 2 cable stops to the top tube, but your 80 will already have them. Excellent brakes. Pricey, but a good value.

dweenk

The bike does not have the "Red Hand of Ulster" chainwheel, so I declined to buy. The seller says he may have a lead to one, but we we will have to see. I am getting more picky it seems.

Buellster

Anyone have any experience with folding three speeds?
How does the sizing work? Is it a one size fits all just keep raising the seat and bars type thing?
Is the hub the same as other models?
and ballpark is there a guess on its age?
they want $100 for it.
only pic avaible

BigChief

They have a lot of fans here. Must be fun bikes. That one bugs me because the heron crank was replaced with a dual chainwheel. A monstrous one at that. Yikes, that must be tall gearing. Seems to be missing it's 3 speed hub. Goofy brake cable routing. I think you would be better off with a non messed up one. They also come in non folders like this;

Buellster

Oh man I didnt even spot that chainring till you pointed it out. Dont know how I missed that!
that alone makes it a no. I've only seen one or two pop up, I wasnt really planning on going for this one but I wanted to ask what the vibe on them is. The last one I saw was up for $50, it was rougher but anything some rags and aluminum foil couldnt solve haha
I'll wait for a deal like that again.

BigChief

It's good to be picky. Makes it more fun when the right one shows up. But I must say that pre TI Rudges, in fact all pre 1960 English roadsters are getting rare. They didn't used to be. Makes me wonder what happened to them all. Still, they do still show up and luckily, the old ones don't command higher prices than the later models. Right now there's a late 50s 23" Raleigh Sports up by me that looks like it would turn out nicely. Trouble is the rims are toast and it has a SW hub that I would never bother with. Even if I got it for $80, there's no way the project would come in at under 250 by the time it was finished. Wheels are expensive. It really hurts the bottom line. It is tempting though.

https://maine.craigslist.org/bik/d/c...691823679.html

thumpism 

Sorry this one didn't work out. Keep looking and you'll find the right one.

SirMike1983 

The folding Twenty is an excellent bike. The frame folds, but is still quite robust. The handlebars and saddle post collapse down easily with the rotating handle controls. Tires and tubes can still be bought because they use a BMX-sized rim. They are not overly expensive to buy, but have come up in price a bit over the past few years. They used to be very, very cheap. But they've found a greater following lately.

Do not confuse the Twenty with the RSW. The Twenty is more of a "full bike", whereas the RSW is somewhat undersized and uses a lower pressure, slower-running tire. The Twenty performs almost as well as a full-sized Raleigh Sports. It's a folding bike with good performance and good strength.

I agree that holding out for a very original example is preferable. There are plenty of mods that can be done to make them more "modern", but even in stock form, it's a good peforming bike. I think the stock format has more of the classic 1970s character than the heavily-upgraded ones, especially if you get one with a nice coat of Bronze Green on it.

Ballenxj

How does a novice spot the difference between the Twenty and an RSW? I'm guessing the first thing would be tire size?

Buellster

Great info thanks!
yeah this is the most expensive one I've seen so far, it is only the 2nd one ive seen also. Not really enough for a reliable data set haha
I dont necessarily need it be all original but I would want the upgrades to be elegant. A massive double chainring on a 3 speed doesnt strike me as such.
haha

thumpism 

Well, it's here. Fished it out of the dumpster in the rain at the co-op's new location after letting it sit there for a couple of weeks. I figured if it was unreachably covered with more scrap or had been grabbed by now then I was spared having to bring it home and would only feel badly about some of those rod brake parts getting away. As it is, the brake pads will replace the (wrong!) Dia Compe pads on the rear of my complete-but-ratty Tourist and I'll hang the rest from the rafters as garage decor until someone who needs it comes along. It's a 24" frame with a slight dent in the top tube.

BigChief

You have some super hard to find genuine Raleigh parts there. The 08GC bottom bracket spindle, complete handlebar/brake lever assembly, brake parts, lamp bracket and fork. Lack of original manufacturer parts is the main problem DL-1 owners face.

thumpism 

Forks are a little tweaked but can be saved. Bars are better than mine. I have no immediate plans for my 22" or for this one, I just did not want either of them going to the dump and that looked like it would be a certainty so they're better off here even if I only look at them.

Years ago I had a rough, fairly complete 24" but had no extra space and didn't really mind letting it go. Gave it to a buddy who owned a shop with a quaint bent so a tall Tourist fit right in.

BigChief

The big issue with these is finding parts. Completing this bike isn't practical. There's just not enough of them around and nobody ever seems to be parting one out. Too bad really, they are fun bikes and with the 22" you don't even have to be 6' tall to ride them. Knowing what I do now, I will always want one in the stable. I tend to binge ride different bikes and the big roadster has a feel of it's own that makes for a nice change.

noglider 

Hercules for sale in northeast Ohio, $35.

adventurepdx

Hmm...I'm sure the scarcity of this bikes has nothing to do with a web forum thread about three speeds that's gotten to about 726 pages in the course of eight years, a thread where people regularly praise the pre-1960 bikes as The Bee's Knees and disparage the post-1960 bikes as machines likely to disintegrate going down a hill. Nope, nothing to do with that!

Anyways, to be more serious, the rarity probably revolves around two factors: scarcity and desirability. While pre-1960's Raleighs et al were not rare on this side of the pond back in the day, they weren't common, either. Adult biking wasn't really a thing from 1945 to 1960 in the US and probably Canada. It wasn't until the 60's where adult biking became a "thing" again, and the numbers of adult bikes increased here. It's not just British bikes: you can definitely find a fair share of 60's era Schwinn Varsities, Collegiates, and Continentals if you look, but you'd be hard pressed to casually find the 50's adult Schwinn frames.

Add to that the desirability of these pre-1960 bikes, as they have been talked up as being better than what came after, so people seek out those bikes instead of the easier to find newer versions. And they're probably more likely to hold on to these bikes vs the newer ones.

It's not just pre-1960 British roadsters. Look at 1980's touring bikes. They were common back in the day, but not in the numbers of sport-touring bikes. They were forgotten about for awhile, then people realized how nice these bikes are, talked them up, and the prices went up accordingly. On Portland's Craigslist it's rare to find one of these bikes for less than $400, regardless of condition. Of course, you can find a 1980's mountain bike that works just as well as an 80's tourer for the most part for far less. And the old MTBs use 26 inch wheels, so you can get wider tires too. But people aren't hyping up the 80's MTB to the same level of the 80's touring bike...yet.

52telecaster

love to have one of those 23s.

thumpism 

I've mentioned before that I like the idea of the Tourist more than I like the bike itself. Don't much care for the rod brakes and don't have many miles on one of the bikes but I still think they are really cool things. Picked up the carcass for the brake parts for my 22", if I ever do anything with them. We shall see.

BigChief

The Nottingham made Raleigh roadsters of the 70s and 80s were very similar to the traditional products they had been making for decades and I'm glad they gave us all those years of these wonderful, but outdated even then, bikes. But personally, I do place a much greater value on all English roadsters from before the great consolidations of the 1960s. I think these designs reached a peak of quality and aesthetics in the early post war years. By the 60s, the economy was changing, demand for their products was lessening, major consolidations took place, more and more cost cutting measures, dubious design changes were made and overall quality became less consistent. Still, one of my favorite bikes is my 1970 DL-1. It's a great bike, but it had a few bugs and cheap parts that you would have never found on a 50s Raleigh.

thumpism 

These aren't really over priced; the seller needs the money for new eyeglasses. Different brands and models, U-brakes, pricing; lots wrong about this ad but it looks like a very nice, and nicely appointed, 23" men's Sports. I also posted this in the Wacky thread.

https://richmond.craigslist.org/bik/...705935413.htmlbikes - $750 (Petersburg)





bicycle type: cruiser
brake type: u-brakes
condition: excellent
frame size: 26
handlebar type: cruiser
suspension: none (rigid)
wheel size: 26 in

Selling as a pair:
2 vintage nice clean complete bicycles 1971
1 26 inch men's sports ( The Raleigh) made in England,3 spd, Brooks seat, luggage rack ,pump, fenders . Very clean . does need tires. Dry rot from setting in storage.
Ladies Schwinn Suburban 3 spd also very clean and needs tires.

Selling as a matching pair.

JaccoW

Received a set of Sturmey Archer cable pulleys today.

They have some... patina but roll well. Going to give them a good clean and polish and probably sell the leftovers on eBay again.


Does anyone know if these can be disassembled safely?