graywolf

Boy, am I late with this report.

I finally have done a trial fit of the chaincase and am glad to report that it fits well.



If you would like more info I have posted a short article in my blog Subject to Change

graywolf

Ah... It is not as easy as I thought it would be. You find out why the rear cog has those spacers which do not make much difference with a hockey stick chain guard. With the chaincase you have to adjust them so the cog and chain do not rub. I had to kind of bend the metal on the spoke side of the chaincase so the spokes do not rub. Now I am trying to figure out how to put the chainwheel cover back on. It fits really tight, has to I guess, and I have not figured out how to put it back on, fits sort of like a paint can lid, without bending the chiaincase. It would be nice to have instructions.

One thing, I have had the back wheel on and off several times tinkering with things; it is no more of a problem than it is without the chaincase. I wonder where all those folks saying how hard it is to remove the wheel got their information. Probably, they read something someone made up.

Anyway, for inquiring minds, turn the bike upsided down. Remove the screw holding the cog cover, and remove the cog cover. Loosen the brake. Disconnect the gear cable. Loosen the axle nuts. Side the wheel forward out of the slots. Pull the chain to the side to clear the cog, I hang something, usually the wrench, to the loose chain to keep it from jumping off the chainwheel. Remove the wheel. It goes back in the reverse order. Those who have worked on three speed bikes will notice the only difference is removing the cog cover from the chaincase.

graywolf

Mounting the chaincase was fairly easy, but I have not been able to get the crank cover on. I have even removed the thing and tried to put it on with the chaincase laying on the floor. No go.

I emailed Yellow Jersey about the crank cover, and they replied quickly They said it is supposed to go in just like I thought (just heavy thumb pressure). Only of course it is not working that way.

ADDED: Well sanding down the paint between the cover and the chaincase as YJ recommended has fixed that problem, but the metal is almost bear in there now.

graywolf

OK, it looks something like this.



I think I would like to do something a bit more sturdy for the front mounting bracket than what I used, but that can wait a bit. Do need to clean it up and take a better photo. (Doesn't everyone use a $3000 studio flash system to make lousy snapshots?) Going to need a decal and some penstripping, I think.

wahoonc

Definitely could use a bit of gold pinstriping on it. Now in about 15-20 years that bike is going to show up on ebay or CL and everybody will be arguing over how a Sports ended up with a full chaincase.

Aaron

graywolf

Ah, "Dunelt Comfort Sports", check the catalog (there is one on ebay right now). They made a Comfort Tourist also. Unfortunately, since I have no heirs, it will probably wind up in the dumpster in 15-20 years, maybe sooner. But, I will get a bit of pleasure from it until then.

I kind of remember what the pinstripping was like on the Dunny I had as a kid. Quite a lot of it actually, although not custom looking, on the mudguards, frame tubes, and chain guard if I recall correctly. It used to bother me that the pinstripping did not follow the contours. Once Raleigh took over, that kind of stuff was done away with, as well as the cast namebadge.

qmsdc15

What's up with the saddle tilt?

wahoonc

That is where a Brooks works best on a relaxed geometry frame. Here is picture of my '72 Raleigh Superbe, similar tilt. I also have a similar tilt on my Dutchified Redline R530.

Aaron

graywolf

Think about it riding a drop bar bike leaning almost horizontal you have the nose of the saddle almost horizontal. As you rotate you body more towards vertical the saddle needs to rotate with it. Another way to think of it is with the body horizontal you brace yourself against the horizontal nose of the saddle, and with your body vertical you sit on the horizontal seat of the saddle.

An interesting thing is that with the saddle angled properly for your position you can use it to set your seat height, I got this from the late Mr Brown, if the seat is too high you side forward when pedaling, if it is too low you slide back.

All that said, my saddle in the photo is tilted about 5 degrees too high. It looks like the seat post has slipped a bit too, my legs are short but not quite that short. The Dunny is my park bike, the the path in the so called greenway park is 2.5 miles long so it is a leisurely five mile ride up and back. I do not ride it much in the summer as the cops patrol the greenway park (on the streets they do it year round) and give $50 tickets if you are not wearing a helmet.

gna

Nice looking Dunny. I like the chaincase.

My wife and rode our bikes to the local park on Sunday afternoon, with my daughter in the child seat. While we were having a picnic a couple rode past on some classic English roadsters. The lady's model had a full chaincase. Didn't sound loud to me. Thye rode by before I could call out to them, and ask about the bikes.

As a matter of fact, I'd like one for my Raleigh Sports. I commute to work on it, and my pants cuff flaps into the chainline and has gotten grease on it a few times. I either roll it up and put it in my sock, or wear shorts and change at work, but in cooler months I think a chaincase would work well. Would help with road grime, too, I imagine.

graywolf

Well, I am going to have to rethink that front mount. On the road it slipped and started dragging. I kind of expected that. Unfortunately it will be awhile before I can get to it.

Sammyboy

There are some big misapprehensions here. The pic below should show you that a) Raleigh did use full chaincases, b) there is no need for removable seatstays (why would there be?). Furthermore c) I don't find this bike noisy. The chain doesn't rub on the chaincase, and if the general chain noise is amplified, I haven't noticed. I mean, it's not silent like a well set up fixed gear, but it's fine. I love this bike, but changing a rear tyre is a pain in the arse, between stripping the chaincase and disconnecting/reconnecting the 4 speed Sturmey Archer.

Sammyboy

Just read the last two pages - looks good Graywolf. Intersting that you don't find it any more difficult than without the chaincase. Mine comes off easily enough, but reassembling it takes me ages.

unterhausen

I'm trying to decide if I should braze fittings on my new commuter to put one of these chainguards on with. Seeing this post makes me think that it would be worth it. What do you think?

NormanF

A full chaincase is appropriate on a roadster. They can be found on the UK eBay.

graywolf

For the Yellow Jersey chaincase like I have, all the front mount would be is a piece of 1/2x1/8 steel brazed to the outside of the chainstay with a hole at the top and bottom to fit the threaded mount points already in the chaincase.

I believe the Raleigh's setup for a chaincase simply have a threaded stud on the chainstay, and it is apparently just a matter of drilling a hole in the chaincase to align with that stud and screwing it down.

The problem I am having is that I simply used a strap around the chainstay. That allows the chaiuncase tp rotate enough when I go over bump to let the chain rub. The problem with putting it on a bike that was not set up for it, is simply that you have to figure out how it should be positioned when you have no drawing, spec's, nor working installation to look at. There are several ways I can fix the problem: a sheet metal screww through the strap to keep it from rotation, a dab of epoxy ditto, screw the CC into the stay with spacer. But those all are a bit of a kludge; and I would rather wait until I can afford one of those little mapp gas welding outfits they sell at Lowes and braze a proper bracket on. So, I will hav to wait until my current project is finished to do that.

Obviously, I believe it is worth the effort.

Aside to Sammyboy, the only chaincase I had worked on before was on an early 50's version. The CC was one piece, except for the chainwheel cover and the cog cover. You had to unfasten the seatstay from the dropout and move it aside to put the chainstay through the CC. I did not know that they had later put a removable piece in the CC so you did not have to do that. Sometimes us old farts are not up on the newfangled ways...

unterhausen

Does the disk at the crank rotate with the crank?

NormanF

No. That's a dust cover. The crank rotates as it would if the crankset was exposed.

graywolf

Nope, the chainwheel cover does not rotate. It is there so you can put the chaincase on without removing the pedal and crank arm. You will notice that here is a smaller piece that does the same for the chainwheel cover, it slides into folded over slot in the cover. Clever folks those old time bicycle engineers.

Note that as originally designed you only needed to remove the crank arm to do a bottom bracket rebuild, which was about every ten years or so, as they had and oil cup for lubrication. Folks who never rode the old, oh, 1955 and earlier, bikes with oil lubrication cannot understand how simple maintenance was. Once a week squirt a few drops of oil in the hubs, bottom bracket, and pedals, then wipe down with an oiled rag. Every year or two repack the headset (Did they ever have an oil lubed headset?) Check all the nuts for tightness about once a month.

However, there were a couple of recurring problems back then: Broken spokes, I remember having to replace a couple every other month. Also you could expect a flat about every couple hundred miles. I remember replacing the indicator chain on the hub about once a year, but that may have been because I was a kid and thought nothing about dropping the bike on the ground. The bikes actually came with a couple of wrenches that had slots that fit everything one the bicycle, the only thing you needed besides them was a big hammer for the crank pins and you could completely rebuild the bike.

It was later that they started selling the accessories à la carte, so they could get more money for the bike,. Back then the fenders, pump, saddle bag, lights, and spring saddle were all standard. Oh, there were more expensive models with better quality accessories, but all the English "racer" bikes back then were fully set up to use as transportation as they came.

Sorry, nostalgia often overtakes us old folks,

graywolf

looking back, a bit I noticed Sammyboy's Raleigh has a French style handlebar on it. Definitely not stock. It gives a sportier more forward riding stance.

For those who may be interested, the knowledgable called the English bikes "English Tourers", and the French bikes "Alpine Tourers" because of the up to 15 speed derailleur systems on them. The dummies called them both English Racers. There were serious road bikes available, but no one in my neighborhood, Detroit factory workers, had one. In fact I can not remember seeing an adult on a bicycle as a kid.

unterhausen

my dad had the 3 speed in our family, I remember him messing around with it all the time. So I have reverse nostalgia.

I decided I'm going to make a chaincase. Watch this spot.

Veloria

I fitted my DL-1 Lady's Tourist with the chaincase from Yellow Jersey.
The chaincase is nice, but does not look like those on other pics: Mine has fine red and yellow pinstriping and came with the words "Wu Yang" printed on it, which I have since mostly removed.

NormanF

Most DL-1's here did not come with the full chaincase... because of a duty on bikes weighing over 40 lbs. They were meant to be workhorses not racing machines.

graywolf

I've heard that one a lot. But I recently, about a year ago, found out that because the US government wanted repayment on their WWII lend/least that there was no import duties on British goods from WWII to about 1960. I think the thing actually was that most bikes in the US were bought for kids and the hockey stick chain guard was more sporty looking and of course the bike was cheaper with that. My cousin's Raleigh of about 1955 that I was so envious of had a full chaincase, his parents always bought the most expensive stuff, so they were available here in the USA. Anyway, my info on there not being any duty one English bicycles of that period came from a book about the history of the bicycle business in the US, unfortunately I can not remember the title. Also a loaded Light roadster(sports) is under 40 pounds even with the full chaincase (35# with some stuff in the saddle bag, in fact; I just now weighed my Dunelt).

graywolf

Another exciting episode in the aventures of Tom Swift boy bicycle mechanic.

I am glad I have not gotten around to finishing the chaincase installation. Why is that?

Well, I just got one of those rear axle kickstands from Bike World via Amazon, and...

It and the chaincase do not work together very well. They are both going to require a bit of modifying and fiddling. It looks like I will have to grind a bit off the kickstand and dimple the chaincase a bit. Then I need to get a thin nut for the shift side of the 3-speed hub, because the mount on the kickstand is so thick it leaves no axle sticking out to thread the indicator chain guide nut onto. It is going to take some looking and head scratching to figure out the best way of going about all that, and right now I have a rather nasty cold that keeps saying, "Go to bed, Tom".

The kickstand has a detent lock you can engage, so the bike can not roll forward off the stand unless you unlock it. Of course, as usual, there are no instructions. The stand obviously was not designed to work on an English 3-speed, much less one with a full chaincase.

My suggestion, would be to try and find a bike that came from the factory equipped like this, it is really too much money and too much work to retro-design the thing. Of course, if you like to do this kind of thing for fun...

And just to make me feel bad, the local Lowes Store quit carrying those mapp gas welding torches I was going to buy.