noglider 

I've never had rod brakes. I wonder if they are really lower maintenance than cable brakes. Anyway, all of that is good news.

There is something charismatic about a bike with a shallow head tube angle, even to me, and I normally ride steep-angled bikes.

southpawboston

that's good to hear! as i said earlier, when properly adjusted, they can actually be effective (in the dry, at least). now imagine how much better they will be if new pads are fitted. interestingly, mine don't make any sort of noise. the pads are old, but i sanded them before thorough adjustment. one thing you can do to eliminate the screech/mooing is to use a dremel with a grinder wheel to round off the trailing edge of the pads. when the trailing edge contacts the rim first, it can cause resonance which can manifest as screeching. pads should be adjusted such that the leading edge contacts the rim first. since there is no adjustment for this on old brakes, the pads must be ground down to the proper alignment.

this is my experience as well. my dutch bike has nearly the same geometry and size as my DL1 (people mistake my dutch bike for a raleigh roadster all the time), yet my DL1 feels better, just...wonderful to cruise around on. "at ease" is an apt way of putting it.

Veloria

southpaw - We're going to go ahead and order the brake pads : )

BTW, here is the bike in its latest state: with the pump in the correct position, with a vintage saddlebag, and B18 "Lady" saddle.

noglider 

The pump fix makes it look much better. The whole thing is so, ... well, lovely!

southpawboston

wow, it's looking good!

NormanF

You can use a saddle bag or a rear rack but not both.

southpawboston

veloria, i've been following this and your other vintage bikes and i must say that you have a knack for fleshing out the aesthetic allure of classic bikes by subtle cosmetic changes and selective use of accessories. the dress guard, cream schwalbes and saddle back look fantastic on the DL1.

how do you think swapping out the black shift cable for white would look? i assume you're also going to replace the black grips with shellacked cork ones? have you considered adding a velo-orange leather mud flap?

Veloria

Thank you, that is very nice of you to say. I would love to moonlight as a "bicycle aesthetician," working with a framebuilder to come up with stellar designs.

I have seen white cables on vintage Raleighs, and personally I am not a fan. I will keep this one black and unobtrusive. Don't know what to do about the grips. I actually find its grips more comfortable than shellacked cork. If only they came in brown. Or perhaps I will try to make leather grips. Mud flap - Yes, I happen to have one, though a Brooks not VO. Will be getting to that next : )

On an unrelated note - You won't believe it, but the same local collector from whom I got this DL-1 contacted me today and said he had something neat to show me. I went to see him and it was a 1930s Raleigh Loop frame bicycle (possibly also DL-1? Not sure.) with all original parts. All original, including fully intact chaincase, early SA shifter, "patent pending" SA hub, and early vintage Terry saddle. The geometry is quite odd, not at all like the DL-1 in this thread (seat tube length is the same, but distance between seat tube and head tube is much shorter - why?) In any case, long story short: the thing is mine now. It will be living at Open Bicycle in Somerville if anyone cares to see it, and I will gradually recover my senses and see whether it is possible to refurbish it. No idea what I shall do with it after that; it belongs in a museum really. I am still in shock from seeing it, let alone owning it.

Veloria

Thank you : )

Any idea where I can get a rack to suit this bicycle? I have found that few racks will fit a 28" roadster. The saddle bag looks a bit off here, because my saddle is not sufficiently raised - so it's somewhat squished between the saddle and the fender. But still better than nothing, as I need some sort of container on the bike. (Somehow a basket did not seem fitting with her stately demeanor.)

southpawboston

on a larger frame you can, since the seat tube is longer. i have the same saddle bag on my 24" men's DL1 as the one veloria has on her 22" ladies'. it rests on the original rack. the bag is positioned about 1" higher relative to the saddle, compared to veloria's, but it's fine.

veloria, racks for the DL1 were not that uncommon, actually. they were all tubular steel, painted black. (i really need to get some pics of my DL1 posted one of these days... )

but i do think it would be very hard to find a new rack that would fit and also look the part. i would ask the guys at oldroads.com if they have an old one in a pile somewhere. they do look really nice on a DL1.

Veloria

You know, I have not had luck getting parts from them. When I ask about such things, I have been told that they need them too. When I do get parts, it is usually from Yellow Jersey. Having to pay shipping sucks though.

I have seen 26"-wheel Raleighs with original racks, but almost never 28". I just sold a green Sprite with original rack and a bunch of other rare components.

southpawboston

hmm... maybe it's just random chance, but i've had great luck with oldroads and have gotten several hard to find parts from them. their prices are also very reasonable. i've also had good experiences with yellow jersey (fantastic customer service!), although i agree, the shipping sucks, and their prices aren't the best either.

i guess if neither place has a DL1 rack, another option would be swap meets. the last swap meet at larz anderson saw a ton of DL1s and a fair amount of DL1 parts...

Veloria

Swap meets have a nasty tendency to conflict with my conference schedule, but I will try!

PS - Have a look at post #58 on this thread.

wahoonc

Some of us have to pay to have EVERYTHING shipped...including bicycles

Yellow Jersey has a rack for their Eastman Roadster that fits the DL, I saw at the ABCE in September.

Aaron

southpawboston

yes, i saw that. sounds like a terrific find! i'll have to check out open bicycle and take a peek at your installation there. (somehow i haven't gotten around to checking out open bicycle, despite being a 3 minute bike ride from my house-- i typically keep returning to my established bike haunts, know what i mean? but i should investigate, regardless.)

NormanF

I recommend the Steco rack with fold down stand. You can get one from classic-cycle.de in Germany. Just ask the owner since it isn't listed on the website and if there's something you want but can't get in the States, he should be able to find it. There's also a matching Steco porteur style front rack you can get from David Hembrow. The one that is affixed to the handlebar will support his large wicker basket perfectly!

David Newton

Veloria, hope to see pictures of the new-old Raleigh soon.
No wonder you didn't blink at moving the green Sports, you are a certified bike magnet!

Veloria

Okay, now I have a somewhat silly question:

Does anyone know whether it is possible to get decals with the older-style Raleigh logo for the downtube? For that matter, is the logo on the downtube removable, or is it under a clear coat? I tired to scratch at it gently, but can't tell and do not want to ruin the finish if it is clear-coated. If it is on the surface, then it does not come off easily.

I would like to remove the italic logo and replace it with an older style - or a custom decal, maybe with the bicycle's name.

southpawboston

ebay seller cyclomodo has repro vinyl decals for raleighs. he's based in australia. his decals are first rate despite being repros and not NOS. i bought a complete set from him for my raleigh competition GS restoration. when i had checked is stock back when i bought my set, his store had some vintage style script "Raleigh" downtube decals in white. he may also have more in stock than what is listed... you can contact him and tell him what you're looking for.

i can't remember whether the decals on the 70s raleighs were clearcoated or not, or if it depended on the model. i'm sure others can tell you more definitively. on my competition, some of the decals were vinyl, some were thin transfers, and some appeared painted... weird.

while on the topic of decals, i'm looking for a custom or one-off headbadge decal for my shogun. it can be anything, doesn't have to have the shogun insignia, i just want it to be unique (and oval, or round, to fit the head tube). do you know anyone with cool decals?

wahoonc

On my 70's vintage Raleighs the decals are not clear coated.

Get good clear pictures with dimensions and there are a couple of places that can do high quality reproductions. There is one here on the boards IIRC Jrestore or something similar.

Aaron

Veloria

Thanks for the advice re decals.

To get back to whether it is possible to convert the rod brakes into rod-activated hubs: Someone in Portland (OR) has just mentioned on my website that they have a DL-1 "Royal Tourist" which they believe to be from 1980 that came with rod-activated hub brakes. I hope this means that I could, in theory at least, find the spare parts from one of such bikes and fit it onto my 1972 DL-1...

southpawboston

i'm sure those parts exist, but finding them is the hard part. i suspect the royal tourist was probably an export-spec'd variant, though i could be wrong. raleigh produced a lot of variants from their standard domestic-spec bikes for export, and spec'd them to individual markets. i know they spec'd versions of their DL1 and sports specifically for other european countries: a few years ago in switzerland i spotted a very bizarre single-speed coaster brake DL1 with dutch accessories on it and really old rusted albatross bars (with the raleigh insignia stamped on them-- they were not aftermarket, but likely original to the bike), and it had a decal which read "Raleigh de Luxe". it was a nottingham-made bike, but no rod brakes whatsoever, not even the holes in the frame for the rocker arms. from the style of the graphics, it appeared to be 70s. and someone else, either on this forum or elsewhere in the interwebs, has a strange DL1 frame factory fitted with derailleur hanger and cable braze-ons.

so it wouldn't surprise me if raleigh made a rod-drum brake variant as well, either for the UK market or elsewhere in europe. if i were to hunt such parts down, i would focus on denmark and holland, two countries where there are still millions of old bikes being ridden and repaired regularly.

on the other hand, if you want to retain the rod brakes, you can always build this into your DL1 :-).

Veloria

Darn it, nothing in this life is easy!

I would buy that dyno hub if I knew what I was doing, but I don't yet.
Which hub should I look for that has a drum brake in it?...

This is the fellow's bike btw:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/poetas/...7610946160663/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/poetas/3755763635/in/set-72157610946160663/

southpawboston

i think he has the same front and rear drum brakes as my union. the rear appears to be a type "AB" and i don't know the model code for the front one. but honestly, i don't think sturmey archer changed their drum brakes much between the 30s and the 80s. they probably made shell variants for different #s of spokes. does your DL1 have 36H rims front and rear?

Veloria

36 front, 42 rear