supton

There is something satisifying about clicking into OD and slowly spinning along. Preferably while downhill.

But even on a nice&fast road bike, tucked down ... any sort of headwind is miserable.

I think I run 48x19 on mine (know it's 19 in the rear, forget up front). I consider it a 4 speed setup: way too tall, ok, almost deep enough, and walking. I walk a few hills now and then, rather than stand and pedal. In our cooler weather that is a good thing, lets my toes get a bit of circulation.

JaccoW

My bike originally had 46T up front and 19T in the back and I thought that was still a bit high.

Currently it has 46T up front and 16T/28T in the rear.

If I didn't have a rear derailler setup I would probably go for a 21T setup since I really like the speed at which the middle gear with the 16T cog rides at for cruising. That's somewhere around 76 gear inches.

Try and play around a bit with Sheldon Brown's Gear Calculator and see for yourself what the effects are going to be.

Dante41

Hm, this is rather interesting. I went and hunted down my Dunelt's serial number, because I wanted to date it even more. It's got a seat tube SN, and it reads "58148A". No extra letter, no prefix, just A. According to Sheldon Brown's site, that marks it as a 1956...4 years before Dunelt became a second-tier Raleigh brand and 7 years before my bike was supposed to be made. I'm thoroughly confused. I guess I could be reading the charts wrong, but I'm also starting to think that my bike is a complete parts bin special-complete with a frame that had been gathering dust in the factory for almost a decade. It would fit considering all the other Birmingham parts that were used on it.

Edit: I can't get any pictures tonight, but I'll try to get some tomorrow with the light.

gster

Hey! Page 500!

BigChief

More pictures would be good, but from the steering tube lug shape we can identify this as a post 1954 Raleigh frame. Up until sometime in 59 all Sports frames had a brazed on lug on the top tube for the cable guide pulley. I don't see one in these pictures. 1950s Sports frames would also have an oil port in the bottom bracket and a chainguard lug in the right chain stay. Can't check on those with these pictures.

thumpism 

Like the Dow hitting 20,000 it's more a symbolic or psychological milestone than an actual one.

Dante41

Okay, this is weird. The cable guide pulley is only fastened on with a metal clamp, but it does have the other two things you mentioned.

And here's a decal that was on the top tube. I don't think it's possible to be read anymore; just posting this to show there was something there at one time.

Dante41

Also, because it was such a lovely day out, here's another (better) picture of the Dunelt. I unfortunately had to replace the old mattress saddle the bike came with, because it snapped when I was trying to tighten it so it wouldn't tilt backwards when I sat on it.

clubman 

Don't want to burst your bubble but charts for Raleighs and Dunelts have long been unreliable, almost non existent because of fire damage at the plant. Your frame is definitely a Raleigh with the location of the rear mudguards. The serial number also corresponds with the letters A suffix. Most USA Raleighs had it, Canada has C and Britain had B. This is a guideline not a rule. The placement of the serial number is also in Raleighs traditional location.

Here's a pic of the rear dropout of a Birmingham Dunelt. Note the serial number location and mudguard attachments above the axle. One last indication is the diameter of the seatstays at the cap. The Birmingham models were over 16 mm diameter and the Raleighs were under 15 mm.

BigChief

This bike deserves a nice leather Brooks anyway
This narrows it down quite a bit. Keep in mind that what I know is more of a general chronology gained from catalog pictures and personal experience using mostly the stamped dates on Sturmey Archer hubs as a guide.
I once had a Rudge Sports with a 1962 hub date and there was no oil port or enclosed chain guard lug on the chain stay. Maybe someone else can chime in on when these features were eliminated. So, a good guess about the frame would be 1959-1962. It is odd that the oil port has a plastic cap. These were usually steel flip top cans or spring loaded ball ports. This is an interesting bike.

Dante41

Well yeah, it's clearly a Raleigh frame. I'm just puzzled because it's apparently a Raleigh frame made years before the bike supposedly was, and it has a ton of old Dunelt parts on it. The Hercules hub is from like 1955, I think, if I'm reading Hercules B Type 5 right.



Thanks! I'll look into a Brooks saddle when I can afford to spend as much on the saddle as I did on the bike.

It really is interesting. Even if it's placed at 1959-1962, the frame is still a few years older than the bike is supposed to be. I wonder how often Raleigh did something like this.

clubman 

Check this one out. Raleigh branded twin tubed rod brake frame with bifurcated Humber forks. This was offered several years ago, NOS on ebay. I think Raleigh pulled out all the stops as their #1 status slowly slipped away and assembled a lot of parts bikes.


Here's another Dunelt that may belong to a list member. Looks like yours as well, Birmingham crown, Raleigh frame. I know nothing else about it except it looks hot!

BigChief

Ooooh, I like that gold color. Looks the same as that pretty Robin Hood with the white fenders.
I did learn, yet another thing from this thread. I now know that the oil port and chaincase lug survived longer than the brazed on cable guide pulley lug on Sports frames. I thought that they were eliminated at the same time.

USAZorro

Question for the group.

Are there any alternatives to fulcrum clips for holding rear brake cables in place? Something that wouldn't be terribly out of place on a 1949 frame?

Thanks in advance.

BigChief

I have seen the originals. They were thin and springy and black like gun barrels.
Here, found a pic of some from a salvage bike. Not much left of the gun bluing after the de-rusting though.
cable clips.JPG

BigChief

I much prefer these clips to the big chrome ones. Much easier to get off and on without scratching the paint. Got any old broken medium sized wind up clocks around? Pretty sure it's the same material used as the main spring. They're usually black too.

USAZorro

Thanks. Will keep my eyes open for them.

clubman 

Not sure if I follow.There were top tube cable clamps. Some fulcrum clamps had a second bend to accommodate both fulcrum stop and rear brake cable, not sure if that was a '49 thing. Do you need the dedicated top tube clamps? I can scrounge up a couple.

USAZorro

Got it covered already. Thanks.

kmt

Where's a good place to look for a vintage rack for my raleigh?

desconhecido 

I've seen two types of racks on old Raleighs that look like they may have been put on the bikes by Raleigh or added shortly after. Raleigh had stamped steel racks in matching colors. They weren't finished very well and many are very rusty and ugly by now. A good one, I'd guess, would be pricey. Pletscher racks were common and are more likely to be survivors. Though alloy, they don't seem to polish up real well, but they look ok and are "period correct." They are also pretty tough, I think. You can find new Pletscher racks, but I don't know about the length of the arms and whether they come down at the correct angle to mate with the rather odd placement of the Raleigh eyes. Also, attachment to the tops of the seat stays may be an issue. I think the older Raleighs had the racks clamped to the stays (our 74 Sprite does). Sometime in the late 70s Raleigh started to put mounting holes in the brake bridge which worked very well.

edit: you might consider posting a request for a rack in the C&V ISO thread and see what happens.

SirMike1983 

The Prestube Minor rack is the typical, matching Raleigh rack. This is what most of the post-WWII bikes have. Another matching rack brand was Midlands, which is similar to the Prestube Minor. They clean up OK - they used the same paint on them as any other part on the bike, so you should keep an eye on the condition and color tone of the rack you want, if you want a really close match.

Best bets are eBay or a bike swap meet. Craigslist usually has whole bikes.

clubman 

Love the old Midlands. well built, strong springs, any colour you want as long as it's black.

kmt

BigChief, I got some new shots of my Sports and I think that the pictures show the real color. Is this coffee?

kmt

desconhecido,
I found a front and rear racks that are off a Raleigh. I hope these work!