mnmkpedals 

After learning to appreciate vintage steel road and touring bikes, I've now started to get an itch to get a vintage three speed, Raleigh style sports, etc... I've read SB info, but looking for more practical buying advice as I start looking for one. Are there eras, brands (aside from the obvious knock-off brands), or features to either avoid or seek out?

For people with expertise in this area, think of this as a lesson in "things you wished you'd known" before you bought your vintage 3 speed. Thanks!

GordoTrek

there are pros and cons about the all steel bicycle, one of them is the steel rims and braking issues, plus they weigh a ton , they are a treasure to own, i have a 75 raleigh sports and i love it more every year, you can't miss with a 70's sports, they come standard with an AW hub and are indestructable, they usually can be found in decent shape and can be had for cheap. older ones had various configs that made it better/worse,

things you want to remember, the Superbe was just a sports with all the toys, DL-1/Tourist was the cadilac of the Raleigh 3 speed, deserving of its own thread. Hercules, Triumph and Phillips were all owned by Raleigh and usually are just rebadged sports, don't be afraid to check them out as well,

sheldon brown has a ton of info on retro raleighs here

pic of my sports

rhm

One thing to look for is that the shift cable goes to a cable stop ("fulcrum") top tube, and then to a pulley wheel at the seat post, and then to the hub. If it goes through a housing all the way to the chain stay, that's not so good. Cheaper Raleighs do that sometimes.

Another thing is that some of these bikes have an elegant chain ring, with a design cut into it. Most familiar is the 3 herons (Raleigh), but there are a number of cool designs including Norman soldiers (Norman) and brand names (Hercules, Armstrong, J. C. Higgins). This adds considerably to the coolness.

In general I'd avoid Japanese, not because Japanese is low quality (it's not) but because the Japanese three speed bikes made for export were exceptionally cheap and, well, just inelegant. They're really pretty good bikes, I just don't like them so much.

One thing to NOT avoid is the Austrian made Sears bikes. The early ones are branded J. C. Higgins, the later ones are branded Free Spirit, and in terms of quality I think they're as good as any Raleigh.

Finally, make sure it's complete. Two fenders, please! If there's no chain guard, figure out why: if it's a high end lightweight model, then it's fine that there's no chain guard; but if it's a Raleigh Sports or something, it has to have a chain guard.

mnmkpedals 

Thanks for the quick and good advice! Particularly this-- I had actually just seen (and passed on) a Sear made in austria. Was good looking bike, but having seen Sears road bikes from the 80s..... hard to erase my thoughts about the brand! good to know though.

rhm

Oh, I forgot to mention the most important thing. It has to be a bike you like. It has to have a style that appeals to you. Don't compromise on this, and don't try to be rational about it.

So the word "Sears" has bad associations for you, nuts to Sears! I tend to feel that way about Shimano (which is why I say to avoid the Japanese ones!).

wahoonc

Lots of good options out there. Raleigh is the way to go if you can find one, the older the better. AW hub is the best. I don't avoid the Japanese built 3 speeds, I just make sure they are complete prior to purchase, parts are harder to source than for the English built ones, and quite often sell for a bit less. I built up a 80's Huffy Baypoint 3 speed for a friend of mine to use as a neighborhood bike, she has been riding it to work in Florida for the past 4 years with no issues. It was dirt cheap (free) and has the Shimano 3 speed hub, go figure.

Aaron

debit

I wish I'd known that I wouldnt be able to stop collecting them. I'm forever grateful that my desire for one forced me to learn how to build my own wheels.

JohnDThompson 

Be sure to read the fine print; not all Sears bikes were Austrian. Some were USA made and they're tanks compared to the Austrian models. An Austrian Free Spirit may have an Austrian hub as well -- no worries, these were Sturmey-Archer AW clones made under license.

noglider 

Don't get one made after 1978. And get one made in England.

once you get it, it might or might not be worthwhile replacing the steel rims with aluminum ones. I decided against it on mine. I own too many bikes, so I just won't ride my Sports in the rain. Also, the chrome has started to come off my rims, and that is ugly but it vastly improves braking. Who'd a thunk that?

i replaced the rims on my Twenty with aluminum rims. As a result, the rear brake kinda sorta works. I installed a drum brake front hub which brakes very well in any weather. That bike is now safe and comfortable for riding at any speed.

Bandera

As long as it fits, is complete w/ mudguards & chainguard and has an AW hub you are good to go.
British 3 speeds were designed to be reliable transportation when autos were less common and still are today.

Avoid any w/ the Shimano 333 hub, never reliable and no longer serviceable.

"When a Sturmey-Archer hub gives problems, it can almost always be repaired, usually without needing any parts replacement.
When an older Shimano 3-speed hub fails, it is most often because one of the under-engineered pawls has shattered. The hub may still work after a fashion, so the rider continues to use it until the broken fragments of the pawls have gone on to destroy the gears and other parts, making the hub basically irreparable."-Sheldon Brown

I still see Raleigh Sports in reasonable knick pop up on my local CL at less than collector prices.

-Bandera

JTTDF

If keeping the steel wheels, its very helpful for good braking to replace the old brake pads with orange koolstops. The standard Campagnolo koolstop pads fit well on Raleigh brakes with just a little trimming for length. I learned from another thread on this forum to put the holders in the freezer for a while before attempting to pull the old pads out. The pads shrink more than the metal and, with some elbow grease and pliers, they will grudgingly slide out. Even with good pads, the brakes still won't work very well in the wet, but they will be better.

auchencrow

The AW SA hub (introduced 1936) is a big plus on any older British bicycle. I would look for names such as BSA, Hercules, Phillips, Triumph, Armstrong, Sunbeam, Rudge, Humber, Dunelt, in addition to Raleigh, and the older the better.


^ Great advice.

dweenk

+1 on the Austrian made Sears. I wish that I had never sold mine.

SpiritCyclist

I'll chime in on this. I didn't know ANYTHING about British 3-speeds until I saw a 1969 Raleigh Sports pop up on Craigslist. It looked cool, and I did some quick research before deciding to grab it. It was covered in dust, dirt, and cobwebs, but after a good cleaning she looks like a million bucks. Came with the original Brooks saddle, leather saddle bag, and aluminum frame pump - actually, everything on the bike was 100% original. The tires hold air and I've ridden it around the block more than a few times. So that's something to keep in mind - what looks like a junker may turn out to be tip-top once you remove a couple layers of grime. I've since become fascinated with hub gearing and 3-speeds in general. In fact, I'm in the process of rebuilding my SA AW hub right now. It's a lot of fun!

photogravity

If that isn't a truism, I don't know what is. I'm somewhere around the 40 mark and need to to some thinning of the herd.

wahoonc

Yup we be a bunch of sick puppies

I was looking at the ever growing pile... COLLECTION of bikes and thinking back to when I only had one... (might have been two)

Aaron

Velognome 

Mmmmmm, sometimes 1/2 naked is fun. My first 3 spd. came with out guards and at a very reasonable price. I just flipped the bars, added a Brooks and had a blast.

wrk101

+10 Think complete. Nice 3 speeds are plentiful and reasonably priced in many parts of the country. Myself, I picked up a pair of Raleigh Sport Gold Editions. They fail a couple of the tests above, mainly the stupid twist grip shifters and no fulcrum. But I liked them, and I liked the matching racks. So why not?

Original racks, chain guards, fenders, even pedals all have value. So getting one complete is a thrifty way to go.

+1 As you add #2 , #3 , and so on to your collection, then go for variety, complete or not.



As found:

Velognome 

Completes are nice, but since we all end up with more than one....why pass up the orphan missing a few limbs?


This one was complete, met all the requirements listed above, just rusty & dirty

noglider 

You'll enjoy reading the thread called "For the love of English 3-speeds."

I've worked on hundreds and hundreds of bikes. There is nothing in my mind that is as reliable and durable as this kind of bike. The fraction of these bikes among the bikes in use I see on the streets of NYC is amazing. Given how many were sold and how long ago they've been out of production, you would think someone would recreated it, but I suspect the Pashley is something else. Just get an old one and fix it up.

noglider 

That Dunelt looks spectacular, Velognome.

Salubrious

If you run across one of those Raleigh folding bikes (model 20) on Craigslist, snap it up. They hold up well and are quite addicting.

elcraft

On another thread, the Huffy Sportsman was mentioned. Despite the Huffy headbadge, this model is a Raleigh clone- made in Nottingham, England. These models seem to have a few features not found on other Raleigh clones; like an oiler cap on the bottom bracket shell and the previously mentioned "proper" shift cable run with a pulley. Because of the poor regard that Huffy is generally held in, these "Sportsman" models are often overlooked and undervalued.
AMF, the American sporting goods maufacturer, also had a Raleigh rebrand that used the venerable "Hercules" brand. Depending on the year, these models were often equiped exactly like the Raleigh Sports models. In other words,the various rebrands can be an exceptional value.

mnmkpedals 

All excellent advice. Thank you. I can see the reason for the addiction being easy. So many varieties. I am thinking of being real picky with the first purchase, since I see so many out there, especially for budget reasons. What started this was getting a visually attractive, but very badly neglected Polish made "Tyler" women's three speed for free from someone. Kind of cool in its own right.

I've tracked down basics on it, so I know it is low end, but a free experiment to see if I could bring it back. Practice. Though think it might be beyond repair; but considering that the woman had used it as "yard art" in the rainy northwest for a while, it's actually survived paint cosmetically quite well. Mechanically, another matter...no stuck seat post, but stem seems to be.

Pardon the "shoes" pic, never thought I'd be posting these anywhere. But yeah, having played with it even a little bit, makes me want a nice model, a men's one.

Howard

The bottom bracket oiler was Raleigh standard fare until the early 60's.

A whole lot of good stuff here: https://sheldonbrown.com/english-3.html

On a side note, while wrk101's golden Raleighs are really, really nice, that style of chainguard often catches my trouser cuff. All other things being equal, I like the rounder style for functionality. But like I said, very nice!