jamesdak 

I just have to share this as it's just too funny.

Rode the junk english 3 speed down to the store for some banana's and orange juice. On the way home while on the Eden Pathway I I heard a , "Get out of the f' way grandpop!" from behind as some spandex hero on a race bike flew by. Not sure if it was the grandpop or cussing that got me but about 50 yards or so later I was beside him. He seemed surprised, LOL! I asked him not to cuss at people on the pathway please. Then I couldn't hold my tongue and said, "you're not that fast anyway. hit 3rd and took off. I had to prove my point so I went about 1/4 past my house with him trying to catch me until he turned off on River Road. Right after that my heel hit the basket on the bike and I almost crashed but man that was fun. Couldn't believe the ol' rattletrap could go that fast. Of course I did screw up and put too big of a crank on it when I rebuilt it. Top end is a bear but it sure makes it move. 😁 Oh and that shift to 3rd was a beauty. On these old 3 speeds you have to pause pedaling as you shift the thumb lever and then hope the gear grabs. I hit it perfectly!

Score one for the old Hercules!



I do have to be honest though and say the beast sounded like it was going to rattle apart as I was pushing it.

BigChief 

Goes to show, it's the motor that counts. Looks like you have a 48T chain ring. The standard cog on Sturmey Archer AW hubs is 18T, so that's pretty tall. In my younger years I spent a lot of time riding my 48 x 18t Rudge around town in high gear as fast as I could. But now that I'm an old codger that glides sedately around on my vintage roadster, I have a 22T cog on the AW.

GrainBrain

Love it

jamesdak 

I do have to admit...the "motor's" knee swelled up 10 minutes after getting home, LOL! It was bugging me some on a 45 mile ride this morning. Hope I didn't do something stupid.

Loose Chain

I like your bicycle. I have the coffee colored Raleigh Sport not unlike yours. Mine is set up a little more aggressive than yours but similar. The thing is, they did not call them "English" Racers for nothing (whether Sheldon likes it or not)! Good story and why do people feel the need to constantly curse nowadays and what is with the rude impatience, I am the only thing in the universe that counts mentality that is ubiquitous today, young and old (unfortunately). He needed a lesson in humility and you dished it out. Your knee will be fine, take an Ibuprofen or an aspirin.

jamesdak 

I deal with a lot of jerk drivers up here but this really is the first time I've encountered a jerk on a bike like this. I mean sometimes I get funny comments from there riders when I'm on one of the pink ones but nothing but good-natured ribbing.

ryansu

The 13th labor of Hercules -crushing entitled bike path heroes with no clue. Nice share OP. I have caught roadies in the past after getting disdainful looks at my C&V ...just because, I have also been passed by a grandma on a 3 speed with a basket which I had to laugh at and also a fit grandma on a vintage Peugeot road bike which I applauded.

iab

I don't know if this could even be called a Cat 6 race. Cat 7? Maybe Cat 8?

Why must there be knuckleheads?

ascherer 

I commute on my '66 Sports, and I usually have a load on it between locks and my work bag. Every day I get salmoned at lights, every day I usually leave them all behind. If one of them behaved that way I'd be likely to draft them for a while before blowing by...it makes them nuts.

Slightspeed

You take your wins anywhere you can find them. The other day on a club ride, I was feeling unusually strong. I saw a guy up ahead, one of the fast guys in our club, and the red mist took over. It took awhile, but I chased him down and pulled along side. He gave me a funny look, like "Funny seeing you here". I looked down and he was wearing tennis shoes. I asked him, and he said he left his bike shoes at home. Anyway, it did my fragile ego a lot of good. 😁

Kovkov

Very nice, happens to me once a month.

randyjawa 

They make the rest of us feel good about ourselves.

jamesdak 

So I was curious and did some number crunching. I think the high gear on this about the same as a 52T by 15T so I guess that should move the ol' hunk of junk out pretty good. I sure was spinning and trying to be smooth and trying keep my feet on the pedals all at the same time.

caloso

Good stuff. Usually you have to hang out in Commuting to get this kind of high level "I caught a roadie in full spandex" content.

BFisher

Cool story. Perhaps the guy learned a bit of humility.

I'm glad top gear held out for you. I had a Raleigh with the AW hub that I really wanted to like.
But dang it, I couldn't get top gear to stay engaged when pedaling hard.
It would pop into a neutral position and just spin, no matter the adjustment. I ended up donating the bike.

Watch out for those Pathway heroes!

rando_couche

Those poseurs are such fun to mess with!

turtledove

So many of those types on the local shared paths on a weekend afternoon, when families are out on the path. Swerving and zooming past children and such more than 25 km/h. Makes me so angry

fietsbob

Geared 16:46? try a 22t cog & a longer chain?

squirtdad

There should be a jersey for that.....

jamesdak 

Yeah this only had one gear working when I got it. Lots of messing with it the 1st year. Maybe my bad cable run gives enough extra resistance to hold gear?

Kent T

The best kind of content. Don't underestimate the rider's motor. Happened to me many years ago, but other cyclist was a friend coming home from work. He was riding a nice Gitane, I an old clunky Schwinn Continental. I saw friend speeding by on the way home from work commute. I gave my olde Continental what physically challenged, motivated legs could deliver when younger and foolish. I caught friend one block from his house. We enjoyed this for a long time. His son's old 1978 Traveler when he outgrew it became mine. We're friends to this day. He was and still is no poseur even today at advanced age. He made me work for this one. He also helped turn me into a lifetime cyclist. More like role model.

Kent T

There is. Le Malliot Jaune!! (Yellow Jersey)

noglider 

I love this. A young dude on a Colnago passed me in Central Park. I was commuting home and adding a couple of extra miles, as I usually don't go to Central Park. But I decided to see how I would do, and I ended up dusting him. I went home and weighed my commuting bike, and it was 34 lbs with all the crap. His bike probably weighed half of that. And I think I was a bit of a knucklehead, as I played into the competition. But the point here, I think, is that people can't judge by appearances.

I got dusted by a man much older and heavier than I was. It humbled me, and I'm grateful for it.

Ottomotion

Don't forget to give the bell a few rings as you pass on by just for added effect. No word necessary really...

Salubrious

A few years back on the Lake Pepin 3-speed tour two friends of mine and I were climbing the Bay City Hill on the first day. The Bay City Hill is two and a half miles long; its helpful to have a 22 in the rear. One of my friends, Kelly (55 at the time), was on a 1958 Phillips I had restored for her. On the way up we got passed by a peloton of people on carbon road bikes with the usual pajamas. On the 3-speed tour it helps to be in vintage clothing- tweed or argyle take your pick. Kelly, while looking the part, was a bit of a monster on a bike and even though her bike was about 1/3rd her body weight, decided she'd had enough of being passed and told us 'I'll see you at the top', flicked the gear to 2nd and then proceeded to drop the peloton; she later told us that she heard someone say 'Well, I guess we've been passed'. It was true.