Kriscarr

Hi there, Im new here and just acquired a vintage Eatons Glider. I am having a hard time finding any info on these bikes and the pics I do find look nothing like my bike. Id love to pick some brains about it. Especially on how I can figure out how old it is.

randyjawa 

Needless to say, the Eaton's Glider was made for the Canadian department store chain - Eaton's. The bikes are made in England and I believe them to be re-branded Raleighs.

I have owned both the roadster model and a lovely old five speed road bike. Sadly, I no longer have pictures of any of those bikes, however; there are tons of Glider pictures on the internet.

I Googled "Eaton's Glider Bicycle and found pictures of my roadster, the actual one, that I rode for a season or two...


And this is the Glider road bike that I had years ago...

Kriscarr

I did know that they were made by Raleigh, but mine looks more like Schwinn or something. Has an arched backbone and the tail section comes forward in a large arch attached to the headstock. Its a very cool bike but very simplistic. Single speed, coaster brake, leather seat and 26 inch rims. Looks to be all original and no sings of it ever having fenders or a chain guard. Made in England is prominently stamped on every piece even the pedals and rims. There is a serial number stamped on the seat lug but no date stamp anywhere.

Kriscarr

Oh, and near as I can tell, all the hardware is in Whitworth sizes

T-Mar

Eaton's Glider house brand dates back to 1923 and was still being produced at least as late as 1988. During that period the bicycles were sourced from numerous companies in Canada, the USA, Europe and Asia. There is a possibility that the manufacturer and year can be obtained from the serial number. Bicycle from the 1970s onwards are generally derailleur equipped and can often be dated from component date codes. However, even older single, two and three speeds often have rear hubs with date codes. Let's start with the serial number and a brand and model from the rear derailleur or, if not present, the rear hub. Also, despite forum warnings, you can upload pictures. Though they will not attach to a post, they will be deposited in a gallery file, where members can view them.

T-Mar

That sounds like a camelback frame with cantilever stays. Unless it's a juvenile model, 26" wheels were typically used on balloon tyre models. It's sounding 1950s to 1960s. UK parts were common on the Canadian manufactured house brands during this period.. That serial number may help. Model and brand of rear hub? Please post photos.

Kriscarr

Try as I might I just cant seem to upload pics yet

T-Mar

The S-shaped down tube had me thinking a Sunshine product but there is a Made in England decal on the frame, so we can rule them out. The dropout pattern is similar to Raleigh but the cutout shape isn't correct. It's closer to Rudge but still not an exact match. Again, I'll request the serial number and brand and model of the rear hub. The crankset looks like either a Williams or UEK. If it's the the former, there will be a small sword-like impression with the letters EBW and one or two additional letters which constitute a date code. Selective photo assist....

tricky 

T-Mar , are you sure there's a Made in England decal on the frame? Kriscarr , can you verify? Is the frame decaled as such or just the parts?

randyjawa 

I cannot see a Made in England decal but, though somewhat out of focus, there does appear to be a Raleigh emblem on the crank set.

clubman 

It looks like one of those bikes from around 1960 when Raleigh bought out what was left of Birmingham and assembled some parts bin specials. The fork crown is Birmingham and the rest looks to be Raleigh maybe made for USA. Pretty sure I've seen those frames on American department store rebrands. Still cool.

Kriscarr

I didnt mean to go dark on you guys. Apparently there is a rule that keeps newbs like me from posting more than 5 times in a 24 hr period. Though I did manage to upload more pics to my profile gallery.
Anyway.... the frame did indeed have "Made in England " painted on the frame. No decals on this bike, it was all painted. (I say was because I have stripped it in preparation for paint because thats what I do)
The crank does indeed have Raleigh stamps on both arms as does the front hub. The rear hubs only marking is a "B" stamped near the grease nipple.
The serial number on the seat lug is 62915 B and is crudely stamped. The B is well below the numbering. There was a mysterious bead of brass brazed on the bottom or the crank journal which i polished off in thoughts that there may have been a serial number under it that someone had tried to conceal. There was not. Cant see any purpose for the brazing.

merziac

So not that it truly matters much on this but if all the lettering on it was painted on it is sacrilege to remove it regardless of intent, very few were painted on like this and original as such is extremely rare/valuable/desirable and usually impossible to find.

Kriscarr

I hear you but this bike belongs to my father who lost his battle with cancer two years ago. Its collector value means nothing to me as it will likely never leave the family. I have been painting cars for 20 years and "patina" drives me crazy. I plan on riding this bike as much as possible and remember all the times my dad rode beside me. He was literally my best friend. He was always beside me, on bmx tracks and mountain bike trails, even jumping out of a Cesna. I miss him immensely.

Kriscarr

After much searching I finally found a Raleigh that looks very similar. The Raleigh Lancer has the same frame pattern but has stylized frame gussets. It would appear that those bikes were available from the mid 50's into the 60's. I would imagine that my bike would be the Canadian market version of the Lancer but I could be wrong

clubman 

Post a link and more pics when you can.

Kriscarr

I am getting pretty frustrated with the newb restrictions. I tried posting a link but am still not allowed

T-Mar

Kriscarr

https://www.flickr.com/photos/msubik...7603130581899/
here is the archive I found the photos of the Raleigh Lancer. It is not exactly the same but quite close.

Kriscarr

Bought new tires today. Luckily with the current popularity of vintage bikes and the fact that we have an excellent bike shop here it was quite painless to walk out the door with brand new white walls and tubes. The old tires are holding air but I dont trust them at all. The rear tire went on without any issues but when I took the front tire off I found something very odd. There where two large bulges on the inside of the rim. The outside of the rim did not show any major damage of note so my only conclusion is that the rim was made of tubing that was rolled into the rim shape creating a double walled rim. Water must have gotten into the inside of the tubing and come winter froze, expanded and pushed the inner wall out.
My first thought of course was "well this rim is f@$%ed" However, Im pretty damn handy with my body hammer so I decided to hammer it out. Not perfect but good enough for me. Then I noticed that the front axle is bent....

Kriscarr

The crank pin say 16GC and a P stamped below. How much light does this shed?

ReidH

Search for Eatons catalogs on line and find the bicycle section. Gliders were always Raleigh built when I was a kid, but early 20's and 30's Gliders appear to be Birmingham built bikes.
One thing to note on many of the Gliders is the use of Canadian 28" rim size which is handily the same as 700C.

Reid Harding

Kriscarr

i would love to find the add for my bike. If I could narrow down the year my search would be a lot easier

Kriscarr

white wall tires and a retro two tone paint job are really the only departures from the original equipment that I plan on making. The rest of the bike is just a matter of cleaning and greasing. Might have a professional true the front wheel. Does anyone know if there is anything that can be done about the condition of the saddle?

Ive never had a leather saddle before so no clue how to take care of it or if its even worth trying.

rocks in head 

Nothing wrong with that saddle. Apply a coating of Brooks proofide and ride it. Neat bike, awesome paint job. I hope you have many happy miles on it