gna

Wow. That's a nice ride.

zookster 

Thanks! It is the one SirMike1983 had in the C&V Sales thread. Really pleased with it. He did a stellar job packing it up, re-assembly was a breeze.

SirMike1983 

Glad you got it back together so quickly and are enjoying it. The 28 inch roadsters have a lot of character.

Sedgemop 

Not the age the seller believes, I think. These Sri Lankan bikes are still being made today and this one looks newer. Nice to see, though. How are these geared? Single speed? Anybody ridden one of these?

Facebook IL Lumala

Old rare bicycle pre war antique (schwinn balloon muscle sears monark lowrider gt bmx $300 Chicago, IL

Beautiful rare bicycle. Cash only ,firm.

Vintage Schwinn

Worcester, MA ...........circa 1980 to 1984 FREE SPIRIT "Sheffield" 3 Speed ........Deep Royal Blue in color.............$47.49 currently on the bay.....likely Murray from the 1 piece crank...
All of these SEARS Free Spirits of that 1980 to 1984 era had beautiful paint schemes even if they were basic ordinary tourist type bicycles. These simple 1 piece crank bikes are decent enough and the superb paint schemes are much much nicer than anyone ever expected from SEARS, especially considering how ugly that many of the 1973 - 1979 Free Spirits were. SEARS did have many nice looking paint schemes on some bicycles in the very early seventies. late sixties and earlier, on both domestic and Austrian bikes, but who the heck knows why by 1971 and certainly by 1974, the majority of SEARS' best bikes were very ugly , perhaps not as ugly as their economy Free Spirit line, but still ugly in their bland paint schemes and dull colors. The seventies Free Spirits were ugly in a garish, loud, and badly coordinated, hideous decal sort of way, that looked like a color blind 3 year old child had chosen them. Perhaps SEARS' marketing team did this to emphasize how "cheap" the sales price was on the Free Spirits of the Seventies and also to differentiate them somewhat from their more expensive offerings with a different level of ugliness and to keep the economy Free Spirit line at least as ugly looking as their high line models in that '73 to '79 era.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/295575760406

thumpism 

His 'n' hers Turistas (24" and loop) for $200 in SC. Super deal for someone.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...43706901852902

SkinGriz

Is this the longest thread on BF?
1087 pages.
I never see these bikes on the west coast.

nlerner

Where on the west coast (of the US, I assume) do you live? When I lived in the SF Bay Area from 1982-90, I saw, bought , and sold lots of old 3-speeds. The weekly flea market at the Capitol Drive-In in San Jose was always a good source. Of course, things might have changed over 30 years later!

SirMike1983 

It goes on and on these bikes run a wide range of time and models. There are tons and tons of the common ones out there still, and there are also uncommon models that keep collectors and vintage bike people interested. Someone who is just starting with vintage bikes could be here for a $20 Raleigh Sports, and someone who has been doing this for 25+ years could be here because they just got a 1930s Record Ace, and everything in between. English 3-speeds are an entire hobby to themselves. And that's not to mention variations from other places like the US, France, and the far east.

SkinGriz

LA area.

I guess if I looked at a bike swap meet or something?

gna

Move to Minneapolis. Tons of Raleighs here:
https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/h...648282538.html
$200 for both. Look early '70s

For the taller couple.

SirMike1983 

Got this 1949 Raleigh Clubman in tourist configuration back on the road. Went for a nice ride last night. It's very lively and light weight - a lot of fun to ride. The Dunlop aluminum Westrick rims are a nice touch on this one.

missingspoke

First post here, I've been reading here for years though. I've been in and out of the bicycle hobby several times over the years. My first job though was as a bicycle mechanic back in the mid 70's.
What brings me here now is that last Friday while driving home, I was talking on the phone and not paying attention and ended up passing my street and so I went around the block and came in from the other direction,, about a half mile out of my way. While going that way I found a house with a pile of old bikes, wheels, and parts out at the curb, and an older guy dragging more out as I stopped.
After a short talk, I ended up loading up four bikes, and about 20 boxes of old parts for English three speeds. Mostly bits of old hubs, some spokes, and a few front hubs. Plus a few boxes of calipers, some spare bars, and a few complete hubs I didn't recognize at first which turned out to be 1957 dated SW models labeled Hercules not Sturmey Archer.
One box was all three speed coaster brake hubs, another milk crate was all S5 5 speed hubs and jars full of spare parts. There's enough parts to build a dozen or so hubs just in that box.
It turns out it all belonged to his dad, who passed away over 40 years ago, but his mother, who recently passed, remained in the house.
One box turned out to be all Suntour three speeds and parts, and another all Sears three speeds, but they look like AW clones.
I'll likely be going through all this stuff for the next month or so. For right now I stuck most of it in the basement on a shelf. A lot of the parts are all cleaned and tagged in coffee cans and cigar boxes which tells me the old guy must have been fixing up old bikes or piecing them together from spare parts back in the day.

My big question is, how much weight can one of these bikes handle? I'm a big man these days, 6ft 2in tall and about 380lbs. I miss riding and until I retired I really didn't have the time. Three speed bikes were what I always had as a kid, so its what I'm most familiar with. I guess I could always built a custom HD set of rims if I had too but as a kid, at maybe 250 lbs or so, I really put my bikes to the test. Rarely did I ride on paved roads or trails, and every bike I had was equipped with front and rear baskets for hauling ability.

bluesteak 

I became the owner of 6 late 60’s s5 hubs. Most are missing the pushrods, and none have bell cranks, all have 28 holes. Were these originally muscle bike hubs? Can you build a reasonably strong 700 c wheel with these 28 hole shells? Will the internals fit into an AW shell.

clubman 

Wow. Holy grail of EA1's. Lovely bike.

SirMike1983 

The 28s would be for a muscle bike or maybe even a small wheel folder type bike. I'm trying to think of why the original S5 would not fit the vintage AW shell, but not coming up with anything obvious that would stop the swap. I say give it a try - worst case, it doesn't fit and you have to figure out another solution. I would think you could just screw-in the S5 guts to the AW shell. Obviously the axles don't interchange, so it's a total innards swap-in.

There were a couple types of push rods made. The earliest ones with the sheet metal bell crank took the screw-in push rod. The second version with the improved bell crank had a smooth push rod. A properly sized nail can be adapted to work as a smooth push rod in those cases. Shimano bell cranks can be re-fitted to work as well on the S5, with a little work. I tend to like the second version Sturmey bell crank the best of the lot. It looks clean and works better than the original version.

Sedgemop 

Minneapolis is a great cycling town all around. Lots of history with road and mountain biking, and college commuters.

Sedgemop 

Another great bike, SirMike. Thanks for posting. I've had a handful of 3 speeds over the years. I aspire to have an earlier one like this as a keeper.

gna

Yes, they will fit in AW shells. For bellcranks, you can get modified Shimano bellcranks from Bikesmith Design
See https://bikesmithdesign.com/SA/SA-tips.pdf

gna

I was being somewhat facetious. I once suggested that someone from California move to Minnesota, and she reacted as if I had pulled a knife on her.

thumpism 

Welcome! First off, see if any of the rear wheels has 40 spokes, which would make a slightly stronger wheel than the normal 36. Many of the early ones did but they abandoned this practice in the '70s. If you did ride and want to get back into it, you probably know that you'll need to "ride light," lifting off the seat for bumps and other such considerations for the equipment. The steel frames themselves are pretty strong if you don't abuse them. I sold a bike to a buddy for a big friend of his and I put on wheels built with 105 gauge spokes. You could probably do the same for your bike but it might mean drilling the hub flange holes and the rim's spoke holes for the thicker spokes.

Good luck!.

thumpism 

Nice Sturmey 5-speed for $175 in CT.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...04320827182227

dedhed

Any 2nd gen S5 bell cranks like this?

SirMike1983 

I live maybe 15 minutes from there. Bethlehem is a nice town to visit (the whole area is a nice trip if you've never visited Litchfield County). There's a couple farmer's markets and flea market/community tag sales on weekends down that way this time of year too. Nice bike and a nice trip for someone who likes a 21 inch frame.

thumpism 

Stripper 23" for $40 in NJ.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...19886139457945