3speedslow

I am wondering... Is anyone else going to ride an English 3 speed on July 4th ? Maybe even decorate it a bit.

harlond

Is that a thing? I could ride my Raleigh Twenty.

jackbombay

I ride my Hercules most days anyways, I don't see why the fourth would be any different :-)

I'll probably ride my tall bike around some too...

3speedslow

I will roll on my recent addition, a green 67 Phillips for the day. Should finish it up tomorrow. Unfortunately I am still saving for the new spokes for the wheel build on my R20.

paulb_in_bkln

Cool looking and unusual. Any idea if that's the crank used on the late 40s and early 50s RRA as well?

DQRider 

Oh, but of course! I will be sitting tall and proud on my DL1, dressed in my bright red coat with a big, silly hat.

Kilroy1988 

Williams cranks of this sort were literally made in exactly the same form throughout most of the 20th century, with production dropping off in the 1970s when cottered cranks lost favor. This fluted example is a bit nicer than most, but not unusual - as such, I can't positively identify it as a C1000 but that's the most common model.

sykerocker 

Depending on the weather, am seriously considering riding my Sprite to the ballgame. Due to work, the wife can't attend so Poguemahone will be joining me (baseball is our other shared passion), and it's only an 11 mile ride from my house to the ballpark for me, less than a mile for him. The ride back will be after dark, however.

BigChief 

But this is a British Grenadier...Hmmmm A loyalist!

DQRider 

That's right. You colonists have lost control of yourselves and this huge country you stole from The King. It's time to remind you of your gentlemanly English manners... or something.

3speedslow

Finished my British steed for the festivities. Don’t know how far I will get on the old cracked tires. Tubes hold air just fine. Now that I have a Raleigh Phillips to see up close It does become apparent the lowering that was done to the Phillips line. Not even sure of the tubing quality as well as paint. Chrome seems fine for most items. Rims took a big dip with plain SA hoops. Big disappointment was the trigger cable placement and full casing instead of a fulcrum and wheel.

rode it around the block with not much enthusiasm. Size feels all wrong compared to my Raleigh 21” scorcher. Very much unsure about what I will do with this bike. But for now, it will have its days!

SirMike1983 

Upgraded to Schwalbe Delta Cruisers from Duros now that the Delta Cruisers are making some decent white walls. Here they are on the 1958 Raleigh Sports. This is my one "white wall tire" bike. The tread pattern is not totally traditional, but it's not overly modern either. The Duros I had did not age terribly well - they're only a few years old, but seem to have dried out, discolored, and cracked prematurely.

BigChief 

Beautiful bike. I always thought white walls looked sharp on light roadsters. Nice to know there's quality available. True, Duros aren't very durable. The next new item I hope to see are leather saddle bags cut away to fit sprung Brooks saddles like they show in the old catalogs. I'm also using a canvas bag on my B66 equipped Rudge because it's flexable enough that it can conform to shape of the seat springs.

butch50

There is a clean step through Raleigh Sports for $65 on Craigslist for South Jersey, antiques section, post # 6926099502.

I have no connection with it, just passing it on. I can't post a URL or a picture on here.

butch50

It's located in central New Jersey, in Frenchtown. Not far from Easton, Pa.

DQRider 

Some of you may recall the "before" shots I put up here sometime late last year. Here is one to jog your memory:



This is a "Patina Preservation" project, as the frame I bought had the best patina I've ever seen. I simply cleaned it up and sprayed clear over everything, even some of the crusted-on dirt. That may prove to be a bad idea, but I'm keeping an eye on it.

Anyway, today I took the first shakedown ride, finalized all the adjustments, and took a few photos. Here they are:



The entire drivetrain; wheelset, crankset, and shifter came from Handsome Cycles right here in the Twin Cities. So I put one of their decals on the seat tube. That's the only graphic I added, everything else is original.



The saddle is an old, well-used Brooks Professional, to which I attached a couple of saddlebag loops so I could put this minimalist leather bag on there for my flat kit.



This is the wrong pump for the Presta valve tubes I'm using, but I had to put something on there, as the hooks just look wrong without a pump mounted to them.



I'm using the modern Sturmey-Archer shifter that came with my wheelset, for now. But ultimately I would like to use a quadrant shifter on the top tube. Otherwise, I suppose I'll dig through the bin and find one of the regular 3-speed trigger shifters for it.



One last shot of the whole bike:



Looking at that shot, I just realized that I used the wrong front wheel. I guess I'll have to change that out next time it rains. Also, I seem to have misplaced the headbadge, which is a shame. I think I am going to go out now and look again. It has to be in there somewhere...

JaccoW

That is a great looking bike @DQRider! I love the glossy patina and it is probably the best way to preserve bikes like these.

BigChief 

I agree. This is very well done. A perfect example of preserving what you can and getting it back on the road where it belongs.

Road Fan

Nice idea, just preserve the patina!

What bb, spindle, and chainset? I’m working on this point with my 1952 Rudge. What’s the bb shell width?

Was your frame sized for 27 x 1¼ wheels?

DQRider 

Yeah, that was the mission right from the start. When I looked at that frameset, the bike started building itself in my mind, so I had a crystal-clear vision of what I wanted before I even dug out my wallet.

Thanks BigChief. As always, that means a lot coming from you. If you look at that sealed-bearing headset, you will notice I had to use the original locknuts on there, because the ones that came with the kit didn't fit.

There were myriad engineering challenges like that with this project. Each one was accompanied by a judgement call: "Do I change this bike in such a way that it can never be restored to original? Or do I find original components that fit properly?"

In the end, only one such change was made, and that was to the fork dropouts. I had to file them ever-so-slightly to fit the new front wheel. The originals will still work in there, as long as the axle nuts get tightened properly. But I struggled with that dilemma for a long time before I finally broke out the rat-tail.

It's hard to describe the ride of this bike. It is as smooth and comfy as my Pashley path racer, yet it is much more responsive in handling. The whole bike weighs 26 lbs as you see it here. If I remove the pump, maybe 25?

I'm going to put a 20t cog on the rear, and then perhaps I'll take it on the Lake Pepin Tour next year. I'll just throw everything in a backpack and go. What an excellent hobby!

Ballenxj

Looks good to me. Speaking of rims, are those 700c rims? Plus, they have presta to schrader adapters that screw onto the presta, allowing you to use a schrader type pump. I didn't like mine, but might work in a pinch?

DQRider 

I used a Velo Orange threadless, sealed BB; I believe the width was the Raleigh standard 71mm for that time period. I don't remember the spindle size right now, but I know I did the necessary measurement and calculations for chainline at the time. It was the easiest BB install I've ever done.

The chain is your standard single-speed / IGH unit, in gold ano to dress up the bike a bit.

DQRider 

That's a good point. I have several of them (adapters) in various saddle bags around the shop.

Oh, and I didn't answer Road Fan's question about original wheel size. I had to look this up: 26" x 1 1/4" (597 mm) was the original size. That makes the 700c fit very snugly, and the largest tire I can fit is 32mm. I might be able to run 25s with fenders, but I'm not going to do that.

jackbombay

You can run 25c tires with Raleigh fenders, I had some 28c installed for a bit even but the fenders had to be exactly straight to not rub, so I went back to 25c. I did mess with the bike a fair bit recently and got fender alignment really dialed in, so 28c might do well now. On my bike the front tire rubs on the front end of the fender, I did have to spread open that bit of the fender actually.

I'm not familiar with the "new" threadless BB's but seems like a good solution to the Whitworth threaded BB. I retapped my shell so I could run any threaded square taper BB.

With fenders I have mine down to 25 pounds, but I have a Ti BB in it and when building the wheels I went with some pretty light rims.

Ged117 

Nice work, @DQRider. How did you finish the handlebar grips? They look fantastic. For my 1950 Superbe, I have kept the original grips, but if they disintegrate with more usage I might consider doing what you have.

It certainly is a fun hobby. I'm going to take my Superbe on a country ramble soon and post some photos. It is almost ready for the road.