brianhamp

I have a question for all the Raleigh experts...
Is a Raleigh Tourist a DL-1?
Is a Superbe a DL-1?
What makes a Raleigh a DL-1?

Roll-Monroe-Co

Not an expert, but:

A Sports has 26-inch (590) wheels. See the explanation here:
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/retroraleighs/sports.html

The DL-1 has giant 635 wheels and often rod-actuated brakes.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/retrora.../roadster.html

Variations of either model can have caliper, hub, or rod brakes. I believe there are Superb versions of each, with all the fancy trimmings, however, the common Superb is a Sports.

thumpism 

Every Tourist/DL-1 I've seen had the bolted-on seat stays as well and extremely relaxed-looking frame geometry.

thumpism 

I'm not sure if the Tourist name or the DL-1 model number applied to that bike for its entire production run but that sure looks like one of them to me. The Dynohub and light set might have made it a Superbe, if that name applied during that period.

cudak888 

The "DL-1" model name has become a generic term to refer to any Raleigh 28" roadster in common parlance - whether correct or incorrect.

To be specific though, the Raleigh DL-1 is the most commonly known and last incarnation (excluding the current Raleigh Tourist DeLuxe from Raleigh of Denmark) of the 28" wheel, rod-brake Raleigh roadster with bolt-on stays and relaxed frame geometry.

However, if you go back to the 1938 catalog (at least the one I have on reference), the "Tourist" is listed as the Model 21. The "DL" acronym wasn't used until the 1960's, IIRC.

This gets stranger by 1948 (at least), as Raleigh expanded their 28" rod-brake roadster lineup. A new budget-minded Popular - otherwise identical to the Tourist - came with a hockey stick guard - Dynohub and lighting optional. The Tourist was now the next model up, with chaincase, dry battery unit, and Dyonthree hub. A third model, the Superbe Tourist, also popped up - basically the Tourist with a fork lock and green enamel paint. To make it a bit more confusing,the Popular was the Model 1 while the Tourist was the Model 2. The Superbe Tourist? Model 3.

By 1951, the Tourist gained a fork lock as standard equipment. At this point, the Superbe Tourist seems to be differentiated only by the green enamel and a Dynofour hub (the specifications are given generically in the catalog).

There are probably some other oddities in the middle of it, but a lot of catalogs that I haven't even had time to sift through have popped up in the few years I've been absent from the hobby.

FYI, the "Superbe" moniker was plastered on the Sports and Dawn models too. In the 1950's, it seems to be Raleigh's marketing speak for green enamel, a fork lock, and possibly a Dynofour FG hub upgrade. By the 1960's, the Superbe was spun off as its own model, and was usually a variant of the conventional Raleigh Sports with a Dynohub and lighting (some years also came with the the S5 hub, but that's not exclusive to the Superbe).

Also, by the 1950s, the "Tourist" moniker became tacked onto the names of some of the 26" non-bolt-on-stay models, just to give the Enigma decrypters something to do after the war.

I'm still pretty convinced that your machine is a Popular by virtue of the hockey stick chainguard.

-Kurt

BigChief 

The DL-1 (Deluxe Model 1) was the last of the old fashioned English 28" wheel roadsters. Super relaxed frame angles, rod brakes, plain unribbed mudguards, simple frame lugs, bolt on seat stays and a rear fork instead of dropouts. Before the war, Raleigh made many different bikes with 26" and 28" wheels with different names and model numbers in this style, but they were all phased out in favor of the newer light roadster (Sports) frame except one 28" wheel model. In 1970, Raleigh started to market the DL-1 in the US as a bike especially for tall people since it was available with a 24" frame even though it was essentially a 1930s bicycle. Deluxe simply meant that it came standard with a Brooks saddle and one of those cheap vinyl saddle bags with straps that always broke. It remained in production all the way to the bitter end in 1980. That's why, while not common, you can find them here in the US.

cudak888 

Quick footnote to that - though it wasn't shown in contemporary US catalogs until 1970, I'm pretty sure it's availability in the US pre-dates 1970.

There are quite a few US-spec examples with 1968 hub dates (and '67, IIRC) out there - enough that it's a bit of a stretch to say that these are early 1970 production models. (Maybe Raleigh ran a test of the market in the Northeast?)

-Kurt

BigChief 

That could be. The catalogs we have to reference don't always show every model available. And then there's bikes that could have come into the US from Canada. Things like Gliders and CCMs show up in New England from time to time.

nlerner

Fwiw, the 1947-48 UK Raleigh catalog does not show the DL.1 as an available model:

cudak888 

Any pictures of the bike back in it's original green?

-Kurt

BigChief 

I always like to see pictures of projects as they come along. So please don't feel that unfinished pictures would not be interesting to us. There's no catalog reference that I know of for this Model 1 version. Looks to be a 22" frame and the green color is rare on these. Looks like the original Brooks B73 saddle.Cool bike

Roll-Monroe-Co

One Raleigh Record Ace, please.

Pardon, 39 pounds 5 shillings? My good man, here is 40 pounds. Please keep the change, and a merry Christmas to you.

nlerner

Here's the 1947-48 catalog page for the Popular:



In this catalog, at least, anything designated as a "tourist" has a full chain case. Non-tourist-designated bikes have a hockey stick.

cudak888 

It looks pretty darn good from this POV! Looking forward to seeing how the work in progress progresses.

-Kurt

clubman 

Alas, 70's DL-1's were badged as Tourists north of the 49th..
Looking for pics...Randy had one.

sykerocker 

I do remember on some of my early visits to A.R. Adams Cycle in Erie back in 1969 (before I started working there) that Merle had at least one DL-1 in stock and on the floor at the time. Most likely his personal bike. He was a great believer in the model (being 6'3" with commensurate inseam length) and tried selling it constantly throughout the time that I worked there. Which could get pretty amusing given that all people wanted during most of my tenure was 'racing' 10-speeds. Some of this was cultural within the shop. A.R. Adams Cycle started out in 1914 and by the time I was there was a Schwinn/Columbia/Raleigh dealership, then adding on other 10-speed brands to meet market demand while slowly doing away with Columbia (they were getting too cheap). Merle definitely had his father's tastes in bicycles.

And passed a lot of it on to me. My commuters back there were totally Sports and Twentys, and he gave me an appreciation for the Tourist that lasts thru today. That's my daily rider out of the current stable of 19.

thorstein

Here's my DL-1 Tourist from 1975. This is the 24" version and I've heard there are also 22" versions of this model.

Also, the handlebars on your bike look more like north road bars than what I've seen on DL-1s. Is your bike green? That would be an additional difference from DL-1s that, from everything I've seen, are black.