Steve Whitlatch 

My mother in law told m







e she purchased an old Raleigh and wanted me to overhaul it. I did not expect this. Paint is mint. Chrome in the rod brakes is mint. Only blemishes are the blistering chrome on the rims and a bit of rust on the fender arms. Holy crap. 1940's?

juvela

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transfer font on chainguard & downtube says it cannot be earlier than about 1974

there should be a specific date mark on the S-A hub


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cudak888 

Decals are 1973+, shifter is 1975+, chaincase is unusual, but the RAMPAR logos indicate a US-market bike.

I don't remember when the tubing sticker went from "RALEIGH" to "TI-RALEIGH Limited," but I think that might have been '77/78.

Check the rear hub for a month + last-two-digits-year date code. Can't make out the rear fender, but it looks as if it might not have a white tail. My guess is this example is from 1978 through 1982, not that much significantly changed over those years - or even from the '73s.

-Kurt

Steve Whitlatch 

Thanks for the help. I had no idea they were still putting these crazy brakes on bikes into the 80's? I briefly looked through catalogs and cannot find a match. the frame style with the curved down tube and full chain case resembled the older models more than the late 70 and 80 models? Thought it could have been an older bike repainted and decaled in the 80s because the paint looks so good. I will go through it but this bike is much different than anything I have worked on before.

Do I need special rims for these brakes?

JohnDThompson 

Yes, because the pads bear on the surface of the rim adjacent to the spokes, rather than on the sidewall.

thumpism 

Very nice. You might also want to post in the "For the love of English 3-speeds" thread.
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...-3-speeds.html

That style step-through frame is called a "loop."

Trakhak

What is the date stamp on the rear hub? (See posts 2 and 3 above.)

cudak888 

Yep, and Flying Pigeon and a number of other Chinese and Indian firms inherited the old Raleigh tooling and continue to push out copies to this day. Not as frequent as 10 years ago though.

The chaincase is unusual, but the loop frame has always been standard fare for the DL1L. Here are pictures from the '78 and '81 catalogs (note that '81 shows the men's model only):






You will need special pads for these, yes. And the quality of your truing job on the wheels will fully determine how smooth the braking is!

-Kurt

BFisher

Fantastic!

If you need brake pads they can be found here. They also have them in salmon color.

FSOG Rich

Cool bike!

brianinc-ville

Sweet! I loved my '80 Tourist. Those bikes feel like nothing else (except maybe a 12' longboard on a glassy, shoulder-height tube).

The rod brakes work just fine unless it's raining, in which case...tell your MIL to get off the bike and call for a ride. Adjusting the brakes can be a challenge; I ended up using extra washers to push the pads toward the center of the rims for full contact.

It's worth buying the extra-large Fibrax ASH144 brake pads. In my experience, they work better than the smaller Kool Stop salmon inserts.

It's also probably worth buying her some more durable tires (e.g. Schwalbe Delta Cruiser Plus) -- you won't want to be taking that rear wheel off unless you absolutely have to.

Velo Mule

Thanks for posting that catalog page @cudak888. It is interesting that Raleigh had the DL1 rider (and presumed) family at an Antique shop for the picture. That is not a knock on the DL1 which I like and admire.

This bike is in great shape. Squirt some 30 weight oil in the rear hub and make sure everything is in working order and give it a ride. It is different than today's bikes. Kind of fun, kind of laid back. It makes you feel like you will get there but, there is no need to race. You can keep the same heart rate as when you are walking and cover far more ground.

Steve Whitlatch 

Update:

The rear hub is marked 81.

I finally found the time to work on this bike.. What a pain in the you know what. To get the rear wheel off I had to remove the brake pads,, the back of the chain guard, the fender as well as the rear rack legs.

The chain guard fully surrounds the crankset all the way to the rear wheel.. I can't figure out how to remove it without taking off the crankset. The chain was cut so short that there was no room to push the wheel forward into the fork end to get the chain off. I just barely got the chain to derail to remove the rear. Blown away buy just how crazy this bike is.

The front wheel has a lot of corrosion on the rim. I am looking for a replacement wheel or rim if anyone has one? Need 28 × 1.50 635 - 24.

cudak888 

The chaincase doesn't come off without removing the crank cotter and crank. Do yourself a favor...don't.

-Kurt

Johno59

You find the chain split link via the removable quadrant at the rear, hook a couple of old spokes or two bits of string either side of the split link , undo the split link and lift the wheel out - make sure the chain doesn't slide down into the chain case.Reverse to replace.

metalrideroz

Replacement westwood rod-brake rims are still available here but not sure about the shipping situation at the moment,
https://www.dutchbikebits.com/parts-...cle-wheel-rims

Johno59

Those old rims can take an awful lot of pitting whilst still remaining as effective as new - which isn't saying much unfortunately. Some even came dimpled as new to try and overcome the poor braking. The brake pads will soon buff the rust to almost nothing once you starting to use it. New ones won't stay new very long and will be of inferior quality metallurgy wise and the brake performance will most likely be the same.