Winer is over! Time to bring the Scorchers back out!

1973 Raleigh sport turned scorcher with a few changes. Changed to a set back seatpost for a better fit. Having a great time on it!

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Zen and the Art of Three Speeds…

I’m back on a Raleigh Sports again, last experienced 6 or 8 years ago, commuting in Manhattan.
For the last few years all my cycling has been on 80s road bikes, drop bars with downtube shifters.
I’d forgotten how completely different the experience was of sitting up straight and relaxed while slowly pedaling around.
On my road bikes (which I love riding!) I feel like I’m seriously getting someplace, but on the Raleigh I feel more like I’m just sort of watching the world go by while pedaling home. (or pedaling to work, less fun)
I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance back when I was in college (1970s). I need to reread it, as I recall it had a lot to say about this sort of thing.
I remember some of the car vs motorcycle travel experience in that book… some of it may translate.

You have touched-on an important and interesting dynamic, which, at its essence, I think, is an equation of relaxation/stimulation. My journey has inexorably been tuned to the former in these later years, as I allow the "dust to settle" (doctor's orders in 2010). Still.., the show must go on. I ride my C&V road bikes on my longer and faster rides, but even then, I try to keep that enhanced activity level in context to what is real and lasting. I have never gotten around to reading Pirsig's book. From what you are saying, I should like it. There is something to be said for balance, after-all.

I read Persig's book while at college in my late teens in the 70's and was mystified by the theme.
Some of it must have sunk in, though at the time I was still shedding the last vestiges of being a callow youth.
Still have the book, but each time I pick it up, I put it down.
I've never found two people who shared the same interpretive experience reading the book,

That looks great. Do you ride it mostly on paved surfaces?

Scorcher
 

Yes, mostly on roads. It’s fine with the high volume Specialized tires which are made for 26 x 1 3/8 rims on hard gravel but I don’t have much of it here, sadly.

Its very stable and easily ridden hands free.

I rode my gitane three speed on an overnight camping trip. 38-19. On 650bx42.
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The C&O and the Capital Crescent Trails were my go-to trails when I lived in Maryland. Much of that riding was done on my 1974 Raleigh Sports. I also did quite a bit of riding on the Mount Vernon Trail with my 1978 DL-1 rod brake. They have some nice trails down there.

Not a "loaded tour," but I've done the Lake Pepin 3-Speed tour several times on my 1973 Raleigh Superbe. I usually set up camp in Wabesha, drive to Red Wing, ride from Red Wing to Wabesha, spend the night there, ride to Red Wing the next day, then drive back to Wabesha to break camp.

Just one, in full-sun. (I think I just "busted a rhyme"). A trip downtown was a chance for me to shamelessly flaunt my "new" Apex Ultralite frame pump. Now, all I need is a Schrader-to-Presta adapter so that I can use it! It is interesting that, when i received the pump, it did not compress air at all. A quick cleaning of the rubberized cup and a wipe of the inside of the tube, and it was restored and air-tight. I am waiting for 50 degrees so that i can do some real riding on the Rudge.
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At Hannaford's Supermarket. This is my own, private post (nobody else ever uses it).

I've driven past that Hannaford's, and your private post, many times. My kid lives up the road in Union.

Summers are great here. I don't usually ride that far north, but I did do the Lobster Ride (117 miles) in '16,
which was right next to Union, at the Camden Snow Bowl.

Yes they are. So are the other three seasons. She has been in Union almost 20 years now and has no desire to come back to the Midwest. She's also a bargain hunter and will find a bike for really cheap that I will bring home to fix up and donate. I was there one year during the Lobster ride but she didn't find a bike that time. We usually visit twice a year.

It's funny that you mention cheap bikes to fix. A guy is coming down from from Nobleboro on saturday with a 1957 Raleigh Lenton Grand Prix that is in great shape and is "free" but I am giving him $40.00 to deliver it. Yeah, I have been here for 12 years in may and I am the happiest I have ever been.

I'm dreaming of moving to Maine...

She got the 'Maine Bug' early. We did a road trip through Canada to Acadia in '89. Out of the blue, she just said that she would live in Maine someday. And soon out of college, she did. Her oldest is a sophomore in high school and a true Mainer.
Nice score on the Raleigh. A year younger than me.

Shakedown ride for the 1957 Schwinn Traveler three speed last night:

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I just came across this bike in Craigslist, and thought you might enjoy it:

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So shiny :eek:

First leg of tour: light rail + Amtrak to get out of the city. SRAM I3 fitted to BikeFriday tikit.

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Sturmey archer fm
 

I tried this as a separate thread and no one responded.

I have a SA FM that works fine, but is noisy in normal gear. I removed the internals from the wheel, just to see if I could at least see how it works.

I am thinking the primary gear set is likely worn. If so, does anyone stock parts? It doesn’t seem likely that it would share parts excepting planet pins, pawl pins and springs with other hubs.

It seems like noise in normal gear would show up in AW’s as well. Has anyone had trouble with that? Is there an easy remedy?

There's a bit of a nuance going on. The 4-speeds need the cones adjusted exactly, the AWs need every so slightly a bit of slop. How are yours set up?

Right now the internals are out of the hub. Generally I am of the little bit of slop school.

I’ll put it back together and see how it goes.

With an AW I tighten the drive side down tight and back off 1/2 to 3/4 turn. Then I set up the left side a little sloppy. Is that why the left side doesn’t have the lock washer with tabs?

The FM and FC hubs are in a family apart from the AW or even the FW hub. They are mechanically different. The drive side cone is set first, finger tight and loosen 1/2 to 3/4 turn. It should not be loosened more than 3/4 turn. Non-drive bearing adjustment is for the slightest play at the rim. It is less tolerant of play than the AW or even the FW. Was there any visible wear on any of the parts when you dismantled the hub?

Hopefully we're finally turning the corner here into better weather - finally getting some warmth. It seemed like we were ready to start spring, but then got hit with two inches of new snow. It has melted and hopefully that is the end of winter here. I took out the 1959 Traveler yesterday evening while the weather was good.

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This morning before I read this post I reinstalled the internals and set the hub up without as much slop. I took the bike for a spin and it is definitely quieter. Although there is still extra noise in normal gear.

I took the internals out as a unit, and didn’t make any attempt at further disassembly since I figured it still worked and I wasn’t likely to find replacement parts. It’s 70 years old and likely there is some wear. When I first got the hub before it was built into a wheel, I did resurface the cones with a wet stone.

I did learn a few things. I could see the the secondary planet holder turns the main sun gear when you select the lowest gear. I haven’t been able to figure out the gear reduction that that creates.

I had an ahah moment when I saw the large diameter spring between the secondary and primary gear trains. “ So, that’s what those springs are for that I sent Mike in the trade.”

I felt he eventually threw out the entire idea of Quality, meaning the idea that of two similar items, we assign more value to one than another. Like tubulars over clinchers or 531 over high tensile steel, but he was thinking much more broadly than that. I read it mostly in the ‘70s, but didn’t finish it until after Enhineering school in the ‘80s, so I don’t recall how or if he treated a resolution for how it went on. I’m not interested in revisiting him. I think he got his phd in philosophy, so kudos for that!

Between Pirsig, John Muir (How to keep your Volkswagen alive) and the Tom Cuthbertson’s books on bicycle mechanics and being rough and ready when your touring situation demands it, I gained a lot which I still use in mt own mechanistic life, and in my aerospace and automotive engineering career, since college days

I'm planning a coastal tour on my Raleigh Sports 3-Speed this coming weekend .... I'll update this forum with my travel log. Will be touching 3 States ...

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Do you need any springs still? I can mail a couple if you need any. PM me if you do.

Here is a new one on me and the seller who gives plenty of background say possibly unique a Hobday Brothers 3 speed, too far away from me luckily, I am not sure I have room for another.

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https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326085113828