Most shops can get them in “Pleather*”.
Otherwise you local Tack Shop has straps that work.

• Pleather: Plastic or vinyl which simulates leather

The wheels come off easy. 14MM wrench for the front and 15MM for the rear.
Just disconnect the 3-speed gear cable and they are off.

Not sure the length of the straps you are looking for, but I've seen some leather straps on the Acorn Bags site.

Go for it Lenton58!
(I would recommend another SA AW hub though. I never owned a Shimano 3spd, but from what I have read, the SA's are by-far the most reliable hubs you can get.)

Thanks, those will work.

I used leather collars, much cheaper...I mean economical.

auchencrow: It may be awhile cuz I have to much on the go right now. But someday ... someday when I visit the hometown and fetch the frame perhaps. I readily accept that Sturmey Archer is the the most reliable, but I would avoid another SA model at all costs. AW? ... OK! Shimano does have an advantage though: I should be able to scrape one up for free. And the ground should be heaving with spares here. OK ... on order. Shimano usually takes about 4-5 working days. All the ancilliary parts are readily available too.

In Japan there are billions of Shimano hubs on mama-charis. These days, my wife and son ride uni-speeds, but we have had a couple of hand-me-down Shimano equipped 3 speeds over the years. But, they only ever came with 2 speeds working. That may support your comment. I'll be on the lookout for a Sturmey Archer to tuck away for the day I build my "black shopping bike".:thumb:

And don't you have to put the wheels back on the correct way so the hubs don't rotate apart?

http://sheldonbrown.com/raleigh.html is your bible.

I have owned several Shimano three speeds and ran them hard without having any troubles... they were not quite as smooth as my Sturmey Archers and the gearing steps seem to be a little farther apart... that or the older Shimano 3 speeds are just less efficient so you feel like you are working harder.

A hub I liked, that Shimano no longer makes, is the Nexus 4 speed which appears to have been too bombproof for Shimano to keep in production.

After that... the Nexus 7 speeds are crap while the later generation Alfine 8 seems to be pretty rock solid as Shimano has worked out all the earlier bugs and will probably discontinue the 8 speed now that they have an 11 speed which has yet to prove itself.

Will a Shimano 3 speed or any of their IGH hubs run out beyond 30,000 miles ?

We know that an SA AW hub will do that in it's sleep and have a very low operating cost with nothing more than basic upkeep.

The SA AG on my winter bike is a 1964 and was NOS... it will probably take me 10 years to run it up to 30,000 miles but I expect the next decade of use will be trouble free.

The vintage Raleigh front hubs can only be adjusted from one side (non drive) and if they are installed backwards the cones can self tighten which will ruin the hub bearings.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...1wayfarer1.JPG

The Wayfarer is running a 1954 rear hub although it is a later production bike... the hub that came with it was one of the few I had to repair as the main gear on the axle had slipped off due to the retaining pin shearing off. I had another 1954 hub at hand and just swapped the internals and the shop I got the hub from took the old guts for parts / rebuilding.

THANKS! Sixty Fiver!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Raleigh-head...item19cca34282
"NEW custom fabricated metal replacement Raleigh/Sturmey Archer type headlight or head lamp mount interface "bracket" piece. "

If this guy is having new ones made it's kind of a big deal.

Just picked up my new Moulton Mk2... was given the choice of an AW, FW, or 2 speed and had to go with the stock FW 4 speed.

Should be a fun project... this is the bike after I packed it up for the ride home... the front wheel and extra alloy rims are small enough to be tucked into my rear pannier. :)

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...ultonhaul1.JPG

That really does sound like a fun project. Probably the only thing that could make that project more fun would be for you to have had the choice of a Sturmey FG thrown into the mix!

I think I may have posted this in its previous incarnation, but here is my 1956 Hercules Royal Prince after some additional polish and spit-shining. I am really happy to have gotten rid of the Wald fender stays...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7032/6...afe39ef0_b.jpg
1956 Hercules Royal Prince - The Evolution - 13 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6...941b3ca4_b.jpg
1956 Hercules Royal Prince - The Evolution - 5 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr

Fantastic Herc....I agree - wire stays look more elegant (IMO), though they are hard to keep straight. Is that a 22T sprocket on the back? If so, did you have to add links to the chain to make it work?

My friend has a Mk1 with an FW currently installed but showed me his new back wheel which is an ASC with the aluminium hub shell... should be awesome when it gets installed.

Would not rule out the 3 speed fixed option or a 5 speed IGH at some point either.

Stunning bike pg...

Hey Mark, thanks... These stays are the alloy stays from VO and seem to be a little more resistant to bending than the old wire stays. These are 5mm so they're pretty tough. I tightened the radius a bit using my vise to get them inside the fender and they didn't yield too easily.

As far as the cog, that's a 24t. I bought a dozen from an eBay seller in Germany. Where I live we have hills and I'd not be able to get up any of them without pushing were it not for that cog. When I first got the bike I replaced the chain, and put a 22t cog on at that time, so I did not need to add any length to the chain. Typically if you're going from the normally installed cogs (18 or 19 ime), you'd need to replace the chain or add links to the existing chain.

Thanks Keith. :) I am SOOO glad you started this thread! The fact this thread gets bumped as much as it does shows how in tune you were to the need for this topic. "No ordinary man" indeed! ;)

wow!

Looks nice.
How many teeth on that rear cog?

It's a 24t... We have some BIG hills here. :)

Are those cogs readily available and if so from where?
Thanks
James

Quasi available. Best source I have found in the US is BikeSmith Design. He even has them in 26t! :eek:

Also a great place to get cotters and the best cotter press currently available.

Aaron :)

I second this endorsement. Mark, at Bikesmith, is the go-to-guy!

Indeed, Mark is the go to guy and has 24t and 26t cogs available but they are not exactly inexpensive. The 24t is $15 + shipping.

I tend to be adventurous, so I bought a dozen directly out of Germany, six at a time, for about $8 each including shipping.

Don't get me wrong on this: I know Mark from having done business with him. I have bought almost everything he sells and he has a business to run so I'm OK with him making a profit. I am sort of an outlier with regard to this because of the number of cogs I needed. It would have been more expensive than I would have liked if I had purchased a dozen from Mark. If I was just buying one or two, I would have gotten them from Mark, but in my case a dozen was a totally different story .

Kool-Stops
 

I recently picked up a 72 or 73 Sports in OK condition, and since it's not pristine in any way am riding it every day and fixing as I go. Make a new fender clip for the chainstay bridge, Repacked the front hub, WD-40'd, drained/dried, and oiled the rear hub, trued, tensioned and polished (so-so job - some rust remains) the wheels, new tires. Old Dunlop tubes still holding air. Still running old brake cables, that changes today.

I put some Kool-Stop Eagle 2 pads on for this morning's rainy commute (improved over 40 year old black rubber!), but as many of you have noted, they don't fit in the front (hit the fork). Other than buying Continentals (special order where I am), what are some options people have tried? Upside-down? Cut them down a little? Are there Kool-Stop shoes that can work in the old Raleigh metal brake shoe holders? I am interested in whether anyone has interesting tricks to share.

Thanks!

On cogs:

I think I read somewhere that there's a theory that a larger than 22t cog could damage the innards of the AW. I guess hubs have an input ratio, can anyone report on actually finding the limit, what the conditions were and what breaks? I am running 22t, but would gladly go to 24 or more. I think it would broaden the appeal of the bikes too, as the climbing ability with 22 is already a surprise to most!