I was waiting for one of the experts to respond before offering my recent experience with red paint. My first attempts at cleaning and polishing my red Sports were very disappointing. I, more than once, threw in the towel. I will second the Meguiar's Sratch X followed by wax. Be gentle.

"Ruby" looked almost orange when she arrived. While still better looking at a distance, she cleaned up nicely for a 1956 model. That's her original seat, too.

http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/...pse898f9db.jpg

Nice find- I like the information on those color charts. I've found Raleigh paint often cleans up really well, and seem to have more durability than many other brands' paint.

The Worcester blue makes my heart pound. I discovered it back in about 1978, and that's when I knew I had to own a Rudge one day. My Rudge is black, but that's OK.

I'm thinking of selling it, though.

The crimson paint on my 57 is super too but I think the bike was rarely exposed to the elements.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-m...adianclub6.jpghttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-R...dianclub10.jpghttps://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-v...adianclub7.jpg

My hub dated '56 appears to be the same color. A gold hued base layer exists over what seems to be a black undercoat. I know those layers only because of various wear patterns. The "crimson" seems to be opaquely translucent over the gold layer. I haven't seen another like her in this area. Lots of greens and root beer ones. Where are all the others?

I think mine was well used and it makes me appreciate her even more since we are of a similar age.

count me in!

btw, I just emailed the guy about the 2013 tincan 10. I usually go over every year to hang with my buds in Derbyshire, & Loughborough on the way from London (where my garbage bike is living)

Just one of th most beautiful bikes I had seen!

This post is in reference to posts 4057, 4064, 4068, 4069 & 4073.

Thanks to all who contributed!

[I have heard over and over on this thread and elsewhere that Raleigh "cheapened" their product after the mid 60's. I want to understand the areas that they cut corners so that I can make preventive maintenance repairs on our bikes as advisable. IMO, the plastic fulcrum sleeve seems the most ill-advised of the cost saving moves...]

Aaron I put the complete fulcrum clamp assembly from the 1964 Western Auto bike on my wife's '72 Raleigh Sports.

It appears that everything on the assembly was cheapened up after the mid 60's; maybe not the clamp itself - I can't tell if it is stainless steel on the '72 - the one from the '64 is for certain - but all of the other little bits are of lesser quality and utility for sure.

Here are close-up pics of the two units; note the deteriorated plastic fulcrum sleeve from the '72 Sports. Additionally, the special nut that had been used on earlier bikes was replaced with the serviceable, but run-of-the-mill nut and bolt as can be seen.

FIRST PIC: '64 unit is on the left
SECOND PIC: Close-up of '64 unit
THIRD PIC: Close-up of '72 unit
FOURTH PIC: '72 unit in front


http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=301235 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=301236 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=301237 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=301238

Question for the cognoscenti. Prepping the Lenton Sport for a probable refinish. Paint is too far gone. Anyway, I noticed a small metal protuberance on the wheel side of the left fork tube about half way up. Would this be a locator pin for a a fork mount light bracket?

Thanks clubman and others for the color responses. Looking at how there are almost no nicks or scrapes on the paint could it possibly be that it originally was CF 11 (orange) with CF10 (Crimson) box stripes?
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=301248

But I still don't have any clue as to the why the stripes on the top tube...
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=301249

Maybe I'll finally get the pictures right??

-Mike

I believe the stripes are where tape protected the original paint from fading. Looks like there is some tape residue.

Bingo. I took a Terry bracket off of the right blade a 53 Rudge and found the same bump.

Would you mind putting a direct link URL to that protuberance? BTW, nice pic for your avatar, definitely one of the greatest unsung heroes of baseball.... RIP, Stan.

Here's the locating pin on my Rudge. A simple way to assure a positive engagement.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-z...0/DSC06161.JPGhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-p...0/DSC06163.JPGhttps://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-x...0/DSC06162.JPG

I've seen cases where the original gold box lining kept the base color from fading but eventually wore off leaving dark lines of the original color on the faded rest of the bike.

Yes- happens pretty often.

Got it; thanks!

clubman, that Canadian is spectacular. The workmanship is top notch as well as the paint.

What is a locator pin? I better check my Rudge, because I don't know if mine has that.

Aren't those Rudge fork crowns one of the best fork crowns on any bike made?

Tom, the locator is that small nub brazed on to the inside of the the Rudge fork blade. It tucks into the light bracket clamp but it's the only bike I've had with that feature. The Rudge fork crowns were definitely pretty slick back then.
Glad you like the Canadian. It does look nice in the sunshine!

Oh, I get it, to stabilize the light bracket. Clever.

clubman got it. Although mine is on the other blade, that is the non-drive side.

http://www.bikeforums.net/images/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by sailorbenjamin http://www.bikeforums.net/images/but...post-right.png
I've seen cases where the original gold box lining kept the base color from fading but eventually wore off leaving dark lines of the original color on the faded rest of the bike.



Thanks to both of you, that makes a lot of sense, I had a hard time picturing the Raleigh, even at the dawn of the mod '60's creating an orange bike with red stripes...

-Mike

Yeah, I saw that. Thanks both; these little technical niggles are worth knowing.

BTW, seeing CV-6: I built a model of her back in the 60's when I was a kid...

My USMC pilot uncle flew an F4-U in the Pacific in WW2; later went on to fly 747's with Pan-Am outta LAX before he retired. Pensacola seems to have had an upgrade since I was there last, the Douglas Skystreak is painted now...

Just a reminder to anyone in the Portland area: The Three Speed Ride is THIS SUNDAY! More pertinent info, details, and updates here.
http://societyofthreespeeds.wordpres...3-last-update/

re: Skystreak. I am guessing you visited my flickr and saw the NAM photos. Those photos are about 10 years old, so no telling what things look like now.

And on a more relevant note. Went to my LBS (whose owner sold me the Lenton Sport) for some technical assistance. So what does he hand me...a nice shiny Raleigh fork light bracket. And I scored a correct steerer tube mount bracket today also.