I still had the original pad holders. The old pads from the 70s were dried out and the bike would barely stop. This was my first bike with rod brakes so the straight Fibrax holders and pads caught me by surprise. I thought they would be curved like the originals. Still, I installed them figuring they would wear in at some point. They were awful. Maybe someday when the radius wore in they would work better, but I decided to send for the salmon Kool Stop inserts. I also set off on a mission to get the best braking possible out of these brakes. I got some very helpful tips from DL-1 riders here on this thread. So now, my DL-1 has respectable, as far as rod brakes go, braking, but they are difficult to set up compared to calipers.

I was totally unaware of the loop frame light roadster until now. Nice looking bike. It's a shame they're so rare. The rear carrier is the same design as the Danish use and the chevron transfer on the seat tube is similar also. The Superbe was eliminated from the US catalog after 1975 and even the Sports lost the leather saddle. Raleigh was cost cutting like crazy by the later 70s and like you mentioned, even the white blaze on the rear mudguard was eliminated. This is a very unusual bike.

Looks like what I did with an old Varsity I came across. I guess you could say I Speedsterized it.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3dd9fa73be.jpg


and just to stay on topic, my 1966 DL-1
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...536c09a68e.jpg

When the new alternator hubs first came out, they were very expensive, while Dynohubs could still be found cheaply. So I got 2 Dynohubs for $30, built 1 into a new wheel & used it to power a modern Halogen bulbed, Lumotec headlight and SA tail light. It worked well on my commute but I also had 10 and 15 watt battery powered headlights on my bar plus cheap Nashbar red blinkies on the rear to supplement multiple reflective devices.

The DH was more for insurance against no headlight if battery or bulb failed. My hub was still working fine when I sold the bike in 2007 and I had traded the 2nd hub to a co-worker for the French bar and stem now on my Grand Jubile.

Further Dynohub info courtesy of Jobst Brandt after he added a voltage stabilizer to his Halogen light:

Speed (mph) Volts Watts Lumens
8 4.0 0.8 7.4
10 4.8 1.1 15.3
12 5.2 1.3 21.1
14 5.5 1.5 26.4
16 5.8 1.7 32.6
18 6.0 1.8 37.3

OK, so from the nicelite website, they claim it's essential to run the wires in parallel straight from the hub terminals. That would mean no switch. Which they claim is fine because the bulbs last for so many thousands of hours. Nobody here has mentioned totally rewiring their system this way when using LED bulbs. I have a feeling this isn't actually necessary, but like most things Dynohub related, I don't know.

If you did that to a derailleur bike you Suburbanized it. Speedsterizing is generally a Sturmey thang, although it does sound much cooler.
http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1...80/1978_23.jpg

Classic! I love these bikes.

It is a 3 way switch , all on, all off and front only. I just leave in on , the LED lasts forever. I have 4 other lights on my helmet - the Dynohub is for purely sentimental reasons.

The only UK superbe I've ever seen with the white bit on the mudguard was a very early one (before 1950), also had a white mudflap on the back. That one is also a mystery. In the UK market lost proper leather saddles some point in the 70s, for vinyl mattress saddles, still branded brooks. Although it was always a "while stocks last" feature anyway.

Erring on the side of this black bike being made in the UK for the European market. Why they had to customize them for each country I can't figure out, considering human beings are roughly the same shape everywhere you go.

Sounds like a misunderstanding - where does it say that? They have circuits up REGULATORS FOR DYNAMO GENERATORS

What they really don't want you doing is, if you're rectifying it to DC, that you try and use the frame as a ground wire, cos then you've got AC and DC banging back into each other. But if you're not doing that then they don't need wiring up any differently to an ordinary bulb. We've got the advantage with dynohubs because they don't use the frame for the circuit.

The principle of operation is that the D in LED will block the current when it's gone the other direction. Doesn't damage anything, but does throw half the power away, and so flashes. An incandescent light bulb stays hot and so still glows for the short time that AC power takes to drop and switch direction, but a LED has a very strict operating voltage and a very fast reaction time. So Flash Flash Flash Flash.

That's why the ones rated for bike bulbs have to be special, they've got a fancy miniaturized regulator in there so it can go down to 2.5V. Still flashes, but not so much. So then its a matter of making sure the power never drops below 2.5V, and for that sturmey archer accidentally solved it for us in ninteen forty whenever with those battery tubes. Little rectifier circuit in there converts the Dynohub's AC power to DC, so that it can't damage the batteries. Then the batteries are hooked to that in parallel. The magic of electrics is that if you offer a load (a light bulb, motor, etc) two sources of power, it always picks the higher voltage one. So the bulb uses the battery until the dynamo voltage is more, and then switches over automatically. (there is also a separate diode there to make sure the 6V of Dynamo power doesn't defeat the battery's 4.5V and result in 1.5V going backwards and blowing them up, but details, details...)

The practical result is you now have bike lights powered by 3 D Cells, but they last for a couple of years because 90% of the time the dynamo is doing it. You can also do one with rechargables, Raleigh used to advertise that as "Car-Type Lighting". The LED beam is very bright but doesn't extend out more than about 3 meters when aiming at the ground, just a limitation of the old headlight reflectors.

It's a little bit of a project, if you don't want your headlight flashing. The other solution is to leave the wiring alone and just ride faster.

This a quote from this page. "Nicelite bulbs should always be wired in parallel - where each bulb is connected directly to the bicycle generator. Do not connect in series."
Starting to get a headache from this nicelite site. I think I need to leave it alone for a while.
NICELITE SUPER LED LIGHT BULBS

Good point.

I Sturmey-ized a Raleigh Marathon... the derailleur hanger got honked up and couldn't accept a derailleur any longer, so I put a wheel with a S-A 2-speed kickback hub on it. It's a bit more of a Racer than the Varsity I suppose. It's the bike in the foreground.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...88688af025.jpg

From fleabay.uk: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232859614350

Advertised as a "Ladies raleigh superb [sic], 1980's." Other than being a rod brake frame, there are a number of similarities to my Superbe. Virtually identical decal layout, brazed seat stays, full chain case with stylized Superbe decal. Rolled welded mudguard stays. Looks like this one may have the modern version of a rear dynohub? And black paint but no white flash on the rear mudguard (on closer inspection perhaps a dark green?)

I wonder if mine was just the top-tier loop frame from this period? Perhaps someone got enthusiastic with the white rattle can on that mudguard? Oh, and no evidence of ever having mudflaps on my bike and the generator wire to the rear tailight is routed through the lower down tube.

Here's the photo from the auction listing:

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...72bbb00f57.jpg

From Yesterday's Ride
 

It was a beautiful day down by the Saint Paul waterfront.

https://i.imgur.com/dm2TgPN.png

I rode my Super Course Sturmey-Archer conversion about 40 miles through the parks along the river. This bike draws a lot of attention whenever I stop to photograph it. Kind of like dating a super-model. :p

.

On this one, the downtube and seat tube transfers match the Danish versions exactly. I think there is some kind of connection.

I've seen many pics of Danish and Dutch bikes with the rear wheel slide lock, which mine has. My downtube/seat tube decals (or I should say what's left of them) are identical to the fleabay bike. Too many coincidences to be ignored? I am finding more of these loop frames by perusing fleabay.uk. Most are identified as 1980's vintage.

Visiting old friends...
 

What a nice collection of British steel you got there! Personally, I'd get to one of the DL-1s pretty quick. Life is better when you have one of those big bad boy roadsters ready to roll when the mood strikes. Nothing else like em.

Yeah he just means in parallel, not series, he's saying "directly" as in "not through other bulbs/phone chargers/mystery things". That doesn't count a switch. A switch is just a swing bridge for electricity, it's not a destination.

It's the standard dark green UK superbe colour. Dynohub is the AG unit that the bike originally came with when the model launched just after the war, never modernized. I have the mens version of this, it's a completely ordinary UK superbe, complete with tattered stump left over from the rubber mudflap that cracks and falls off, and the Brooks vinyl mattress saddle that they want you to forget they ever made.

The UK market bikes went through very very few changes over the decades and most of the ones that did were temporary and reverted. With the exception of the lug pattern being a bit fancier (changed early 60s), the useless rectangular headlight (1979), the decals (once a decade), and the looped crossbar, it is exactly the same as they were at the beginning.

Fixed stays don't mean anything. All 26" Raleighs after WWII have them. Conversely all 28" Raleigh stays are bolted because they were only kept on to market for the police, who only recruited very tall people, so it's still with the ancient 100+ year old design.

Totally run of the mill thing this. Only interesting part is it's still got the saddlebag. Those always vanish.

The connection is they're both made in England but one is changed with a tyre dynamo and worse paint for export :) Probably there is some regulations in Holland, denmark or wherever that says you must have 3W lighting power and a white flash on it's arse. I know germany was like that.

This loop frame light roadster is super rare on this side of the pond. In all my years of fixing old 3 speeds, I have never seen one. Loop frames here are always either ancient pre war bikes or the ladies DL-1L usually from the 70s.

Just can't get over how stunning this super mode....uhm....Sturmeyfied Super Course is! Something to aspire to.

To be honest, now I got the new brake and I'm working on it, I start to doubt the interchangeability. I didn't really tighten the nut yet, just by hand, but there's about a 2 mm gap and it's not turning smoothly. It also seem to wobble slightly when turning. The bike is a Gazelle and Gazelle has a habit of doing things a little bit differently often for the sake of beeing different and beeing able to charge more for parts, even in using SA parts. The company has never been as likeable as the bikes.

I guess I'll have to connect the brakeshoes to the old plate, or do you (or somebody else) have a better idea?

I always thought that if both bulbs share poles on the switch it would be considered series from the switch onward and that parallel would be two separate wires through the whole system. Perhaps I'm wrong. I have a learning curve to go through here.

Interesting Raleigh Built Glider
Seller says 1967, located in Hamilton. Asking price $168.00 (CDN)
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...200794fdf0.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7a3d2110c3.jpg

Another Interesting Bike On Kijiji
This one popped up today in Hamilton and I'm 99.9% sure it's my old Supercycle CCM 3 Speed that I sold to a guy I worked with 5/6 years ago.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5b32892160.jpg
Originally, it had a very nice 3 stage green paint with a silver undercoat.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b7f3fdd562.jpg
I rode this one quite hard for a couple of years. A good work/city bike but decided to sell as I wanted to focus on British built bikes.
The transformation from green to red found here:
https://threespeedmania.wordpress.co...an-old-friend/

Short ride this morning. Diddn't last long.Already getting hot and humid out there. Happy to report that I like these scientific Fibrax brake pads. I don't notice a difference between these and the Kool Stops. Nice looking, higher quality plating on the steel parts too. I'd say these are a very credible alternative to Kool Stops if you want a more traditional look. They're stamped "STEEL" on the side. I assume they're meant for steel rims. Glad I tried them.