I bought the Grand Prix from the original owner. Well, actually his wife sold me the bike. She posted it on Craigslist in 2007. On my way to buy it, I called her to let her know I'd be there soon and she told me her husband wouldn't let her sell it. The next year, she e-mailed me asking if I wanted the bike. I called her back and said I did. Went to pick it up 2 days later and met her and the husband. I asked who I should give the money to and the husband told me to pay his wife. The GP is in excellent condition; afterall it was hanging in their garage for twenty years!

I've just bought a Raleigh 23" framed Roadster in the dark green, 4 speed Sturmey hub, rim brakes (not rod), 26" wheels. Full chain case, "the all-steel bicycle" transfers, and full lighting kit including rear dynohub and the battery tube thingy on the seat tube.
Got it on ebay for the cost of a new B73 - 77 pounds Stirling. And it comes with a nicely-aged B73.
It has an ugly more-modern rear light on it, but luckily I recently bought some fantastic NOS Sturmey lights with the wiring loom for a rear dynohub, so perfect swap.

So I am happy

I now need to rationalise my collection of bicycles in the UK before going home to NZ in July.
I need to sell a 60s BSA 3 speed - great little bike but too small for me. Everything on it works.
I need to shed the Raleigh Trent Tourist. It has front dynohub, 3 speed which sticks and I will need to clean the hub and get it going before selling.
And I will take the newly-acquired green Raleigh home as my example of the quintessential British bike.
And it will sit beside my much older BSA 28" wheeler pathracer replica

And I had better stop buying bikes...
...although there is this lovely Carlton mixte 3 speed for sale at home..
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/List...x?id=275186927

Where are the pictures of this excellent bicycle?

What about standing on the pedals with an AW? I know everyone says not to do it, but I've always assumed that that has to do with the danger of slipping into the "neutral" position between 2 and 3. If so, that suggests to me that it should be fairly safe to stand in 1, which of course is the gear in which you'd be most likely to need extra oomph. Would that in fact be okay? I tend not to stand even in 1, but maybe I'm being too cautious.

I stand in 1 all the time. I believe it only can go neutral in 2 or 3. My brother has stitches to prove it, and I have the bike with a replacement fork and crank arm...

Aaron :)

How did I never post in this thread?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2074/...ac689290_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2058/...a05dd6d872.jpg

I live dangerously. I stand in all gears.

I really think that if an AW is set up properly it will not skip under normal conditions and even under high pedaling loads but when you stand up and hammer the pedals you get a little frame flex and this is probably enough to change the cable tension enough to cause it to slip.

On my old 3 speed road bike I managed to get it up to 56 kmh on a flat run and got it to skip a little in 3rd when I tried to push the bike up to 60 kmh... and I was seated.

I have never had any of my other three speeds skip gears on me... making sure that everything is set up properly and that the shifter is working smoothly and does not hang between gear positions.

One should check the cable tension regularly... my 10 year old likes to jump curbs on her three speed and has knocked her wheel out of place by just enough to throw off her shifting. Better lock washers solved this issue and I have told her she needs to be a little nicer to her bike.

I never, ever get tired of seeing that bike.

:)

I've never seen it before. onetwentyeight, tell us about it.

I've come to the realization that 3 speeds are inherently noisy. I just went back to the original Brooks vinyl saddle on the Phillips - even after a liberal coating of dry lube, the thing squeaks at every pedal revolution and bump, the rear fender rattles itself loose every 50-100 miles, and the shift lever drives me so unbelievably insane with it's rattling that it's just second nature to stick my hand under it to keep it still while riding.

Speaking of which, is there any way to silence the springs on an old mattress saddle, or to tighten the shifter enough so that the lever doesn't rattle?

You ought to be able to quiet all of those noises. I don't remember ever hearing a shifter rattling. You may do well to replace it. Or maybe you can take it apart and fashion some sort of plastic bushing in the most rattly area.

Spray lubricant will get rid of a squeaky saddle.

I love the fact my old 3 speeds have alwaus been very quiet running bikes with nothing but a quiet tick tick tick as we roll along.

A little WD-40 on the springs often will suffice to quiet them down. And the shift lever housing is riveted together. Try re-peening the rivets to tighten it up.

How does one re-peen the rivets? Take a hammer and punch to them?

Yup, exactly. :)

It sounds like I don't need to worry so much about standing, at least in low gear. In any case, I'm turning 56 in a couple of months, so my testicles no longer seem quite as indispensable as they once did.

I was told when I bought it it was a Flyer from the mid 40s previously owned by a British olympian who used it as a training bike. I had it set up as a regular track bike for a while, but eventually got bored with that set up as I have another track bike i prefer. The geometry is classic track, but I switched from 27" rims to 700c to give me clearance for 700x32 dry condition cross tires (Challenge Grifo). I put on Mafac Racer centerpulls for braking, and found a mismatched titan stem and bar combo. The levers are mystery french ones from a friend. The rear hub is a sturmey archer ASC, which is the original 3 speed fixed gear hub. It's pretty solid, I've done some hard rides on it (off road, even) and it's held up pretty well. Im a bit concerned about its longevity as such a rare item that I mostly use it for strolling around town. its a little twitchy but a fun bike for zipping around the city.

I have more pictures here, including my modified campy cable guides and other nerdy touches. The only changes I've made since the photos is replace the toe straps with some binda extras and replaced the front wheel with a high flange campy track hub laced to an MA2, as I wanted the generator hub for my Jack Taylor Tour of Britain.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/onetwen...7604107677034/

That's a really pretty bike and I'd love to have it myself (or at least just take it for a spin around the block), but with the super steep drop of the stem, that has got to be the weirdest looking bar/stem combo I've ever seen.

thank you. Ive tilted the bars down a little since those photos. it feels a lot like an old motorcycle cockpit, low, but with a square wrist position. the frame is a hair big for me so between the back swept bars, moderate saddle height, and the dropped stem I'm pretty comfy. the bike is certainly a weird mashup between vintage race and townie, the cockpit falls in line with the rest. I make no pretense that this is a "proper" build by any means, just a mish mash of things I like that work well together.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3136/...58baf2acd6.jpg

this bike let me score the above at the 2008 santa cruz wildcat... it was a prize for speed, not aesthetics. ~30+ miles of both on and off road... The oldest bike by decades.

That's awesome!

I am pretty sure that is what happened to my brother. The bike is the old beat up Sports that I have, he was on his way home from work late at night and was probably really rolling. It happened when he was in college and he was a strong rider, and not strong on bike maintenance.

Aaron :)

You could get one of these: http://www.taipeitradeshows.com.tw/p...7&docno=106843

Does Brookes make a relaxed testicle model like that yet?

onetwentyeight, that is one heck of a bike. Those levers are Mafac. I had them. They are excellent.