If you don't think you can rebuild the wheels, just send them off to a bike shop (one that your brother trusts, maybe) and have them do it ... if you can afford it.

For hauling kids, yes, the largest possible rear cog will be your friend (22 is normally the largest ... but have I heard somewhere about someone making some 24s?). Be aware that you may be surpassing the manufacturer's low-limit on the hub. Get advice here or contact Harris Cyclery or Mark Stonich (bikesmithdesign.com) for a consult.

Edit: Ah, this is what I'm remembering: http://bikesmithdesign.com/cogs/index.html

Looking at the Niagara site... here are some of the cog (=sprocket, same thing) choices:

22-T Shimano Nexus cog

But I'm pretty sure this is functionally the same thing:

E-type 22-T sprocket

One word of warning, on those. Bigger sprocket may require longer chain! Get back to us if you need advice on that.

All the remarks about new rims, etc., are true; but perhaps the benefits are a bit exaggerated. If your existing wheels are in good condition, just keep them. Yes, you can upgrade them and yes, you can make the bikes lighter and better... but this is not necessary. These are very well made bikes, built to last many thousands of miles, and they probably haven't gone a hundred yet. Properly treated, they will outlast all of us.

+1 Swooning

Did they really make rod brakes in 1978?

Sorry if I sound ignorant....but what is a low-limit for a hub? Too much weight?

Exactly.

Put air in the tires, a little oil in the hub, and ride.

Took this a few weeks ago down at the Hudson River. My 1951 Rudge Sports Light

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...s/IMG_8001.jpg

Congrats on the find(s) tinypurple

Methinks you owe seller a beer :-).

I pull our littleguy in an MEC wagon here on the prairie and during a trip to the steeps of Vancouver on my '84 sports. [photo below] Definitely looking forward to getting a bigger cog on there. My plan now is to have a low geared machine for trailering and a 20 or 22T bike for solo quicktrips. [and another for rain and another for winter and another for etc etc]

The MEC hitch bolts onto the axle, like the Chariot one and the axle on the AW hub is not quiiiiite long enough, but I did it anyway and added a second beefier safety strap. Unlike the Chariot, the MEC hitch wants to hang out behind the axle thus:

http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_d...=1277477898391

so downward pressure on the hitch makes it want to pivot down and up, depending on loading and on roadbumps etc, and I can't get the axle nut tight enough to prevent that without threatening the integrity of the diminished number of threads who have been brought to bear. Perhaps it would be possible to find a longer axle to better accomodate trailer hitches of this sort? Of course then you'd have to rebuild the hub...

You can affix a hitch to the frame, of course. But best of all would be to have a shorter tongue and pivot point directly behind the rear wheel as astronomerroyal does in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaQJIdpVRYc

(also on my todo list :)) Then you could secure to the frame and leave the axle be.


As for the salmon Continental Kool-stops (thanks for that tip guys) one of my LBSs is thanking me for pestering him enough to pester his supplier enough to import them, and now he plans to stock them. These bikes will lay rubber just by changing the pads :-).

http://saskatoontrail.org/linkableim...um800-0001.JPG[/QUOTE]

On the Lake Pepin 3-Speed Tour:

Attachment 157062
My wife and I.

Attachment 157061
Changing a flat later that day.

Yes, I'm sure there is such a thing as too much weight. You probably don't have to worry about it. A somewhat more common problem, though still quite rare, comes when you over-torque the hub:

The manufacturer put on an 18T cog on the hub so you couldn't put too much torque into it, because if you put too big a cog on there, you could seriously over-torque the hub, which will sooner or later lead to breakage of some of the internal parts (which can be repaired surprisingly easily). What I'm recommending, a 22T cog/sprocket, is well within the acceptable range.

Torque is torque, and you can increase the torque you generate by lowering the ratio or by increasing the weight. You can also do it by pedaling harder.

I'm willing to risk an AW hub by putting on a monstrously large cog. I'm glad to know of all these sources. I might renovate my new Rudge that way. 26T, wow. I doubt I'll need a gear that low, though.

I'm not positively sure, but I don't think you have to speak very loudly to attract his attention--that is, I think (but am not positive) that he walks among us.

That's a good thing.

They STILL make bikes with them. Raleigh discontinued the DL-1 Tourist in 1985, so that was the last year from them. Flying Pigeon and Eastman of India still make and sell them every day.

Aaron :)

Raleigh sold a good number of Tourists here in 1978... it is rare for me to see a rod brake DL1 that does not have a 1978 date code.

They all seem to have been sold by the same bike shop and wonder if they were brought in for the Commonwealth games... will have to do some checking on this.

I have been seeing quite a few 1979 ones recently here in the Midwest. I wonder if a distributor ordered up a container of them? Mine is a 1979 and came out of the Quad Cities area. I have confirmed dating on at least 6 others in the past few weeks.

Aaron :)

Same in Toronto, lots of 78's...big sales campaign of the time I gesss>

Sixty Fiver...did you ever get that Maillard QR ends? PM if you need them.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=157199

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=157200

the Raleighs asked for a family photo today, so here are the 2 brothers and older sister

Blue one is a Trent Tourist, with SW hub which works well now it is oiled! the monkey from whom I purchased Trent had filled the hub with grease. Now he changes gear, although sometimes a bit slowly 'cos of the residual grease.
Unfortunately Trent is probably staying in UK when I return to NZ in a month. Any takers?

I have posted the other two before.
The green one is a 1955 'All Steel Bicycle' roadster, stainless Dunlop rims and FG 4 speed dynohub. It rides like a new bike and I suspect has had little use. It is very dirty at the moment, covered in wind-blown pollen and dust. Coming home to NZ.

Big sis is a 1939 loop frame, very rusty, but works well apart from the brakes. I love riding these 28" wheelers the best. They are the cruisiest rides on their big, 1 1/2" tyres and lazy-angled springy frames. The hub works perfectly (AW-9 - an early 1939 AW) and she's comin' home too. She's sporting a new ladies saddle from Brooks

They just wanted you all to see them, so enjoy

Wao, awesome troika. Can see you wouldn't want to bid them farewell. Curious when and why the builders switched to 26" tyres. Smoother roadways? Saving weight? According to Sheldon's chart your 28x1&1/2s would be 635mm compared to 622mm for a 700c. I thought I had seen the Canuck 28" on one of his charts, but can't find it now. My old loopframe's 28" rims seem to fit 700c tyres nicely. They are made in England by Dunlop but made for the Canuckistan market perhaps? I dunno if they differ in actual diameter from your 28"'s. Did big sis have any trouble finding tyres she took a shine to?

Love those chainguards, er chaincases.

Gotta say thanks for finding me those ends and just sending them off to me... :thumbs:

terra came by this morning to ride her new DL1... don't think it could have gone to a better home than this as it will get much love.

:)

She'll get lots of love and she and sweet talking:)

The grand old lady...

http://ravingbikefiend.com/bikepics/dl1afterside.JPG

Interesting that it still has the white fender blaze, my 1979 does not. US market versus domestic? FWIW the head light bracket on my 1979 is not a standard Heron design it is a cut out designed for mounting a reflector. The rear reflector was clamped onto the seat stay. Curiouser and curiouser...

Aaron :)

Beautiful Rudge. Great shot, and a great bicycle. Does the headlamp/dyno still work?

She is sooo purdy:D

Anybody got an easy fix for a Raleigh pump? Picked up a 69 Sports last weekend. Has the pump but the rubber plunger is stiff and cruddy and no longer even touches the inside of the pump barrel. I would love to get it working. I'll post some pics when I get a camera. I need to share because to me it's a thing of beauty. It's in the basement and I'm up and down the stairs all day to clean or gawk. Right now I'm trying to flush out the freewheel with ATF, when I got it it didn't click at all but it's coming around now. Thanks to Sixty Fiver on the ATF thing.

Fiona--you must be the same one who posted on oldroads? I just replied earlier to you today saying to check here! :^)