I thought they were sent as special display bikes to dealers....
I want one!

That's the explanation for the chrome bikes; mostly the chrome Sports from the late 1970's. It does not explain these specific DL-1 editions, which are absolutely distinct from the US-market DL-1's.

Unlike US market bikes, these carry no "Tourist" badging, no Rampar logos, Sir Walter on the seattube and forks, and "RALEIGH - THE ALL STEEL BICYCLE" on the chainguard, which is mirrored by any of the secondary brand versions such as the '79 Rudge, which wears a decal in the same exact format, only bearing the Rudge slogan (RUDGE - BRITAIN'S BEST BICYCLE) from BITD. Let's not forget that Rudge was supposed to be dead after 1972, too.

Even the few US-market 1973+ DL-1s with chaincases exhibit none of these features. Wire stays, wide raised handlebars, Tourist badging, Rampar everywhere instead of Sir Walter, no Dynohub or DBU, and no "The All Steel Bicycle" slogans to be found.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f5e99c839b.jpg

-Kurt

I still want one...

cudak888 yes there is a key lock on the fork

but I don't have the key
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...85febef93b.jpg

Every time I come back to this forum I'm always in awe of the beautiful vintage bikes shown off here. I'm going to have to pull my Raleigh 20 out from the garage and show her off this weekend! I still have the 10 post limit though :(

My DL1 sold new in Hamilton ON Canada in 1979. I had a 1977 for a while but sold it. It had no no chainguard and likely had been sold that way as chaincase delete was an option I understand. Can any fellow Canadians confirm that?
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8935e2bd03.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...945ebc621a.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0ecffe2574.jpg

I happened on a parts bike today that looks like its going to give me some proper Dunlop rims for the Dunelt I picked up back in January.
They came along with two other bikes, one being a mid to late 60's Raleigh Sports, in a 22" frame, and a 1961 ladies sports that's all torn apart.
The rims that came off the Sports are pretty close to being correct for the Dunelt, the hub is dated 1962, the rims are worlds better than what I had. They have some
brake wear on the sides but not nearly as bad as what I had. The rear rim has a small dent on the inside face, but its dead true and not rusty.
The tires are even usable if I don't swap over the original Dunlop tires from the existing rims. I should be able to make that bike 100% now.
Plus, I now have a Raleigh Sports as well to play with, although its a mix of random parts. The fenders are black, likely off the ladies bike, the forks are green, and the frame is brown, and its got a brooks padded saddle that likely came off a later Sprite. Its probably a candidate for a full repaint to make everything match.

Here's the wheels after a quick wash:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d09eaf38cf.jpg

I was able to ride the Sports with these rims, it actually rode just fine.
How many would just lube the wheel bearings and oil the hub and call it good on the rear wheel?
Or should I break open the hub and go completely through it? Its shifts fine as is, but I have no history on it at all.

I'm also not thrilled with the 'Safety-Lite' tires on these rims, they're in okay shape for now but I strongly prefer a more conventional British looking tread.
These have their share of sidewall cracks but nothing that will be of any concern anytime soon. And even these would look better than a modern too narrow set of Kenda tires in my opinion.

Is there anything else, especially on FB and CL. There's no way I'd do an in person deal and accept any form of Paypal.
Its Here's the bike, take it or leave it, show me cash or leave me alone.

Maybe I've gotten a bit cynical lately but I have zero tolerance for all the games people play these days. I've had emails with all sort of crazy offers, they want to trade you a non working microwave and two burned up toasters for a ready to ride bike, and 'They're willing to let it all go out of the goodness of their heart'. I listed a wood stove over the winter, it came from the clean out i did of several trailers and some old guy's house. The thing was in perfect working order, I was asking $100 cash for it. I got offers to trade for four bald tires, kittens, horse manure, and a pet snake. I guess if you don't specify NO TRADES - CASH ONLY, your opening yourself to all sorts of crazy these days.

I listed several complete bikes, the last was a Columbia three speed, the AW hub said 1967. The bike was decent, everything worked and the tires held air. I put $75 on it. It was perfectly ridable, I was using it while we did that clean out to run back and forth to the road during the clean out and was using it around here for a bit. I got no replies at all, other than one offer to trade for a non working Nintendo. It finally sold the other day for $50 to the first person who was smart enough to make an offer and actually drive here with cash. A rare occasion lately.

I made the mistake once of listing something for free here. We had a yardsale and had a ton of old clothes we didn't want to pack up. I posted on CL under the free section and in 10 minutes I had 25 cars here and dozens of women fighting over old clothes. Worse yet, the next day I had two different woman trying to return the 'free' clothes saying they didn't fit.
I'll never do another yard sale and never list anything as Free again here. All day during the yardsale I had to keep stopping people from trying to walk into the house and garage, despite the fact I had it roped off. I had guys showing up asking if I had any tools for sale, and "What's in the garage, can I take a look?". I had to move my car off the street and back behind the house because people kept trying the door handle to see if it was locked. I sold a lot of things but mostly just junk, no one would spend more than $2 at a time.

After that clean out, I've got a ton of things I don't need and will never use, but from what I've seen none of it is worth anything. I listed one of the complete Raleigh Sports in as found condition and never got an email at $150, the bike isn't gone through but its completely ridable as it sits yet the best offer I got was $20 or trade for junk.

Its been my experience that FB is a total waste of time, I get zero response there both as a seller and buyer. CL is a case of 'seller beware'.
I had a guy show up to look at a Raleigh Sprite I listed, the bike was 100% original, from around 1977. Some guy showed up and started measuring the bike and told me I had it mis-listed. The frame was a 23.5" frame, he starts on the bit about it only being 23 3/16", and then starts telling me that the handlebars are wrong for the bike, and he's got a tape measure out to show me that the bars are 1/2" too wide for it to be a 'real' Sprite. At that point I basically threw the guy out.
3/4 of all the people who say they're coming to look at something don't show, out of those who do, about 2% have cash and intend to buy something.

I had a guy drive 400 miles in an old V8 pickup truck to look at a bike I listed, he gets here late on a Saturday, after getting lost a half dozen time trying to find me, then tells me he's just looking, but if he likes it, he'll think about coming back up this way to buy it. I was relieved when it sold the next day to someone else.

I think part of the problem is that people are getting stupider with every generation. Who in their right mind drives 400 miles to just take a look at something? He likely spent more than the bike was worth in gas to just come and take a look.
I don't know what's worse, those who come to just take a look or those who show up driving a mini cooper to by a 14ft aluminum row boat. The guy and his woman flip the boat over on top of the car, tie it all down then can't figure out how to get in the car. after some creative crawling they're back in the car, then they realize they can't see out of the windshield. The boat prevented any of the doors from being opened and blocked all forward and rearward view,. One suggestion I heard was that if he taped the cell phone to the front of the boat, he could use his girlfriends phone to see where he was going. And they were serious. I told the idiot if he tried that I'd be the one who called the police. They messed around for two hours finally getting the boat mounted on top of the car so they could see out of the windshield, but none of the other windows. They left from central PA to Maine at 9pm. I never heard from them after that so I'm assuming they made it wherever they were going. The boat was bigger than the car. They had it tied down with electrical tape and one motorcycle tie down at the rear.

I'd never do another yard sale after the last one I helped my wife's parents with. We did a basement and garage clean out, and this produced a number of items, some new and some old. Nothing was great, but it wasn't pure crap either. People expect nothing to cost more than $2.00, they wander the yard and driveway freely despite trying to limit people to just the sidewalk, and every customer thinks himself a sharp Arab trader when it comes to bargaining.

When I finally moved houses about 2&1/2 years ago, my wife opted to use a private Facebook group for "free items" that was mainly her circle of friends and their friends in the area. It worked out much better. I'd leave the item in a designated place outside, and the person who volunteered to take it from the group showed up and took it. We only had one flake who didn't show out of maybe 25. I attribute this to the group being private rather than open to just anyone from the public, and being basically an extended circle of friends amounting to a few hundred people.

-------

I also have a "different" DL-1. I believe it was originally in West Germany or Austria originally. It had West German tires and tubes on it, if I recall. The chain case was replaced with a Birmingham-style chain guard, but that matched reasonably well. My guess would be a serviceman based in West Germany had it and brought it back. My father-in-law was stationed in West Germany back in the early 1960s, and he recalled some of his army buddies having bicycles because they couldn't afford or were not allowed to have cars.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RqUPYeTYH...609_183630.jpg

Can we get back to talking about bikes and moan about sales and flipping in the Valuations forum where this belongs?

It's bad enough that all 3-speed convos have become lumped into this monolithic thread that's impossible to search through easily; worse when it's full of these text walls of local market analyses - 3-speed content or otherwise.

Well, that confirms the last part of what I suspected - the chrome bikes and the Rudge are almost identical in specification.

So that's your 1979 DL-1, as purchased, with chaincase, correct? I find it interesting that it's obviously a US-spec model with Rampar logos everywhere, but the chainrugard is isn't US-spec, as if it was added after the fact.

Does it have any "Made in England / Assembled in Canada" stickers similar to the US bikes mentioned earlier? It might explain part of the combination of a US frame with the international-spec transfers on the chainguard.

What year is it? The tubing sticker and vertical "RALEIGH" lettering look early-1960s.

-Kurt

You should be able to read a key number on the face of the lock. Give that to a locksmith and have a key made.
Or go here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/RALEIGH-BIC...-/173560159537

[QUOTE=cudak888;22016022]Can we get back to talking about bikes and moan about sales and flipping in the Valuations forum where this belongs?

So that's your 1979 DL-1, as purchased, with chaincase, correct? I find it interesting that it's obviously a US-spec model with Rampar logos everywhere, but the chainrugard is isn't US-spec, as if it was added after the fact.

Does it have any "Made in England / Assembled in Canada" stickers similar to the US bikes mentioned earlier? It might explain part of the combination of a US frame with the international-spec transfers on the chainguard.

-Kurt[/QUOTE
This bike was sold in the city of Hamilton ON Canada and little used but stored in leaky sheds and outdoors for years. I bought it from my brother-in law who bought at a Hamilton bar on night in the 90s. It still had the Raleigh branded Coaster tires on it. It was obvious that no one had cared enough about it to modify it. Because the shop was still in business, I called and the owners daughter remembered them selling a very few of these models. The Serial# is N for Nottingham and definitely made in England. Canada had Raleigh Production in Canada from 1973 but most dealers got bikes from both sources depending on their order mix. DL1 were never produced in Canada to my knowledge.
I don't quite understand what you mean by Rampar. That term was never used in Canadian marketing. I assume you mean the stylized R?. Canadian Sports production used that as well. I will check what info I have on the 1977 model I sold as well. I know you have a great knowledge of the Raleigh in America, and I have referred to it often but it often does not jive with Canadian specs.
The only modification I made to "Sir Wayes A. Tonne" was to move the shift cable to the top tube, it did run along the downtube.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...adb3038e7c.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...117e706480.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d5ada5fc6b.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...33baced8a1.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9bfc7ac159.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...10a82beea9.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5d3d89e278.jpg

Those stylized "R"s are, indeed, the logo of Rampar (Raleigh America Parts). It stands to reason it was built in Nottingham as generic North American stock and outfitted accordingly. I'm just surprised it wears that export-style decal on the chainguard instead of "Tourist," and that it's placed on the bottom where the Tourist lettering would otherwise be.

If you have anything on the '77, that would be nice to have. Without a guard, there's not much one can draw from though - and I think it's established that Canadian Raleighs did carry the Rampar logo.

-Kurt

The 1979 and 1977 Canadian sold models. The non-chain case 1977 was sold at the Canadian Vintage Bicycle Show in 2018. The decals on the 77 were actually better than SWAT.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d1d5a72bd0.jpg

This was a 1979 made in Canada (R serial#) Sports I recently had to scrap. The stem was so seized in the fork so hard that I could not remove it. Unfortunately I sawed it off and the hole down the center was too small for a blade so I took the parts and scrapped the rest. In retrospect I wish I had sawed away the fork and kept the stem. I like those SR stems.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...236d0cf827.jpg

That's kinda strange with the bashguard bolted on to a Heron crank, which pushed the chain guard way up. Those Canadian made Sports soon got alloy cranks and brake levers and then poof, they were gone.

Get a can of Kroil www.kanolabs,com

I've pulled seized stems and seatposts that LBSs thought were unremovable using Kroil.

Does anyone know a US source for SA shift wires (inner cables)?

I know we're here for the 3-speeds but that makes all of us odd ducks right out of the gate, so if someone wants to regale the group with a tale or two of CL flakes or yard sale horror, I'll keep reading.

Most bike shops still stock those (they did...)
$8.00-$12.00.
I usually buy 2 or 3 if they have them in stock.

Thanks! I'll ask around locally.

They're overpriced, but I usually get one of these modern ones and install them through Raleigh ribbed housing, when the combo calls for it: https://www.amazon.com/CABLE-Speed-S.../dp/B000AO5K5G

I always save the adjuster end off of trashed cables to re-use - I always solder a brass sleeve onto the end of the new cable after cutting it to length, instead of dealing with that terrible cable clamp provided on the aftermarket sets.

-Kurt

You can buy the cable kit and re use your original housing if you prefer.

Gster, all I want is the inner wire. I have plenty of fresh housing. But I can't find a source for just the wire. Well, actually, I noticed that Jagwire offers them in the UK, so I've emailed to ask if they have them available here. My LBS guy tells me he grinds down the nub on a derailleur wire to make it work. I may have to bring a wire over and use his grinder. We'll see.

Thanks Kurt. I'm just trying, until there's no other choice, to avoid buying more housing I don't need.

I have used stainless shift cables many times. I usually use a a small (1" diameter) stone in my bench drill press to size the end and finish with a file.

The last time I ordered cables I think it was actually cheaper to buy the whole kit then to buy just the wire.
None of the local shops stock anything here, many don't even do repairs. They tell you 'go to our website' or 'drop it off, we have a guy who comes on xday to do repairs.

The last time I ordered the kits they were under $6 each but its been a few years now.
I like the idea of using the stainless cable and making it fit, it sort of makes it a forever fix since rust is usually what kills cables.
It wasn't all too long ago I was still able to buy ribbed cable housing, but I don't remember who had it. I ordered a roll of it in red for a project I was doing about 5 years ago or so.

On most of my bikes I try to run only the original one piece original cables, I hopefully have stashed enough away to last me the rest of my life.
The last drawer full of them came from a shop that closed up in the 70's.

Nice find! Those are getting kind of rare lately. I'm not sure whats up lately but nearly ever steel rim I get is worn through the chrome. I never remember seeing that so much before.
I've got bikes from the 50's that came to be 10 or so years ago with perfect chrome, and several of my personal rides still have perfect chrome after years of use.
Worn through rims were never an issue until lately for some reason, and I can't see it just being contributed to them being used for so long because many of the wheels I came across have been parked and have sat for decades or more. I've got a Dunelt myself that I've owned for 45+ years, it was my beater bike for the first 10 years and it lived outdoors under a tarp for another 10 yet the rims are like new. I rode that bike all year long, through road salt, rain, dirt, everything and the rims shine like the day they were new. The old Lucas Cyclometer turned over a dozen or more times back in the day and the rims still look just fine.
These bikes had decent chrome, and mine shows no wear after all these years, yet I see bikes that were obviously garage queens that have worn out rims.
All I can figure is like my grandpop used to say, "Some folks can break a crowbar in a sandbox".

The bikes that really get me are those with the oddball jury rigs. I had a guy bring me a bike a few months ago because he couldn't figure out how to get the tire off.
The fact he couldn't change the tire or get the wheel off didn't surprise me, but the fact that he rode the bike with the rear fender pushed in and rubbing the tire for so long that the reflector screw basically cut the tire in two halves right down the middle. An hour after he picked it up, he calls me to tell me its the best tire he ever had, the bike even pedals easier now. (I bent the fender back out away from the tire while the wheel was off, plus I adjusted the brakes so they didn't rub, and trued the wheel a bit). The tire wasn't anything special just a $12 Kenda tire. It won't last though, that sort of bike owner sooner or later screws something up one way or another. Its only a matter of time he bashes that fender back into the tire and grinds down another tire.

I never understood how someone could ride a bike with something dragging like that, so much wasted energy for nothing.

Colt!

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...46742776768803

https://scontent.fric1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...d6&oe=609D70AF

This one has 1962 hubs on it, and that seems about right for the bike. It originally had a very heavy and somewhat damaged West German drop stand on the back instead of the kickstand. One of lugs on the drop stand was totally sheared off and it was really, really heavy for a stand. I ended up replacing with one of the ESGE type bottom kickstands, which helped how it rode. It originally appeared on Ebay for sale a number of years ago, but was local pick up only in western PA (or maybe far western NY State? I don't recall.). Eventually another bike guy bought it but he didn't end up doing anything with it. It appeared a few years later on the CABE and I recognized it because I had wanted to buy it when it was on eBay, so I made an offer and bought it from the bike guy, who shipped it to me and did a good job of it. It's funny how some of these bikes will turn up a second time, which often is not the case when you actually find something you want to buy.

I wish 3-speeds would get a sub forum in C&V. I suggested that a couple of years ago, but no dice. This thread alone has thousands of responses. Maybe one day...