:lol: tell me about it. I just got my project bike into ridable state yesterday, a FrankenVega Viva Touring "OK to get it dirty" bike intended for wet surface commuting (so I can restart my commuting season earlier), not directly pertinent to this thread, except that now that I'm ready for the wet, we've been accumulating snow again for the past week and a half, with more to come through the weekend, and it is not a snow bike (nor have I any intention of commuting 28 miles round trip in snow, on any bike).:(
Not that we get a lot of rain here, but I'm anticipating several weeks of intermittently wet roads & trails as the winter snow accumulation melts.
Anyway, beautiful build & story, Sixty Fiver. I am reminded of my best boyhood friend's bike, not a Raleigh I think but an equivalent CCM if there was such a thing, double diamond 23" frame, not sure what size wheels (probably 26"), drop bars and Sturmey Archer 3-speed. It was pretty non-descript at the time with many years and miles on it, but he maintained it in good working order and always ran with the rest of us on our new 10 speeds.

The last time I built a dedicated rain bike we had a drought that lasted two and a half months... :)

This is a Kuwahara Cascade mtb with a Shimano 3 speed (the last rain bike) that I built up a few years ago... sold it to a young lady after a few seasons of riding and she still uses this bike on a daily basis and I see it fairly often.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikepics/kuwie3spd4.jpg

Very nice build, sixty fiver. All it takes is one Raleigh and the next thing you know, you got a garage full. I think I have 5 or 6 variants of the Sports/Superbe plus a Super Course.

I'll be at Lake Pepin on my 68 Superbe and my daughter will be on her 77 Sports, if I ever get it finished. I won't be riding the 3 speed fixed gear this year, once was enough.

I recently joined the club. I found this 68 at the town dump last month (well actually my dad found it). Someday I want to buy or build a drop bar clubman...

Added a brand new B72 but it doesn't look quite right on the bike so I picked up a $20 B66 with a nice matching patina. Whatever saddle I end up using will get cork grips died and shellacced to match.
http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/w...s/100_0096.jpg
http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/w...s/100_0154.jpg

Not to be argumentative, but that's not a Superbe - it's a Sports, kind of. It's one of the "All-Gold Edition" bikes, model number S-22 (the standard Sports is model number DL-22). I know, because I've got one stripped down to bare frame and loose parts in my basement right now, waiting for me to finish the rebuild. The funky chainguard and the twist grip shifters are the giveaway (well, that and the gold paint job).

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=138662

I love those old 3 speeds , too. Great utilitarian transportation.

Very nice, nice story too. It's too bad that the Rudge didn't work out for you, that is one fine bicycle.

*cough*

These are both fixed gear conversions... the Twenty was a 3 speed originally and will be a 3 speed again albeit with an SA SX3 fixed gear hub.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikepics/confetti1a.jpg
1973 Raleigh Gran Sport

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...rest09new4.JPG
1973 Phillip's Twenty

Thank you Aaron, I will.

This thread is aMAZingly fun! Sixty Fiver, I have to say, You're one of the key people
who inspire the rest of us to search these great machines out. It's supposed to get
near ten below zero here overnight and all I can think about is a Raleigh Twenty now.
I'm sunk.

Harv

The paint has seen better days, especially on the fork and chain fender, but she rides like a dream. This is the bicycle that got me into working on old bikes. I got tired of paying people to make repairs for me and just started figuring out how to take it all apart and put it back together. These are old photos, I've added a 30+ year old brooks b72, lights for the dynohub, a nicer looking bell, and taken off the ugly lock clamp. I'll get some new pictures in the spring.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3471/...2649f25c_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2442/...3c432f94_b.jpg

twoducks - That is a beautiful Superbe... I see very few red Sports or Superbes with Raleigh badges on them while Phillip's variants tend to be a little brighter and stand out more.

Thanks, Sixty Fiver. I've seen one other red one around town (Toronto) that is in much better shape than mine. It still has the original lights, pump, and saddle. A blue one in this style recently popped up on our Craigslist too, it took all of my strength not to buy it.

Hey two ducks...do you have an original hub date and maybe serial number for that Superbe? I've only seen a few few with that unusual decal scheme. I have a similar one with a right fork lamp bracket. Nice tyres!

The only Superbe I know of in the U.S. market that came in that two-tone scheme was the '64 Superbe Sports Deluxe. The SSD was Bronze Green with black darts and headtube though, and had matching Bronze Green metallic Bluemels fenders (you have to see them to believe 'em).

Your location is a dead giveaway that it's most likely a Canadian variant though. The Canadian models throughout the 1960's and 1970's notably differ from those sold in the U.S.; white fenders are common on the '60s Sports (forgot what year this started and ended), and the post-1973 examples were produced in an eye-splitting lime green that wasn't available across the border. I believe they did a bright orange variant during this time frame as well. Quite unusual, and possibly the most outlandish colors ever put on the Sports; 10 times more so then the two variants of bright yellow applied to the U.S.-market machines.

Take care,

-Kurt

Kurt, that makes sense. The hubdate on the SA hub is 64.

Clubman, I guess that answers your question. I will take a look for the serial number for you soon, the bike is 'in storage' at my parents' place for the winter.

There are a couple guys trying to sell old Raleighs with similar paint schemes on our Craigs these days. One Orangey/gold Lenton Sports has been going up once a week for about 3 months now:
http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/bik/1615380897.html

There is another one in purple/white that I can't find the link for. Maybe he finally sold it.

wow that bike is super clean...
i love the chrome fenders against the Gold.

Definitely another Canadian variant.

-Kurt

Here's the oddball Superbe...likely not a Canadian bike with the lamp mount unless someone was asleep at the switch. It had EA1 rims and a 58 AW hub. No indication of there ever being a chainguard or mudguards mounted. The other two blue Superbes are from Halifax. Absolutely mint. Mattress saddles though.



http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=138840http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=138842

http://i46.tinypic.com/15oxvdv.jpg

This guy has an enviable collection of bikes...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37002899@N08/

wow i love the white Fork Tips.

Since there are some knowledgeable Canadians reading this post, I would like to know if my Raleigh Trent Sports, see attachment, was of Canadian production. I've looked at the Retro-Raleighs site and it doesn't match-up color wise with the 1958 listing for the model. I have the original, to me, wheels which are EA1's in fairly good condition with a SA date code of 1/70. Any help/ input would be appreciated. Again, great post. PG.

Polishguy - Raleigh started producing bicycles in Canada in 1978 so bikes produced prior to this would have been manufactured in the UK and even after 1978 some models were still imported or they were assembled here in Canada.

what a gorgeous bike...

It looks like you got a lot of those models in Canada. They were English-made, though. I don't know if they were designed specifically for Canada.

There is a trend among earlier Raleigh's to be very sedate and reserved in their colour choices while their captive brands like Phillip's and Trent came in much brighter colours and believe this helped set the brands apart.

Though - if I may add an addendum - the Nottingham factory was actively producing variants for sole marketing in Canada (and of course, the U.S.). The U.K. line often differed in its own right.

-Kurt

So was the Lenton name solely for the Canadian market? I've only heard of it here on bikeforums and only from Canadians.

Thanks for all your info folks. Without Googling it yet, was "Trent" an actual brand name that Raleigh absorbed?

'Follow my example and ride a Lenton'

The popular, well-tried Lenton Sports has proved its worth during the past years and today we know it to be the undoubted thoroughbred of its class. The name has come to be associated with all that is best in cycling, thanks to an outstanding specification combined with the high standard of Design, Quality and Finish so well known to Raleigh Dealers and their customers. This machine represents exceptional value for money.

--Reg Harris

The Raleigh Lenton Sports was in production longer than any of Raleigh's Club models and was produced from 1949 until 1963 and was also sub branded as the Rudge Pathfinder, Trent Tourist, and Triumph Torrington.

The Trent was a lower cost model that appeared in 1951 or 1952 and used a high tensile frame instead of Reynolds 531 and was a best selling model for Raleigh.

These were made for the British and export market and was not a Canadian specific model... they are probably more common here as Canada was a better market for Raleigh as the U.S. had rather high import duties on British goods to protect their domestic manufacturers like Schwinn.

There seems to be regional differences in many Raleigh bicycles so a Raleigh sold in Canada could have been a little different than the bike sold in the UK or for a bike sold in India or Holland... the most notable difference in old Raleighs is the full chain case we see on British bikes vs the hockey stick guard on North American roadsters.

Thank you. Very interesting. Given the tariffs, it's impressive that Raleighs and Peugeots et al sold as well as they did.

Do you know what's with import tariffs in the US and Canada now? I suspect it's still pretty high on bike parts, but I don't know about bikes.