Interesting. I'll have to play with it a bit to see which I prefer.

FWIW, the 50s and early 60's Schwinn Racer 3-speed had a braze-on bracket for the pulley, mounted on the bottom of the top tube near the seatpost rather than the seat tube.

With the pulley up high, the shift cable is a little less affected by movement of the axle in the dropouts. This isn't often any problem, though.

The problem I've run into with the pulley by the bottom bracket is that sometimes my shoe catches on the shift cable and causes an inadvertent gear change.

It is interesting reading about the pulley arrangements on English built and US built bikes.
In NZ a company called Morrison had the franchise for Raleigh and on the NZ builds and the cable was housed in outer from the shifter all the way down over the BB cage and halfway along chain stay where the inner is exposed to the hub
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=356780
As you can see here, it looks messy (not as neat as the pulley system) but does run well when everything is all good with the hub, unfortunately it is not with this one, shifter needs replacing too, not too easy to find here, so I will try to make it work, I have a new cable and a back up hub so when I am clear of some projects I will get into it, it can't be that hard.

Other than the obvious routing differences on step through versus regular diamond frames, the factory made a change in the late 70's early 80's and moved the pulley to the bottom of the seat post. Earlier bikes (prior to ~1965?) had a post brazed/welded on for the pulley, after that they were clamp on. Some bikes made in the 1980's had full length cable housing to the rear stay. An lot of excess friction in my opinion. My personal preference is along the top tube, if you have a hub that is sticking a bit you can grab the cable and give it a yank to free things up while riding.

Aaron :)

Like wahoonc, I've found the bikes that used cable casing all the way down to midway on the rear stay would occasionally have friction problems and hang up. I'd always considered it a mark of a higher end roadster to use a pulley rather than cable casing.

Of course, the one exception to this rule was the Raleigh Twenty. Without the cable casing routing, folding would have been impossible. And I've never had a problem with the casings on those bikes. Probably not hurt by the cable/casing setup was shorter than a full-sized roadster.

I put a Brown B17 on to the green bike today, I will get a pic tomorrow. Awesome thread lets keep them coming, have any of the older posters made any changes to their bikes?

Good stuff Aaron.

I think the braze on pulley tab didn't show up until around 1950 - 1952.

http://sheldonbrown.com/raleigh.html shows clamp-on pulley as fitted in the late 40's then braze on from '52 with no info for 1950 or 51. Goes back to clamp on in 61.

That site is good, but not perfect, I think. I have a frame with a serial number nnnnn AK - which would make it early sixties according to the charts. But the forks are squashed and slotted with the old retention method (the indent is on the outside of the fork, rather than the inside), and the oiler is on the left rather than the right side, meaning it isn't a '61 or 2.

http://www.kurtkaminer.com/TH_raleigh_serials.html#47 has other serial number charts, which show two standards in place in the late 40's. That's the nice thing about standards: there are so many of them.

I have the bits and bobs to convert my 1972 Superbe and 1973 Colt to alloy rims, also a whole bunch of parts for my 1981 DL-1, adding a full chain case, heavy rear rack with built in kickstand, etc. Just need to clear out the shop and make room to work. Too many farm/home/work projects have gotten in the way... AGAIN!

Aaron :)

Bought this Carlton 5 speed(I know it is not a 3 speed, still cool though?) today off an auction site over here, I will pick it up in a week or 2 will post more pics when I get it.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=357143

I finally got around to getting most of the parts I need for this one:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8296/7...af0881ff_c.jpg

It's a 67 Sprite 5* speed that's getting new rims, Panaracer tires, a brown B67S and new grips. Now I just need to decide if I'm keeping the very fragile feeling DT shifters or switching up to something a bit sturdier.

* It still qualifies, right? It's really more like a three speed with an extended high and low gear.

3 Speed Trottle Shifters
 

I swapped out the original shifters on my 5 speed for these "throttle" style ones which are quite nice.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=357148http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=357149

Oh, nice!! Now I'm on the hunt. Thanks for the suggestion!

Don't feel bad. I don't get to work on any more bikes until I've finished cleaning, bagging, and reshelving the undone part of my spare parts inventory.

They're around. I had to pack out the bracket with a leather sleeve but still think they're period appropriate as i have seen them on other bikes.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=357154http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=357155http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=357158

* Close enough. I've seen 'em at lake Pepin.

If you can't find the cool throttle shifters, you can always use two regular trigger shifters on the bars.

Seems to me a I saw a Raleigh 6-speed there this year- an AW hub with a Benelux Cyclo in the rear. If my memory is playing games on me then it was at the Lizard Rally...

That is a cool setup to have... the modern 2 speed cludge might be a little slicker but those old Benelux derailleurs are really cool and do what they need to do.

Need to pull the trigger on a correct set of bars for the roadster.This setup is a workout.

Oh,and a new seat. ;)

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...psc4c11c9c.jpg

That's a pretty over-the-top saddle... What is it?

A highwheeler replica from RBR. http://www.hiwheel.com/

Certainly priced well enough; what do you think of the quality of it?

I cold-set my frame to accommodate the new front and rear hubs last night, which went a lot better than I feared it would. It also revealed that 700x42 tires won't quite clear the top of the front fork without rubbing. I'm going to try reseating the tire to get it properly centered before writing off the 42's.

I about did a double take as I have a mini-me version...sort of. ;)

Forty years of being a garage queen the 3 speed coaster brake hub needed cleaned out and fresh grease.It was like gummy bears and honey inside.

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...ps87b6caf0.jpg

The Space Riders are so damn cute! I once saw one tucked away in a shop and made grabby hands at it, but alas, it was set aside for an employee who had dibs.

My Sprite appears to have been well ridden, but also well loved. I picked her up from a junk dealer who'd just cleaned out the garage of someone recently deceased. The hub wanted a little oil and the brakes needed pads, but BB seems fine. I'm really looking forward to gussying her up with some new parts and getting some miles in once it warms up a little.

Was it MMRB? That is my daughter's:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post14223448
I was working on it there.

WOW!!!

Such a wonderful job! Im in love with this bike!!!

GREAT JOB!

Currently working on this one:

http://i1037.photobucket.com/albums/...pse91c37a7.jpg

A few more bits and bobs to add and still looking for the right touch-up paint. You can read about it here: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...aleigh-Superbe

Let us know if you find the touch-up paint. I need to repaint the rack and chainguard on my wife's Superbe.