Thanks, noglider!

I might try Nomad. I'll let you know how it goes.

@kikaso, please do let me know. The owners are named Jane and Damon.

Those pink handle bars are a bit different....

@gster - It could be that it's preparing for Mardi Gras - that sort of wild, tousled look. :thumb:

I think of it as a bold fashion statement.

Glider was Eaton's store brand. I believe Raleigh built bikes for them at one time.

Almost of the Glider's I have come across have been re-badged Raleigh Sports, this was a top of the line offering.

Including the fork..?

The Glider did not come with Raleigh's thimble crown... this was the same as other Raleigh sub brands that were otherwise identical save for paint and decals.

I'm building up a new wheelset with 28 x 1.1/2" alloy rims I got from Holland. Can someone suggest me some stainless steel spokes (14G) that look vintage and not modern?

If you insist on vintage spokes, go with galvanized steel. 14 g stainless pretty much all look the same.

I want to go with stainless for better performance. I also understand that these were used in the past on higher-end machines going back to at least the 1950s, maybe as early as the 1930s. Is there a certain brand I should get? What length do I need? I'm having a local bike shop do the work, but I want to make sure they have the right parts.

I love it when one of these comes to me for service. This Superbe was brought to me a few days ago, minus the wheels, but with a set of hubs.
The owner was not sure of the date on the bike, and the hubs he had were not original to the bike, but the SA AW is dated 1977.
Anyway, I built the hubs into a set of CR 18 rims, overhauled both hubs, the BB and headset. Not much wear showing anywhere, but any grease that was left was dry and hard. Don't think it had been ridden in years.
Anyway, done and ready to go.

http://i65.tinypic.com/23jo8ky.jpg

http://i64.tinypic.com/2ut70wl.jpg

And before anybody says anything about the excess cable at the shifter, the owner said he wanted it like that so he can put a riser bar on it.

It's hard to go wrong with DT Swiss.

That's beautiful.

Stainless is the better choice for sure. Length will be dependent on hub and rim dimensions, number of spoke and lacing pattern. If you trust your bike shop to do the work, you need to trust them to know how to calculate spoke length and supply the parts. It's the most elementary part of the wheel building process.

Why are stainless spokes better? Galvanized have been good enough for me.

@Dan Burkhart, the stem and bars are not original, are they?

Cause stainless spokes are shiny.:lol:

I think the stem is original, but the bar has a Velo Orange logo on it.

I am riding a few bikes with rusty galvanized or plated spokes. Although they are not pretty, they seem to get the job done. In my mind they are OK for riders.

I have a new project that belongs here. A Hercules Royal Prince which has seen some better days. A lot of surface rust, a few paint chips, and fenders that are MiA. Still trying to dig up info on it, but most seems to have been lost to time itself. All I know is it is pre-1960 before Raleigh aquired the company. It'll be my winter project bike and get cleaned up some, a bit of clear coat and some polish, new tires, and possibly some wooden fenders.
http://i.imgur.com/NkjZzrm.jpg

In about 1983, I built two bikes for myself, a "nice" bike, my Mclean, and a commuter bike. I used DT stainless on the nice bike and DT galvanized on the commuter bike. I am still using both pairs of wheels. Of course, DT doesn't make galvanized spokes any more, or if they do, we can't get them here in the US.

Nice SA hub cog for my 73' Raleigh.

Does not even look used. Came from the bin of my local bike shop.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=496979 20T just what I needed

That's a nice one. Black Hercules fenders show up from time to time. I think they would look nice with the black chainguard.

Seeing as though I have uncovered very little information on this bicycle, I don't have high hopes of finding original parts. That said, I will keep an eye out for them. If I can keep the bike with the proper parts I would prefer to do so.

Slightly on a tangent, but this bike reminds me of what a good ol' three speed can be, for good reason.

I came across a Novara Transfer in the wild today. For those of you outside of the US, Novara is the house bike/bike accessory brand of REI, our big outdoor co-op chain, analogous to MEC in Canada. I really liked this bike as it was a fully loaded (as sold) commuter: Nexus 7 speed internally geared hub, Novatech dynamo hub with AXA/Basta head and tail lamps, chainguard, rear rack, fenders, and a chromoly frame and fork. All for about $700. But because it's too damn practical, of course REI discontinued it. Now they have nothing similar.

It's one of the few modern bikes that I've seen that are similar to a Raleigh Superbe in all its features, and adjusting for inflation, it's probably about as much as a Superbe cost back in the day. When they were discounting the remaining Transfers a couple years ago, I almost thought about grabbing one, but didn't have the available cash.
Novara Transfer Bike - 2013 - REI.com

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1510/2...01c65d7f_z.jpg