It is technically imbalanced, but the amount of it doesn't matter. If you have a steel frame fully aligned by a frame expert, it will not veer to the right on a smooth level floor, if you can actually launch it straight. In riding, the imbalance is not detectable.

If it was imbalanced by a single pannier with 40 lbs in it, that might be a different story, but I don't intend to try it. However, my wife's shopping bike remains easy to ride with one shopping pannier filled.

Very torquey engine, yes it was!

The closest I came was a 1978 Triumph Spitfire 1500. That was a fun car too.

Those old English sports cars were fun. Back in the 60s you could pick up things like MGAs and bug eye Sprites for cheap. Most of my friends had English motorcycles and sports cars back then. They were usually far from pristine and we made many trips to Stucker's junk yard to replace broken parts with less broken parts. They're getting more rare on the road all the time. I still light up when I see one.

Yup, me too. I remember replacing the U-Joints on the axles (irs),While fairly straight forward, was still a learning experience. I had priced it out at a British automotive shop, and the quote set me back. :eek: That's when I decided to do it myself. I think after a couple hours worth of cussing and kicking, I ended up with a job well done, for a lot less money. :thumb:

I still have some Revere ware. It's very durable stuff, but to be frank, they don't cook as well as heavier pots.

@gster, we have diners (of that style) all over NY and NJ. Do you not have them in Ontario? Generally, the food and service are mediocre, but prices are low, and it's an overall comforting feeling. Eggs are one of the safe things to order, so I have them for dinner.

My opinion, nothing beats cast iron, but cast iron is, well, heavy. ;)

Lake Pepin 3-speed tour coming up! May 18-19th this year. Most of the hotel rooms in Wabasha are booked but there are a few left. The town is very much aware of the 3-speed crowd showing up every year!

If you are going, a nice investment is a county road map of the area around Maiden Rock to Pepin, Wisconsin and also the areas south of highway 61 on the Minnesota side. There are side road detours that are well worth taking. The Tour really shows off how well three speeds wheels are suited for pavement and gravel.

Don't forget Pennsylvania, that state has (or had) some of the best diners in the east. The food was good to good-enough, and the service varied from excellent to surly. Many menus were like reading a short story.

I wonder how 531 would work as a frying pan?

My late father-in-law from around 1980 - coming home from SLAC to Campbell, CA. He also had a TR-3, TR-4, MGB(?), and enough junkers to provide parts for all of them. He would have had a shop rag wrapped around his left foot to absorb the brake fluid that was leaking. My wife and I took the TR-3 on several excursions through the coastal mountains toward Santa Cruz and Capitola. Good times. The TR-3 had a large diameter steering wheel - OK at speed, but a bear to steer when parking. A small diameter wheel would have required a Samson at low speed.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3bac23824a.jpg

It's good you have an image of him doing what he loved to do. I'm sure your wife appreciates it too. I'm sure a smaller wheel would have increased the effort required for steering. ;)

No, we don't have any of those "classic" diners here in Ontario (that I know of).
Whenever we travel through the US, we try to hit up a few on the way.
Last couple were in Albany and Lake George.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e47cacb3d6.jpg
On the topic of bicycles I picked up and old paperback today
"Bicycle Care and Repair, Ben Burnstyn 1979.
Lots of 3 speed SA diagrams etc.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e66da62f1d.jpg

Here's something fun....a friend of mine was looking up directions for how to get somewhere earlier today, and happened across a picture of me riding my Raleigh Tourist to work last fall on Google Maps Street View!

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...85758dbc80.png
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https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c72f2dae41.jpghttps://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...232339f651.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c7c42df40e.jpg
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Just picked up a Hercules at the bike Exchange. This one has an AMF sticker on the chain guard. I have never seen a bike with stamped steel lugs before. Must have been a very low end bike. It does say Made in England though so maybe imported to be sold by a chain store here in the US.




Did my thing :

Cleaned and rubbed out the frame and Clear coated it and the chain guard with Rustoleum Automotive grade clear enamel. New tires and tubes, new cables and covers, and swapped out some forged chrome brakes for the original stamped units. The wheels cleaned up nicely . The outside was fairly rust free but the inside under the rim strip looked terrible. Some time with a wire brush followed by some naval jelly then a coat of paint and they were ready to mount the tires . These rims are exceptionally thick and strong and there was nowhere that the integrity of the metal was questionable. I tried to clean the white pedals but the bad one was too far gone. I scrubbed it in acetone and then let it soak in bleach but never got it very white so I put a pair of chrome lyotard pedals on it. I had a bit of trouble mounting the front fender and had to shorten the stays a bit to get it to fit right





Anyway, here it is. Kind of a pretty bike . It would make a nice beach cruiser I think.

How COOL is that?:thumb:

When Triumph Cars developed the TR 2 + follow ons 3, 3A, 4 & 4IRS they used a 4 cylinder Tractor Engine, I guess they could not afford to develop a new engine from scratch being shortly after WW2. It was a good solid gutsy engine built like a tank, it had wet removable cylinder liners. You had to be careful taking the head off not to disturb these liners, if you did and did not realise and put it back together, water leaked into the engine crankcase and you were in trouble. It was best to clamp them in place while you worked on the engine. My favourite Triumph engine was the 1600cc six cylinder engine in the Vitesse 6. It had a flywheel both ends of the crankshaft and was so smooth on idling you could stand a coin on edge on the rocker box.

just some useless information seeing as we are getting off subject some!!!

Looks great. Nice job. There was a big consolidation of the English bicycle industry in 1960. The Hercules plant in Birmingham was shut down, but the name lived on with bikes made at the Raleigh plant in Nottingham. This is one of those. While it is a lower cost model, the frame is exactly the same as a top of the line Raleigh Sports. An interesting thing about those lugs are is that they are not cast. They were press formed out of a single piece of steel. Nothing cheap about them. The steel may not be a chromoly alloy, but it is harder alloy than what was used in the welded frames of that time. True, it is a roadster and not a high performance bike, but it is a good, well made bike and I think you will find that it's a pleasant ride.

I like mediocre diner food. Bike touring makes it ok!

There's a few genuine vintage rail car diners left in Maine. Here's a good one.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...70f6851af1.jpg
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I also recall reading BITD that the Triumph 4's had under-square cylinders - back then it was believed that a narrower cylinder bore and a longer piston stroke (longer throws on the crankshaft, equivalent to longer crank arms) resulted in higher torque at lower RPM, relative to a larger cylinder bore and shorter stroke, at constant displacement (cubic inches). Makes sense that it was a tractor engine. I assume the same was true for the 6 cylinder.

I have wast... put to good use and enjoyed several hours viewing the My Junk E-type Engine video series on YouTube.

I think you've done a good job on this one.
I usually remove those aftermarket generators and lights as well.
I've got a black 1967 AMF Hercules in the shed.

I wish I was there right now!
I'd be at the counter with a plate or corned beef hash
and eggs.....
Or cheeseburger and fries if was a bit later.
I have a really good book that lists them all state by state.
Most are to be found in the NE.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...687574d1a6.jpg
This book has a good chapter on building a wheel.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8804aedf54.jpg
Frankie Drake set.
This was built in an alley in Hamilton Ont.
You can see a DL-1 front wheel on the right.
The interior was built in the studio.
The address in the transom (188) is
a- a lucky number (Chinese)
b- my home address
The set's been torn down since.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c25c8444ad.jpg
A ladies' DL-1 in the bg.
This looks to be the old Carpet Factory on Sherman in Hamilton.
Her motorbike started off as a 350 Enfield from India but
was later switched to a Janus
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...810108355b.jpg