Yeah, take some pity on those riding behind you and experiencing the rooster tail!

1960s Schwinn Racer 3-speed

https://thecabe.com/forum/attachment...4-jpg.1499796/

HA!, if only I had ANY bicycle traffic here that would be “done next” thing. Reason I called this a project is because I’ve made my own flaps and trying out a new source of material. The second rubber material will be used on my Sears Puch built 3 speed still in the line up. Fear not, the rear fender will get a guard. I think it will be a more traditional shape like VO has.

We have a chance of rain today, which kinda makes me excited for once!

NOT the kind of rain I wanted! Lashing winds, pounding rain and hail.

That's a great looking Schwinn Racer. I have a 1965 Racer. I wonder how a Raleigh Sport compares?

The geometry is similar. A Sport is a bit lighter. The Racer uses the Schwinn S-5 rim, which is a "26" " size, but its wider and has more air volume, more like a 650B. So its got a smoother ride, but slower to get moving with all that rotating mass.

Weather today!

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a85a9ad1a.jpeg

We hit 24 celsius today! That's 74 for the uninitiated.

I would have been hit by more then 74 of those hail nuggets if I was out there trying the mud guards out!

The Schwinn bikes have a little more laid back frame than the Raleigh Sports. Many of the Schwinn 3-speeds have a more "cruiser-like" quality in that they have more laid back frames, heavier frames, and bigger handlebars. The Schwinn is kind of an "Americanized three speed" in that sense, but both the post-war Schwinn and the post-war Raleigh clearly come from a common ancestor in the form of the 1930s-era light roadsters made by Raleigh, Hercules, Phillips, etc. The Schwinn is a 3-speed that evolved with American taste applied, whereas the Raleigh kept a more British feel. Schwinn was faster to adopt international parts, such as Weinmann aluminum brakes and levers. Keep in mind they both are 26 inch wheels, but the Schwinns use a special tire size at 597mm bead seat, so tire choice is more limited with the Schwinn.

Fun facts dept.:
The bike mentioned that made the Iceland crossing in 1933 was a Raleigh Roadster with an enclosed chaincase, running a type K three speed hub.

Hopefully I can figure out those feels in a couple of weeks. Tomorrow I am going to look at a Raleigh Sport and a Churchill De Luxe. The pictures show a very good cosmetic condition, little to no rust so fingers crossed.

Before I understood and appreciated these bikes, I packed a hub with grease....
I learned my lesson and then did my research.
I've since worked on at least 50 3 speed hubs and can honestly say I've only
encountered 2 that had real problems
-warped axle (this was the one I had previously packed with grease)
-a very worn sun gear (hub was adjusted too tight)
I've had good results from flushing a hub
-varsol flush x 2
-vinegar flush x 2
-boiling water
let it dry out and then put in some oil.
There are some good youtube videos showing a disassembly,
cleaning and a rebuild.
Someone else here had a good trick of making
new springs out of guitar strings....
Once cleaned and rebuilt and adjusted properly,
a hub should be good for another 50 years.

My wife has a Sprite that looks like it's the 1970 5-speed freewheel model. It originally had an Allvit that died somewhere along the line, now it sports a Shimano Eagle II. She'd like to replace the rubber blocks on the pedals, they are very worn and slippery, but it looks like the only place I can find sells pricey repros on eBay out of Thailand. So perhaps some new but similar looking pedals are what she needs. From what I've read the cranks should take a 9/16" pedal, but these pedals, it turns out are some odd sort of size. A 15mm wrench was too small, as well. I found a 5/8" wrench was needed. A 9/16" pedal will partially screw in, but of course not completely. I've been doing some searches but I haven't been able to find any more info on odd-ball thread pedal sizes. I have some 9/16" taps and was thinking of just re-tapping the threads on the crank arms. Is there any potential issue with this?

Here's a photo of the original pedals. Thanks for reading.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...569050bbcc.jpg

MKS make a very nice rubber pedal
MKS 3000/3000R
https://www.amazon.com/MKS-Pedal-300.../dp/B009YZ46KC
shop around for a good price

What your describing sounds like 9/16" threaded pedals trying to go into French, 14x1.25mm threaded cranks but I've never seen French threaded cranks on a Raleigh, especially in 1970. It maybe possible that someone swapped in a set of French cranks though.

According to Sheldon Brown's site, you can retap French threads to 9/16" but in my opinion, the two are too close in size for the 9/16" tap to really cut clean threads.
The problem with that thinking is that those pedals appear to be original Sir Raleigh scripted.

In metric, 9/16" x 20tpi thread would be 14.28mm x 1.27 compared to French 14mm x 1.25. You have to look close to see the difference on a thread pitch gauge,
The only other pedal thread size is 1/2", which is noticeably smaller.

Since you had Raleigh pedals, I'd strongly suspect that your crank arms simply need the threads cleaned up a bit with a tap or thread chaser.
.

I just went through those pedals on my wife's Raleigh Colt (1976?) Being British, wrench sizes are different though a 15mm thin cone wrench worked perfect on mine. Measuring mine the stubs appear to be 14mm diameter with a 1.25 thread.. They seem original to her bike and have the Raleigh Heron logo on them as well as the arms. I would get the blocks and relube the ball bearings in them. They come apart and are easy to clean and lube. If you do rethread, hope you have the correct drill, tap and feel for it and remember one is a Left Hand thread.

Turista 22" for $100 in GA.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...59801128235705

https://scontent.fric1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...e2&oe=617B1977

Bunch o' 3-speeds in Hudson Valley NY with a helluva price break; $80 each or $50 each if you buy five or more. Seller has dozens. Get going!

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...89595829239464

https://scontent.fric1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...28&oe=6199B075

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7e3f74b306.jpg
Wishful Thinking
Here's a Toronto DL-1 for sale with an asking price of $600.00..

That was an interesting video, thanks for posting. :thumb:

I think you have it right. I go out and try different bikes and see what you prefer. You can still get something like a 1960s-era Raleigh Sports or Schwinn Racer without spending a ton of money. Stuff from the 1950s and earlier tends to cost a bit more usually because of collector interest, though sometimes you strike a deal. But you can get the idea of how each bike feels with a relatively inexpensive 1960s or 70s era bike.

The Raleigh Sports will have a feel that everything is "closer together": the frame is a little tighter angle, with more compact handlebars, more compact stem, shorter reach from the seat to the bars. The Schwinn will have the feel that you're sitting back a little more, often with longer bars and a more pronounced stem. The front wheel on the Schwinn feels like it's a little more "out front of you". The Raleigh frame tends to be a little lighter and (for a lack of a better word) livelier, whereas the Schwinn welded Schwinn frame will tend to be heavier and tends to deaden bumps a bit more. If you have the space, there's no harm in having one of each. The 1960s-70s era models tend to be affordable still. They don't have the cachet of a 1940s-50s bike, but if you're just trying them out, they're serviceable and attractive bikes still.

You just need to clean up the threads- they are the correct pitch. You've got dirt or rust (probably both) interfering. Those pedals in the photo are rebuildable and easily serviced. If you can find a set of blocks on ebay (usually about $15.00) you could cut them down to size to fit the narrower women's pedals.

French and English threads are the same pitch so tapping French cranks really isn't a problem. The difference is that the French thread is very so slightly less diameter. So French pedals thread loose in English cranks and English pedals simply won't go into French threads at all.

I'll bet dollars to donuts he's got a 14mm 1.25 thread. They look perzactly like the ones off of our Raleigh Colt which have that size. One thing I've found working with old bikes is having a couple of bolt or thread sizing plates and a pitch gauge. Those two tools have saved me a lot of guessing and potential costly mistakes. As a test, try screwing in a standard automotive/ small engine spark plug. If it threads correctly in the crank arm, even a tad loose, it's 14mm.

Hi, I have a 1973 Raleigh sport, can someone tell me if I should have 9 or 10 ball bearings per side in the front hub.
For some reason I ended up with an extra 3/16th ball bearing, I put 9 each in the front hub and even went back and opened up the rear 3 speed hub I rebuilt to ensure I had 24 ball bearings in the ball cup (they are also 3/16th).
From what little I could find it appears there are only 9 on each side of the front hub.
Can someone definitively confirm this?
thanks,
Scott

There's been a '65 Speedster in coaster brake with chrome fenders for sale on CL here for a while now.
I bought a taller version of the same bike off the guy back in the spring. I was expecting a project but the thing had been gone over front to back and needed nothing at all.
If the one for sale now is the same one he had then, it had perfect chrome, no rust and was very much ready to ride.

https://southjersey.craigslist.org/bop/d/65-racer/7397033743.html

I probably should have bought both mine and this one. Mine had the same white Schwinn 'mattress' saddle and white grips, which sold on fleabay for more than I paid for the bike. I replaced mine with color matching grips. Mine even still had the original Schwinn branded tires on it.