Originally Posted by
Chesterton
Well, I bought a 1975 Raleigh Sports off eBay. The hub is stamped March 1974, frame serial number says May 1975, made in Handsworth (Birmingham). The shifter is still the clear cover version that would go with a 1974 hub. UPS dropped the box on the side or ran it over with a forklift or something, and the hub indicator chain and spindle were mangled and had to be replaced, but happily there was no other damage. The bike shop folks looked it over and made sure everything was tuned up. Everything is generally in great condition, very clean. I bet it wasn't ridden very much at all.
I'll probably want to get a slightly larger cog; the current one is 17t. I'll put Kool Stop Continental brake pads on and change the tires eventually. I'm thinking down the road I might get a bottle dynamo and move over the lights I had on my Pashley Roadster. Any recommendations on bottle dynamo models? And has anyone managed to somehow mount a modern headlight using the existing heron bracket?
I've only taken it around the block so far, and I still have to tweak the saddle and handlebar positions, but it's a lot of fun to ride. Much zippier than my Roadster was!
Your Sports looks fantastic!
I've found that
modernbike.com has a decent selection of SA parts for reasonable prices. I just saw a 20t chrome splined cog available, so you should be able to reduce that gearing.
As far as bottle dynamos go, you could check a bike coop free shop to see if they have some. The one I used to volunteer with before COVID had a milk crate full of bottle dynamos and lights. They'd probably pay you to take them, if they could. I get the charm of the bottle dynamo set, but I'm no fan of how poorly they function compared to battery lights. You get 1) dim light 2) only while moving, while the dynamo 3) adds a good bit of drag.
That said, I'm still considering trying an LED retrofit with standlight capacity utilizing the dynamo and existing fittings. I just have to decipher the electrical diagrams first.
