For the love of English 3 speeds...
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Sheldon Brown has a bit on it: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/sturmey-archer/tcw.html
The brake is run through the gear train, so if the cable is out of whack, the brake could fail. Also, if you're in third gear, you have back pedal even farther to get it to engage.
If you take one apart, the brake band is not that big, either, but adjusted correctly it works ok.
I had one in a bike for my adolescent daughter, but I built up an AWC for her latest bike. She also likes the Sachs Torpedo in a different bike.
The brake is run through the gear train, so if the cable is out of whack, the brake could fail. Also, if you're in third gear, you have back pedal even farther to get it to engage.
If you take one apart, the brake band is not that big, either, but adjusted correctly it works ok.
I had one in a bike for my adolescent daughter, but I built up an AWC for her latest bike. She also likes the Sachs Torpedo in a different bike.
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Sheldon Brown has a bit on it: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/sturmey-archer/tcw.html
The brake is run through the gear train, so if the cable is out of whack, the brake could fail. Also, if you're in third gear, you have back pedal even farther to get it to engage.
If you take one apart, the brake band is not that big, either, but adjusted correctly it works ok.
I had one in a bike for my adolescent daughter, but I built up an AWC for her latest bike. She also likes the Sachs Torpedo in a different bike.
The brake is run through the gear train, so if the cable is out of whack, the brake could fail. Also, if you're in third gear, you have back pedal even farther to get it to engage.
If you take one apart, the brake band is not that big, either, but adjusted correctly it works ok.
I had one in a bike for my adolescent daughter, but I built up an AWC for her latest bike. She also likes the Sachs Torpedo in a different bike.
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Well, $15 and local to me, I couldn’t resist. Contacted the seller through FBM and made arrangements to meet her at 7 pm last night at a local transit station. At around 7:15, it seems she was going to be a now show, but just then a city bus pulled up with a blue lady’s 3-speed on the front rack. Ends up that was the seller, but the Phillips she retrieved from the bus rack was her regular commuter. She needed to bike home and retrieve the Huffy. About 10 min later she was back, and the deal was done. I removed the crate to find an English-made Huffy Sportsman in decent shape and ready for a rehab.
This saddle has more brackets attached than I can make sense of.
Rear rack is the most corroded part and will likely get removed. Chrome fenders should clean up well. It’ll be a winter project, and in the spring I’ll give it away to a work colleague.
This saddle has more brackets attached than I can make sense of.
Rear rack is the most corroded part and will likely get removed. Chrome fenders should clean up well. It’ll be a winter project, and in the spring I’ll give it away to a work colleague.
Looks like the crossbrace stiffens the spring mounts.
No way that rack goes away for me, derust, strip, clean, whatever, rattle can black or? and done.
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Well, $15 and local to me, I couldn’t resist. Contacted the seller through FBM and made arrangements to meet her at 7 pm last night at a local transit station. At around 7:15, it seems she was going to be a now show, but just then a city bus pulled up with a blue lady’s 3-speed on the front rack. Ends up that was the seller, but the Phillips she retrieved from the bus rack was her regular commuter. She needed to bike home and retrieve the Huffy. About 10 min later she was back, and the deal was done. I removed the crate to find an English-made Huffy Sportsman in decent shape and ready for a rehab.
Bonus for Kool Stop Continental brake pads though that’s quite a creative solution to securing the double-ended cable:
Bonus for Kool Stop Continental brake pads though that’s quite a creative solution to securing the double-ended cable:
Bikes are okay, I guess.
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It's not that they're failure prone; it's that the design makes for problematic braking effectiveness. The coaster brake in the TCW hub is actuated through the internal gear mechanism, which means that the mechanical advantage of the brake depends on which gear you're in when you apply the brake. Specifically, in high gear, when, presumably, you're going fastest, the mechanical advantage is at its weakest. If you remember to shift to low gear before applying the brake, you'll get the highest mechanical advantage. But you're least likely to remember to do that in a panic stop, which is also when you're most likely to need a strong brake.
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$50 for a men's Phillips and a women's Triumph in NH. Unclear if that's individual or pair pricing.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...67804183411537
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...67804183411537
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Bikes are okay, I guess.
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They can be a real problem if they have been abused or ridden a lot in improper adjustment. I agree with Sheldon pointing out the problems of running the brake through the drive train, though I would not necessarily write-off all of them. They run relatively smoothly and the braking action is pleasant. The cable adjustment is familiar to anyone who has worked on an AW, with the caveat that extra care is needed when adjusting.
They're not overly complex to work on, but there are some sore spots. Where things go bad is if there's an issue with the central E-clip in the hub. The two halves of the hub innards (the transmission on one side and the brake set up on the other) are held in place by a single, somewhat fragile E-clip that rides in a recess in the axle. If the clip is bent or damaged, shifting into high gear will push it out of position and cause the hub to malfunction in various ways. The result is you have to remove the wheel, tear down the hub, and re-set the E-clip. Of the TCW hubs I've had (not a huge number but more than most people are willing to put up with), just about half had some issue with that E-clip.
If you have one that's original to the bike and is working properly, I wouldn't tear the wheel apart just to get rid of it. But at the same time, I wouldn't spend my time building up wheels with one either. Honestly, if you need a Sturmey coaster brake hub, I'd go newer with something like the AWC or the modern SRC3.
They're not overly complex to work on, but there are some sore spots. Where things go bad is if there's an issue with the central E-clip in the hub. The two halves of the hub innards (the transmission on one side and the brake set up on the other) are held in place by a single, somewhat fragile E-clip that rides in a recess in the axle. If the clip is bent or damaged, shifting into high gear will push it out of position and cause the hub to malfunction in various ways. The result is you have to remove the wheel, tear down the hub, and re-set the E-clip. Of the TCW hubs I've had (not a huge number but more than most people are willing to put up with), just about half had some issue with that E-clip.
If you have one that's original to the bike and is working properly, I wouldn't tear the wheel apart just to get rid of it. But at the same time, I wouldn't spend my time building up wheels with one either. Honestly, if you need a Sturmey coaster brake hub, I'd go newer with something like the AWC or the modern SRC3.
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Classic American and British Roadsters, Utility Bikes, and Sporting Bikes (1935-1979):
https://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/
Classic American and British Roadsters, Utility Bikes, and Sporting Bikes (1935-1979):
https://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/
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They can be a real problem if they have been abused or ridden a lot in improper adjustment. I agree with Sheldon pointing out the problems of running the brake through the drive train, though I would not necessarily write-off all of them. They run relatively smoothly and the braking action is pleasant. The cable adjustment is familiar to anyone who has worked on an AW, with the caveat that extra care is needed when adjusting.
They're not overly complex to work on, but there are some sore spots. Where things go bad is if there's an issue with the central E-clip in the hub. The two halves of the hub innards (the transmission on one side and the brake set up on the other) are held in place by a single, somewhat fragile E-clip that rides in a recess in the axle. If the clip is bent or damaged, shifting into high gear will push it out of position and cause the hub to malfunction in various ways. The result is you have to remove the wheel, tear down the hub, and re-set the E-clip. Of the TCW hubs I've had (not a huge number but more than most people are willing to put up with), just about half had some issue with that E-clip.
If you have one that's original to the bike and is working properly, I wouldn't tear the wheel apart just to get rid of it. But at the same time, I wouldn't spend my time building up wheels with one either. Honestly, if you need a Sturmey coaster brake hub, I'd go newer with something like the AWC or the modern SRC3.
They're not overly complex to work on, but there are some sore spots. Where things go bad is if there's an issue with the central E-clip in the hub. The two halves of the hub innards (the transmission on one side and the brake set up on the other) are held in place by a single, somewhat fragile E-clip that rides in a recess in the axle. If the clip is bent or damaged, shifting into high gear will push it out of position and cause the hub to malfunction in various ways. The result is you have to remove the wheel, tear down the hub, and re-set the E-clip. Of the TCW hubs I've had (not a huge number but more than most people are willing to put up with), just about half had some issue with that E-clip.
If you have one that's original to the bike and is working properly, I wouldn't tear the wheel apart just to get rid of it. But at the same time, I wouldn't spend my time building up wheels with one either. Honestly, if you need a Sturmey coaster brake hub, I'd go newer with something like the AWC or the modern SRC3.
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Raleigh RSW, circa 1974, made in Japan. Last month it had one wheel in the dumpster. Now with new bearings and grease in the headset/bottom bracket/front hub, new chain, shifter and pedals, it is a nice riding bicycle. Solid. A bit too small for my 6', 260lbs. But it will make someone very happy. Just hope it's appreciated.
Amazing how nice this bike rides.
Amazing how nice this bike rides.
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Bikes are okay, I guess.
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I suspect that odd lever is positioned to accommodate right-hand braking, possibly due to a bum left flipper on the guy. I knew a fellow who rode an upright rig with two brake levers on the right along with a barcon and a thumbie for shifting.
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Unless you climb the rungs strategically, you’re not going to build the muscle you need to stay at the top.
Unless you climb the rungs strategically, you’re not going to build the muscle you need to stay at the top.
Last edited by 1989Pre; 02-05-23 at 12:43 PM.
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Dunelt was making motorcycles at the beginning of the 20th century and transitioned to bikes somewhere around the 30's iirc. This example has a Raleigh frame with a Birmingham fork so it's likely a transitional model from around 1960.
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Unless you climb the rungs strategically, you’re not going to build the muscle you need to stay at the top.
Unless you climb the rungs strategically, you’re not going to build the muscle you need to stay at the top.
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It's the other way actually. The 'D' fork caps were early 60s while the big plain silver crown caps were typical of most all of the Birmingham manufacturer's forks before 1960.
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The brake levers, plastic cable pulley, reflectors in the pedals (if that's what I'm seeing in the photo) and the angle of the shifter all point to later 1960s as well. About 1960 or so SA flipped the text on the shifter upside down.
Bikes are okay, I guess.
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Reasonably well preserved (including Brooks B.72 saddles) his and hers Raleigh Sports in MA for $200 (which is twice as much as I'd pay, fwiw):
https://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/bi...586716132.html
https://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/bi...586716132.html
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If the saddles are good and ride-able, $200 is worth it for just them alone. Good B-72s going for what they do these days...
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Reasonably well preserved (including Brooks B.72 saddles) his and hers Raleigh Sports in MA for $200 (which is twice as much as I'd pay, fwiw):
https://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/bi...586716132.html
https://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/bi...586716132.html
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I've got a single speed Dunelt that I fixed up a bit a few years ago, the consensus then was that mine was a 59-60 model.
Mine has seen minimal use since I'm still looking for a better set of Endrick rims for it. The rear rim has no chrome left, its badly pitted and basically just bare steel.
I had a decent pair I was going to use on it but ended up using them on another bike I was working on.
Before and after a lot of cleaning, some air brush touch up work, and strategic polishing to preserve as much of the original finish and decal work as i could.
It looks good, especially considering what it looked like when I first found it. The worst part is that its not my size, at 6ft 3in tall, its a bit small for me.
Mine has seen minimal use since I'm still looking for a better set of Endrick rims for it. The rear rim has no chrome left, its badly pitted and basically just bare steel.
I had a decent pair I was going to use on it but ended up using them on another bike I was working on.
Before and after a lot of cleaning, some air brush touch up work, and strategic polishing to preserve as much of the original finish and decal work as i could.
It looks good, especially considering what it looked like when I first found it. The worst part is that its not my size, at 6ft 3in tall, its a bit small for me.
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Man, I'd like to find this mythical place that you and some other people here on this thread live in, where paying $200 for a pair (a pair!) of Sports in decent condition, both with intact B-72 saddles, is "twice as much" as you would pay. Here in Portland one of those bikes would go for $200 easily. One.
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