BFisher

I was also under the impression that the lore about tariffs and chaincases applied to the big roadsters. In looking at the 1951 catalog, I figured that my find, with full case and no dynamo hub, fit the description of a Sports "C" Tourist.

It is in very good shape considering it is 70 years old, but is not without its rough spots. No bother. If it looks half as good as the '52 in this very thread when I'm done cleaning it up then I'm a happy guy.
@noglider, luck was on my side for sure. The stem, seatpost, and crank cotters came right out!

cudak888 

Sports "C" Tourist it probably is; it's almost the de-facto standard for base bikes from this era that show up.

I'll clean up beautifully - I'm sure of it. Your chaincase is particularly straight too, and that's half the battle once they're polished up, since they're the largest visual feature on the drive side.

I find it interesting that a few of them (like the '52 I picked up) are equipped with front Dynos and lights, but without DBU's. Someone must have gone the extra effort to page 23 to spec the cheapest combination to avoid purchasing a Sports Tourist. It's also curious that it was considerably more expensive to get an AG Dynothree and DBU than if one went for the AW/GH6/DBU combination.

-Kurt

andresh

oh man what a great job you did with that export! I have a similar one (yet to be identified) I hope I have the patience and skill to bring it back to life.

cudak888 

Thank you for the kind words. Have pictures of yours?

-Kurt

cudak888 

I realize I've been leaving this thread hanging for a good two years or so. I've been dragging my feet to complete this one, but there's a show coming up at the end of February that I want to have this one ready for.

First off, I swapped a few parts around and managed to finish the headlight sometime last year. Don't remember offhand.



Meanwhile, I was able to refurbish and reinstall the taillight as well. The original mounting bolt snapped during disassembly, but I lucked into a rotted - but complete - 1953 ladies' Superbe Sports Tourist locally (for an outrageous $100, but worth it for the oddball small bits it donated to this and the @Ged117 '50 Superbe), and one of the bits it provided was this bolt (the one with two nuts on it, as per the photo below)

This is the order of parts that go into the taillight. I bet very few of them ever survived servicing, given how wrong disassembly could go with that triple stack of insulators. I bet these must have been prone to cause shorts back in the day.



\

The '53 Superbe Sports Tourist donor, as found, though I'd already pulled the Brooks B66L off by this photo. It's rough, but shockingly complete, down to the shorter ladies' Raleigh-specific John Bull Super Club grips. In fact, it's eerily similar to that '57 Triumph Princess I did for a local friend last year.

It has already given its soul (i.e., it's in pieces) since this picture, but I'm a 36h AW hub shell away from cobbling it back together as a ridable mess with 1970's parts to get it out of here as a ridable thing. Nothing really leaves Facebook Marketplace, it just spirals back into the black hole, eventually.



I found a lot of little differences with the 1953 Superbe from my '50 - most notably, much lower quality chroming on the small fittings, clamps, bolts, and nuts. The larger parts such as brake calipers, headsets, etc. are no different from the earlier bike.

The '53 also grew a small diffuser bump on its taillight lens. Seems like a lot of fuss to change a casting. Dagmar influenced? "If you can't have the Cadillac..."



One of the main reasons I was willing to pay through the nose for the junk Superbe - though I knew I'd would also cover the cost selling off some of the parts - was the original Raleigh frame pump. Or at least a period Raleigh frame pump; I don't know if this was the one thing Raleigh didn't produce in green for the Superbe - everything else is.

I figured the safest bet was to use it here; it matches and completes it.





And wherever I left that Dynohub cable end that I referenced earlier...yep, time to tear the house apart again to find it. It used to be next to the keyboard, now I don't know where it is. Ideally, I don't want to solder on anything but an original.

Anyone have a spare to prevent me from going nuts over the next few weeks digging for the thing? Or at least ship me one so Murphy's law ensures mine shows up



-Kurt

Ged117 

Nice work, Kurt, the bike looks great. Its something that you can find 1950s parts donor bikes where you live. All I seem to find these days when it comes to '50s Raleigh machines are ratty survivors, and sellers who think they have found a gold mine of vintage appeal and price accordingly. I think that we didn't see as many 1950s Raleighs as we did CCM roadsters (Canada Cycle and Motor Corporation...) and department store versions of Raleighs (Eaton's Gliders). There were some, but these days few and far between. Thanks for the explanation of the rear lamp refurbishment, I'm about to do the same with a late '40s set for my '59 Raleigh project.

Speaking of grips, for those of us looking for somewhat period looking replacements, I found Tarugata grips from Japan are a close approximation of the mid-50s era Raleigh grips, and I'm thinking of using the gray or ivory version for my green '59 Raleigh Canadian, instead of cork:

cudak888 

Ok, full disclaimer here: That '53 might as well have been finding a unicorn with zebra stripes ridden by the ghost of Martin Milner wearing a Federal Signal siren on his back.

In the ~17 years I've actively kept my eye out for '50s era Raleighs, I've come across no more than a '61 Superbe (21" - too small, oxidized paint but well kept and complete) and a '54 Sports (ladies, near mint, dull but polishable), both with outrageous asking prices on them ($800 and $600 respectively - in a bidding war, they're worth $250 tops), and I've seen both of these within the last six or seven years. Nothing else until this '53 showed up, and the chances of it being a Superbe? Off the scales. But it is. A feat of outrageously good luck.

There are a few 1970's Raleighs in various states for sale locally; sometimes for reasonable prices. Most of them languish. I never see anything that raises my pulse. The sub-brands are not uncommon; I know of more than a few Robin Hoods and Triumphs floating around locally.

I've been using the grips Peter Kohler sells. They're Lee-Healey reproductions - by Lee-Healey themselves - of a grip they used to produce, prior to their factory fire in the 1970's. They're similar to the Raleigh bullet grip.

I'm surprised the John Bull Super Clubs used on the Superbes haven't been reproduced. Based on what I've seen on Google, it was a motorcycle grip too. To my surprise, I found out there's a different size between the men's and women's grip too, unless the '53 received downsized grips across the production run.

P.S.: There's an update on the Superbe too, forgot to tag you there: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...t-today-2.html

-Kurt

AdventureManCO 

Kurt,

Anything you are particularly looking for, regarding years or model? I feel like my market is horribly depressed, especially for bikes like this. Most people can't possibly tell the difference between a collectible 1950s (and earlier) bike and something from the 70s - I mean, I barely can. Let me know what you look for, and I'll keep my eye out.

cudak888 

Anything Raleigh 1950's or earlier + fenders and chainguard from a Lemon Yellow Sports - if need be, a donor if cheap enough.

-Kurt

Ged117 

I too run into a fair many of the other marques. I'm trying to keep my roadster population to just one, so the '59 Raleigh suffices. Believe it or not, I found a green Superbe chaincase in rough shape to go with it.

UK Ebay often has late '40s and '50s three-speeds, and the ones not in perfect original condition are often up for a reasonable price. Shipping cost is the issue there which is why I haven't bothered to buy a '49 Rudge or '50s Raleigh from Britain because the price is to the moon to ship the bike.

Do you have an existing post on how to make the shift cable so that the eyebolt is no longer necessary?

PM inbound on grips.

SirMike1983 

You can take thin brass hobby tubing or #3 fishing leader sleeve and press it onto the cable using a Bell Systems B crimper. You'll probably need to smooth down the crimped tubing just a bit with a file or a Dremel tool. Make sure the cable is the right length before crimping the tube. Measure twice, cut once.

Does Peter have a shop or website where we can buy those grips online?

cudak888 

Email only. PM me if you need it.

-Kurt

Ged117 

Thanks Mike. In my case, its measure three times, cut once, measure again, cut another cable...

The proper cable set ups just look right.

SirMike1983 

Thanks, will send him an email.