For the love of English 3 speeds...
03-05-15, 08:10 PM
#6601
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Bikes: 1969 schwinn sting ray 3 speed stick ...1974 raleigh sports
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The 51 black Sports step through that we have has a black reflector housing. It seems to be original and the bike has other black accents like the brake cable clips. Also, the ends of the BB spindle are black as opposed to the typical shiny chrome. At the time, black was standard and other than black was a extra price option.
The rubber housing had a tear and I repaired it with CA glue infused with black rubber (purchased that way from Amazon, WBS). The glue dries hard, like other CA glue, but that was ok because the original rubber was PDH. I'd call the repair a success as it's barely noticeable even on close inspection. If I were trying to repair a white one, I'd experiment with CA glue mixed with baking soda to see if the color would be ok.
edited:
The point about the black reflectors -- probably, black reflector housings came on some older black bikes. How did a black one get on a non-black bike? Perhaps the bike needed a replacement and the shop had a black one in stock. Or, perhaps Raleigh put it on there because they were out of white ones the day it was assembled. Or, perhaps it was specced that way for some time -- with older Raleighs, who knows?
The rubber housing had a tear and I repaired it with CA glue infused with black rubber (purchased that way from Amazon, WBS). The glue dries hard, like other CA glue, but that was ok because the original rubber was PDH. I'd call the repair a success as it's barely noticeable even on close inspection. If I were trying to repair a white one, I'd experiment with CA glue mixed with baking soda to see if the color would be ok.
edited:
The point about the black reflectors -- probably, black reflector housings came on some older black bikes. How did a black one get on a non-black bike? Perhaps the bike needed a replacement and the shop had a black one in stock. Or, perhaps Raleigh put it on there because they were out of white ones the day it was assembled. Or, perhaps it was specced that way for some time -- with older Raleighs, who knows?
03-05-15, 09:27 PM
#6602
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Correction to an earlier post: all the British bikes I have use 5/32" ball bearings in the headset, as well as my French Riva-Sport. I had previously thought they were 1/8".
To add to that they all use the same size bearing in the BB, a 1/4" if I recall right.
To add to that they all use the same size bearing in the BB, a 1/4" if I recall right.
03-06-15, 11:01 AM
#6603
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1958 Dawn Tourist?
Last edited by yodatic; 03-06-15 at 11:24 AM. Reason: Some more pictures. tom
03-06-15, 02:41 PM
#6605
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I just took a look at 4 of the 1.5 inch/40mm lenses - 3 are Fairylite and 1 is Lucas - and from what I saw in the numbering I'd be of the opinion that there was no date coding involved. BTW, and FWIW, I clean the white housings in the washing machine with a load of clothes; works great but really skanky ones might need to go thru two loads.
03-06-15, 03:12 PM
#6606
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1958 Birmingham Hercules Beach Bike
PPPld warrior up for $15 today and will replace the ORIGINAL 57 year old tires and tubes and make it a beach bike.
It appears to have been "gone thru" sometime in the 70's as it has a trigger shifter and pulley wheel from that time. Darnedest thing - both tires still have air in them and not only has the bike not been ridden in years, it has been outside in a field for about the last year! And it rolls, shifts etc. quite well too. Thus what was going to be a parts bike will be given useful work intact as a beach bike. Talk about bulletproof...
Note:
1. Black heat cracked rubber 40mm rear reflector housing
2. Hercules "H" chain ring
3. Re-buildable pedals
4. Headbadge denotes built in Birmingham
5. Funky kickstand of a type I have not seen before
03-06-15, 03:50 PM
#6607
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VV
"Thanks! You've got a good eye for detail. Prior to yesterday's new brakes and re routing of the rear brake cable the electrical (grey) and the brake cable were "as one" and ran side by side using the clips holding it all together. Now that the brake cable is on the NDS I figured I'd move the lighting over to that side too. That way the cables will be all together and the rear light will be on the correct side for traffic. I never thought about black electrical cable. I've seen that on eBay. Donations gladly accepted. Maybe one of the coops would have them. I've found some pretty obscure old parts. I've got to go when I've got a lot of time to dig through stuff."
Here is how my Raleigh Sports wiring is run. The brake cable clamps have the wire looped around - it looks pretty clean (cleaner than the bike).
"Thanks! You've got a good eye for detail. Prior to yesterday's new brakes and re routing of the rear brake cable the electrical (grey) and the brake cable were "as one" and ran side by side using the clips holding it all together. Now that the brake cable is on the NDS I figured I'd move the lighting over to that side too. That way the cables will be all together and the rear light will be on the correct side for traffic. I never thought about black electrical cable. I've seen that on eBay. Donations gladly accepted. Maybe one of the coops would have them. I've found some pretty obscure old parts. I've got to go when I've got a lot of time to dig through stuff."
Here is how my Raleigh Sports wiring is run. The brake cable clamps have the wire looped around - it looks pretty clean (cleaner than the bike).
03-06-15, 04:10 PM
#6608
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Wow...you guys are digging up some pretty spiffy old bikes lately.
03-07-15, 12:11 PM
#6609
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Yes- Superbe Dawn Tourist. It may be missing the dry battery unit, which often happens. But the other upgrades are there. Nice project. The FG hub is outstanding to have- a little extra low end when you need it, even if the shifter adjustment is trickier. That will clean up pretty nicely. That's a keeper- much harder to find in the US than a regular Sports or common US-pattern DL1... MUCH harder. 1958 looks about right for all that.
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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/
03-07-15, 04:45 PM
#6610
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PPPld warrior up for $15 today and will replace the ORIGINAL 57 year old tires and tubes and make it a beach bike.
It appears to have been "gone thru" sometime in the 70's as it has a trigger shifter and pulley wheel from that time. Darnedest thing - both tires still have air in them and not only has the bike not been ridden in years, it has been outside in a field for about the last year! And it rolls, shifts etc. quite well too. Thus what was going to be a parts bike will be given useful work intact as a beach bike. Talk about bulletproof...
Note:
1. Black heat cracked rubber 40mm rear reflector housing
2. Hercules "H" chain ring
3. Re-buildable pedals
4. Headbadge denotes built in Birmingham
5. Funky kickstand of a type I have not seen before
03-07-15, 07:17 PM
#6611
Bicycle Repair Man !!!
Thread Starter
I use Schwalbe tubes... used to park my Raleigh Superbe 3 speed in the fall and ride it in the spring with no appreciable losses.
Low end tubes don't work this well.
Low end tubes don't work this well.
03-07-15, 07:39 PM
#6612
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BTW, how did you come across your Flying Pigeon and is it 3-speed or single speed?
03-07-15, 09:05 PM
#6614
Senior Member
How are you all figuring out what type/brand of rear reflector you have? I see @PalmettoUpstate mentions a couple of different kinds in a post above. I looked at the rear reflector on my Phillips & see no writing. Would it be on the back side?
Anyway, I move the dyno light wiring over the the left side of the bike. Cut electrical tape into 1/3 strips & about every 8" or so I wrapped around light wire/brake housing so it would stay looking "as one". Redid the light wiring a couple of times so it's not so evident. It may not look like it on the bike, but prior to this, when it was on the other side the extra wire was sort of wadded up. At least now it's done neatly. My bike has those SA alloy straps to fix the cable to the bike. You will notice on the side of the tail light the "SA" insignia is now upside down.
Additional cable Solution by velocivixen, on Flickr
Brake & Dyno Wire Routing by velocivixen, on Flickr
Wiring for '55 Dynamo Tail Light by velocivixen, on Flickr
Anyway, I move the dyno light wiring over the the left side of the bike. Cut electrical tape into 1/3 strips & about every 8" or so I wrapped around light wire/brake housing so it would stay looking "as one". Redid the light wiring a couple of times so it's not so evident. It may not look like it on the bike, but prior to this, when it was on the other side the extra wire was sort of wadded up. At least now it's done neatly. My bike has those SA alloy straps to fix the cable to the bike. You will notice on the side of the tail light the "SA" insignia is now upside down.
Additional cable Solution by velocivixen, on FlickrBrake & Dyno Wire Routing by velocivixen, on FlickrWiring for '55 Dynamo Tail Light by velocivixen, on Flickr
Last edited by Velocivixen; 03-07-15 at 09:09 PM.
03-07-15, 09:42 PM
#6615
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How are you all figuring out what type/brand of rear reflector you have? I see @PalmettoUpstate mentions a couple of different kinds in a post above. I looked at the rear reflector on my Phillips & see no writing. Would it be on the back side?
03-07-15, 09:55 PM
#6616
Senior Member
Hmmm. Without disassembling my lens, who were common lens makers in England around the mid '50's?
03-07-15, 10:03 PM
#6617
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BTW, if you do take the reflector unit apart be sure to work the lens out slowly - with the age it has on it, it will try to crack on you.
03-07-15, 10:25 PM
#6618
Senior Member
I'm thinking Sturmey Archer and the infamous Lucas Lighting. You don't have to disassemble the lens to see the writing on it. Just get a flashlight and go for it. IIRC even the repros have some kind of writing on the lens but I can't sat that with certainty w/o going out to the corral to look at one and its buried in there pretty deep LOL.
BTW, if you do take the reflector unit apart be sure to work the lens out slowly - with the age it has on it, it will try to crack on you.
BTW, if you do take the reflector unit apart be sure to work the lens out slowly - with the age it has on it, it will try to crack on you.
03-07-15, 10:27 PM
#6619
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I'm thinking that this is the exact unit that is on your bike and indeed, there is no writing on the lens so far as I can see:
Vintage Bicycle Phillips Rear Mudguard Fender Reflector 1950'S | eBay
Also, I revisited the jpegs of your bike and I think that the reflector is mounted upside down. You'll probably have to remove the wheel to do it but it needs to be rotated 180 degrees from what I see.
Or, purely for the modern aesthetic, you could leave it as is and point your handlebars up in the frou-frou angle discussed recently on this thread and the front of your bike would match the back - LOL!
Just kidding; it's probably time to put the superb Costco corn likker aside for the nite ;v)
Vintage Bicycle Phillips Rear Mudguard Fender Reflector 1950'S | eBay
Also, I revisited the jpegs of your bike and I think that the reflector is mounted upside down. You'll probably have to remove the wheel to do it but it needs to be rotated 180 degrees from what I see.
Or, purely for the modern aesthetic, you could leave it as is and point your handlebars up in the frou-frou angle discussed recently on this thread and the front of your bike would match the back - LOL!
Just kidding; it's probably time to put the superb Costco corn likker aside for the nite ;v)
03-07-15, 10:43 PM
#6620
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[QUOTE=PalmettoUpstate;17611910]Yeah I brought the bike up on the sunny deak [65 degrees and sunny] today and showed my wife her bike beach for this year. She like it a lot - for the purpose. When I sort it out I'm gonna re-use the OEM tubes. There's a saying that I generally adhere to: "If it ain't broke; don't fix it"....
BTW, how did you come across your Flying Pigeon and is it 3-speed or single speed?[/QUOTE
Here's a post about the Flying Pigeon
https://threespeedmania.wordpress.co...flying-pigeon/
BTW, how did you come across your Flying Pigeon and is it 3-speed or single speed?[/QUOTE
Here's a post about the Flying Pigeon
https://threespeedmania.wordpress.co...flying-pigeon/
03-07-15, 10:45 PM
#6621
Senior Member
@PalmettoUpstate - what makes you think it's upside-down?
Here's the side view. Note the wider black part at the top curve of the fender. If you turned it with the thin part at the top, wouldn't that make the reflector face up more? I think it's on correctly.
Phillips Fender Reflector by velocivixen, on Flickr
Here's the side view. Note the wider black part at the top curve of the fender. If you turned it with the thin part at the top, wouldn't that make the reflector face up more? I think it's on correctly.
Phillips Fender Reflector by velocivixen, on Flickr
Last edited by Velocivixen; 03-07-15 at 10:52 PM.
03-07-15, 10:46 PM
#6622
Senior Member
Can't believe I went out in the middle of the night to check on a reflector. The Black Widow's (51 Sports Light Roadster step-through) black housing has "Raleigh Industries Ltd" on the top and "Lucas" on the bottom. There's also a Lucas id number, but I can't remember what it is. The red reflector itself has the RI (Raleigh Industries) logo sized to about the diameter of the reflector.
03-07-15, 10:49 PM
#6623
Senior Member
@PalmettoUpstate - what makes you think it's upside-down?
edit: just took another look at the most recent picture and there is a red bike in the background which appears to have the QR on the right (as opposed to the gauche/sinister) side. Somewhere in the world there is a bike forum pedant sticking red hot pokers in his eyes.
edit again: I'm probably wrong. Is that a fork on the red bike? I'm trying to understand the threaded fitment being on the front of the fork and it doesn't make sense to me. But, the Phillips prevents viewing of the chain stay, if it's a rear.
Last edited by desconhecido; 03-07-15 at 11:12 PM.
03-07-15, 10:54 PM
#6624
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03-07-15, 10:55 PM
#6625
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I just looked closely and saw Phillips on the black part surrounding the red lens. No writing on the lens itself. My understanding is that after WW II, Phillips was known more as a "Fitments" (components?) company and less known for their bikes. It would make sense that they offered reflectors, although the actual lens part may be made by others.