clubman 

I've never seen anything other than wire with chrome as well

Can we see pics of this chrome Sports?

BigChief

gotta be a typo

browngw 

I am thinking you could buy 8 to 10 of them here in Canada for that kind of money!

BigChief

+1 I'd love to see pics also. As far as decals, you're in luck with the 66. They're all available. The new ones are vinyl transfers and are much more durable than the old factory varnish transfers. No need to clear coat. The 20-30 badge and the gold and black strips are peel and press on stickers, but the heron for the seat tube and rear fender,the small herons for the forks, the large serif font Raleigh for the chainguard and the 50s style Raleigh Sports for the downtube are all vinyl transfers.

johnnyspaghetti

The AW hub is stamped 62 from the guy that had it in an airplane hanger and definitely a fine survivor a Western Flyer Tourist 20" The chrome & paint are stellar except for the headlights which are genuinely bad assed. He had it sent it to me from 50 miles away and the guy said send me pictures when your finished. His driver wouldn't take any money for the bike or gas. This was on a CL ad with no pictures.

western3.JPG

western5.JPG

arty dave

browngw - I am thinking you could buy 8 to 10 of them here in Canada for that kind of money!

Yeah it seems like crazy $ to me. I could buy 5 in Canada and have them shipped here for that money The owner must have sunk some $ into it to be asking that much - "Careful lengthy measures have been taken in the restoration/rebuild using authentic NOS (New Old Stock) ORIGINAL parts. There are NO cheap inferior re-pop (reproduction) or aftermarket components/parts used on this bike,-right down to the bearings."

If you're lucky you could buy a sports here for about AU$100, but I've more often seem them sitting around AU$200. The AU$340 I paid for my DL-1 is the most I've ever spent on a bike But I love the ride quality more than any other bike I have, so it's been totally worth it. The 50's Aussie/English Speedwell roadster I picked up for $100, but I will need to put a little $ into it to get it on the road.

BigChief

This bike has the same white grips with finger notches that came on Raleigh Sports. These are harder to find. Most of the "other brands" Raleigh made came with the plain round grips. Again, we see pre-Raleigh Hercules style fenders with the large central rib and long aluminum tip at the front.

johnnyspaghetti

I can't believe how clean & straight this one is. Has the bb oiler & barrel end fork and the red strip on the fender is a very hard to read Port of something NE license

western 7.JPG

Super.bee

Thanks for the info. I'll try to get some photos tomorrow. It's in a little bit of a sad state but it's not right for me to talk about it on here w/o photos!

I was able to score a NOS serifed chrome chain guard (original was missing) from Dave Perry at Bike Works NYC when he was on Ridge St. Nice shop, seemed like a great place to take a three speed or other transportation bike. The chainguard is currently the nicest part of the bike.

What are your decal sources?

Chaser95

Two 62 Western Flyers in so short a time! What are the chances?

BigChief

H LLoyd in the UK is excellent quality
https://h-lloyd-cycles.myshopify.com/

also Velocals
VeloCals bicycle decals - Quality, Durable, Ultra-thin

edit: keep in mind, except for the peel and stick 20-30 and gold strips, these are vinyl transfers, not waterslide. (far better)

BigChief

Good looking tall 53 Sports in Connecticut. Silly to only post 2 NDS photos with huge saddlebags. Leaves unanswered questions. Still, the first good looking 50s Sports I've seen in a while.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-195...4AAOSwVExaqSBT

capnjonny 

Here are the pictures of the Tri Star after its make over
The paint was very good on the frame so I left it. I clear coated the fenders and chain guard though. It adds some sparkle to an already good looking bike.
Other items :
New Schwinn handle bars. They were a little wider and much better chrome.
r/r head set bearings
Replaced the steel front wheel with an aluminum one – polished the rim and hub
Replaced the original rear wheel which was very dented with the wheel from it’s twin , the blue Tri Star
( more about that bike later)
New cables and white cable covers
Polished metal pedals (for more bling)
New 1 1/8 x 27 gum wall tires and tubes
Cleaned and polished original side pull brakes
New brake pads ( kool Stop’s at front wheel.)
Polished Pletcher rack and kick stand.
I would really like to swap out the rear 20 tooth cog for a 24 tooth as the bike as built has ridiculously high gearing with a 48 tooth chain ring and 1st gear only suitable for level terrain or very slightly uphill riding and 2nd and 3rd only useful if you want to go downhill much faster than the brakes can stop you .

I originally put a single speed freewheel on the blue Tri Star but now I decided to change it out for an old Shimano Crane derailleur and a wide ratio 5 speed freewheel (14-32 teeth) which should make it much more useful. I could swap out the bars for drops and loose the fenders but I think I would rather keep the classic townie look.

browngw 

It occurred to me the other day that I had never had the bottom bracket apart on my Robin Hood or had any idea of its condition. The bike still looks almost new after 47 years. The chap who I purchased it from had mentioned he "greased all the bearings" and to his credit he had, BUT he did not mention the hammering and drilling to get the cotter out! When I went to check it the cotters came out fairly easy but the drive side was not the right taper, was showing wear and there were what looked like drill marks on the BB axle. The bearing was not smooth feeling but it was just a little crud had fallen in the grease and adjustment. I carefully blued and filed a new cotter, replaced the grease and adjusted the bearing. All is well.
I think from now on I will check everything at the start, not three years later!

BigChief

Nice work! I've considered clear coating the sheet metal parts on some of the projects I've done. Many times, the paint on the fenders and chainguard dull much more than the paint on the frame. Looks like it worked out well here.

BigChief

Yeah, a pretty hambone job. If he had just taken the time to file the top of the cotter flat and center punch it, the drill would have stayed put and not made such a mess on the crank arm. A 180 degree spread of the crank arms would be quite the bit of luck with that shabby job of cotter fitting. Glad you got it sorted.

Steve Bauserman 

On the subject of Raleigh Record Ace's, this is my 1937 as validated by the SN. The rims are wood, the front wheel has radial lacing, the rear hub is now an AW-9 three speed (pictured 48 FW hub was laced to another set of rims for the 48 RRA). The Carradice bag bracketis modern, the Ghisallo wood rims are modern and bell is modern. All of the paint and decals are original. The mudguards are original Bluemels Noweight. The pedals are the original chromed RRA pedals. Besides the current wheelset, I have the original Dunlop Special Lightweights with Bayliss-Whiley hubs and Dunlop Sprite tires. Considering all of the RRA specific parts, if present, the earlier mentioned eBay seller's price is not really that far off the mark. I also have a 1948 RRA without the pedals and the last set (in 48 they were alloy) that came up went for $500.

clubman 

Love to see pics of that Steve!

You can't add up the price of separate components and build that into the price of a complete bike. You'll have to break it up and sell it piecemeal and do all the grunt work packing and shipping.

Steve Bauserman 

I agree 100%.

If I had to price out the RRA specific components and period parts to build up a parts RRA, it would exceed the the seller's price by maybe 50%. The 37 was a complete bike when purchased. I added the modern parts and the three speed (still looking for an AW-7) to make it more ride-able. I purchased the bike three years ago.

My 48 which has an FW and therefore not pictured, was built up from original parts from different sources. It was somewhat more expensive.

gster

Interesting choice of a background for the photos. I've always liked Morgans. My uncle had one in the 70's.

BigChief

It's always fun to see such great bikes..and Morgans...Thanks for posting the pics.

Ballenxj

WOW! Just WOW! What a nice old bike, and I would think it's close to period correct for its background? That, and I didn't know there were bicycle rims made from wood?
Thanks for posting these photos.

Steve Bauserman 

The Morgan behind the RRA is a 1967. The one to the right is a 1958. Unless you look really close or know them really well, dating a Morgan is tricky since it can be decades between changes.

Ballenxj

I'll admit, I know very little about Morgan's. Now 60's and 70's Muscle cars are a whole different story.

BigChief

I see a lot of overlap here between lovers of old English bicycles, motorcycles and cars. I think the RRA and the Morgan make a perfect match in many ways. If I were to pick a motorcycle to go with the RAA it would have to be the Velocette KSS. Ahhh perfection.