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OK, enough of the teasing. Here are my two new ladies….
1938/9? "The Sun" by the Sun Cycle and Fittings Co., Birmingham
The Sun is a lovely machine in astonishingly good condition. The paintwork has obviously seen better days but there is no real rust and, although the chrome is sadly pitted and flaking in places, she is solid throughout. The tyres actually held air and it only needed the cones in her front axle tightened before she could be ridden around the block. Fortunately I spotted that there were a few very loose spokes before getting carried away and doing any lasting damage.
The Sun was originally to have been for my equally lovely and arty daughter who currently has a full-suspension Raleigh mountain job. However, she had her heart set on a hot pink repaint…so I’ve promised I’ll look out for a nice loop frame in need of new paint instead, preferably one that’ll take 700c rims. But I digress..
The pedals are by Brampton and the single-speed freewheel by Villiers, both reputable names in British cycle manufacturing. I’ve tried to be objective in dating this bicycle and so far can only deduce from the components – such as the snub-nosed Brooks B2 Lady’s Model, which I can only find listed in their 1939 catalogue – combined with the lack of a reflector and the homemade distemper/whitewash patch on the rear mudguard that The Sun probably predates WWII. I’ll follow up with some more photographs as I strip and rebuild her…
And then we have her friend…
1947 Rudge 3-speed Super Safety (Model 111L)
This Rudge – so I’ve been reliably informed – was originally bought by relatively local village blacksmith for his daughter and, as you might expect, was fairly well looked after. It still sports a period pump/inflator and a pair of vintage Dunlop Roadster tyres in spankingly good condition. Being 1947, this is a Nottingham Raleigh-built Rudge so it lacks the ingenious chain-driven brake system of the pre-war Super Safety but it is otherwise well-appointed and should clean up nicely. I only get to enjoy lavishing attention on her until I have her roadworthy…then she falls under the protection of my darling wife!
R:B
I’ve been a little preoccupied in the past few days with a new girl…she doesn’t come with much history but she’s fit and remarkably spry for a septuagenarian.
She has a friend too! I’ll post more about both of these girls in the next few days…
R:B
BEFORE
I’ve been intending to post some photographs of the £10 Chiltern for a while now and have finally decided not to wait until I refit the chainguard…
AFTER (almost!)
Since this bicycle is intended for daily riding around town, I’ve not invested too much time or money into it. Most of the components are reclaimed or recycled. The mudguards, rear rack and wheel reflectors (I managed to resist using the Unholy Spoke Reflectors) came from my project box. The brake calipers, front wheel and both tyres and tubes are reclaimed from the Traveller. I’ll be replacing the (ahem) 30-year-old Raleigh Record tyres with a pair of Schwalbe puncture-proof white-walls soon… The Zefal pump is new – with an adapter to suit the Woods valves – and cost a measly £3.49.
The dental white grips are actually a Shimano 333 3-speed shifter set I picked up as NOS on Ebuy for less than the price of a new cable. Unfortunately I still need a new cable as the Shimano part is a bit short for this frame. However, they shift nicely and adapting the Shimano 333 cable to fit the Sturmey Archer hub only involved snipping off the cable nipple and clamping on a late model SA adjusting barrel.
The saddle – previously on the Superbe – is actually a little low for comfort but I’ve been too lazy to adjust it yet. I’ve got two vintage leather saddles to choose from and haven’t yet decided which suits the bicycle best. The rear luggage is an ancient reclaimed Carradice Club bag. I need to get some white polish on the leather straps…
Total cost? Excluding paint and other workshop consumables? Probably around £30…
OK…£30 and a pair of jeans that I spilled paraffin over. Anyone really know how to get the smell of paraffin out of clothing? They’ve been machine-washed twice and left hanging out on the drying line for a week through two torrential downpours! They still stink…
R:B
OK…it started out as a mission to offload some old kid-sized bikes that had been taking up space in the shed for tooooo long. We dropped them off at the local bicycle recycling project - more about this soon – and I couldn’t resist having a snoop around their store room. Then I saw it…a neglected but still quite tidy 1992 Raleigh Chiltern 3-Speed Roadster in anarcho-black.
This is the condition in which I acquired her. What it is with me and rust-encrusted half-carts! The rims are badly rusted and the chrome is flaking in places. Hell, there’s rust on the tyres…! Then again, I only paid £10 to liberate her.
The front mudguard is quite obviously corroded and the rear one is simply elsewhere. Both front and rear brake calipers are badly corroded and the chrome is beyond recovery. I’m planning to replace them with a pair of alloy centre-pull Dia-Compe calipers from my project box.
The chain guard appeared fine until I started checking the edges – the paint is ready to peel off in sheets! I’ll have to dream up some remedial treatment. And where’s the heron gone? This is an utterly boring crankset!
And I’m less than impressed with the handlebar furniture. The brake levers are Weinmann knock-offs by LeeChi and what a hideous plastic gear trigger! I knew I should’ve bid on those Shimano 333 twist-grips on eBuy!
Aaaaargh! This has to be the saddest part…this bicycle is still wearing some of the factory packaging on the wheelnuts. This suggests it was left outside and hardly used or cared for from new! What a tragedy!
Anyway, the plan is for this beauty to become my daily ride. I’ll not worry about restoring her to her 1992 state – which by the looks of it would have been pretty average – but aim for comfort and style. Maybe even some mock stateliness too! Suggestions for names are welcome. I’m currently favouring Ethel.
rb
From what I can ascertain, the ratty-looking old Raleigh I picked up last week is most likely a 1951 Superbe Dawn Tourist. This was deduced primarily from the Raleigh/SA DynoFour hub and the fact that the frame is 21″ – the Superbe Tourist is a 24″ machine and the Superbe Sports Tourist has cable-operated caliper brakes. Oh…and the frame serial number seems to fit the 1950/51 period and the hub is most likely date-marked “51″ not “5T” as I previously misread.
I’ve hit one or two snags in my disassembly of the Superbe:
First of all, the handlebar stem seems to be bent and is well and truly jammed into the forks. I’ve given it a good bathe in WD40 but no joy. I’ll have another attempt using a bigger hammer and a wooden plank bracing the bars but I may have to try applying heat instead.
I’ve also uncovered a tiny hole which seems to have rusted through the inside of the drive-side chainstay. This has likely never been cleaned in 50-odd years as the oil-bath chaincase makes access difficult. I don’t think it has caused any structural weakness but I’d like to get it brazed up before I repaint it anyway.
The highlighted area in the photograph above shows a woodscrew (I would reckon a 1″ No. 8 BZP Countersunk, if you really need to know) jammed into the gap between the chainstay and the brake stirrup retaining bracket – presumably to tighten the bracket because the bolts had already rusted solid. I had to cut through them to remove both rear brackets but this one was “soft” and probably corroded beyond repair.
This lack of access is a major flaw in these bicycles. For example, to remove the chaincase, you need to first remove the crank and this can be awkward if the cotter pin is jammed. You can’t get a good swing at it with a hammer without risking the chaincase taking a smack! I used a plank and an old brass electrical conduit bush to support the crank and a long punch/drift and heavy hammer to drive the cotter pin. It finally worked although I may have to replace the cotter pin. The brass bush is soft enough it shouldn’t mark the chromed steel and has a broad hex shoulder that prevents it embedding itself in or splitting the wooden plank. The picture below actually shows the other side of the bottom bracket but you should get the idea.
The rear wheel rim – an original Raleigh stainless steel “Westrick” – has a nasty split along the edge which I only discovered after cleaning the muck off. I seriously doubt this could be welded so I may have to replace it with a chromed steel Westwood…if I can find one. Anyone have a 40-spoke 26″ x 1 3/8″ Westrick or Westwood rim?
Other than that, It seems to be coming apart nicely. Some of the chrome is in incredible condition considering the age of the bicycle and that dodgy paint job is almost falling off all by itself! The best news is that the Sturmey Archer DynoFour components seem to be original and complete!
So, while this looks like being a longer-term project, I’m on the hunt for another old British 3-speed to ride!
rb
Well, here it is. I’ve already stripped much of it down to see what needs repaired or replaced. The answer seems to be surprisingly little…
The mudguards are a bit fragile. I think I might Kurust them and perhaps also reinforce them internally with glassfibre. The tyres are perished and torn and the rear wheel has a broken spoke and a split along the edge of the rim. New rims will be about £25 a pair I reckon. I managed to shear the heads off two bolts during disassembly but thankfully these were unimportant, replaceable, lower rear mudguard mounts. The frame itself doesn’t seem soft and gives a nice clear ring when knocked with a spanner. (Good tip, Pops!)
The first things to go were the lights, bottle dynamo and rear rack, all of which are late additions. The dynamo and lights are about to find a new home on my SO’s new ‘79 Raleigh Transit.
As far as I can tell, this is a Raleigh Superbe and the frame number – a “P” number stamped at the top of the seat tube - suggests it was built in 1949 or 1950, at least according to the online sources here and here. The rear hub is a Sturmey Archer DynoFour -the date code appears to be “5T” which suggests (to me, at least) 1950. If anyone knows better, please leave a comment and let me know…
More later…
rb
