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I finally got The Sun ready for a run and it seems to handle really well, even if it is a little bit on the small side. Now I just need to think about finding her a new home…
I’ve left her as original as possible and any painting I have done was functional rather than purely cosmetic. Flat black rubbed back down to blend in with the original paint as best I could.
The rear wheel was stripped down and rebuilt, replacing the broken spokes and those that snapped on tightening with some 50-year old stainless steel Raleigh spokes. These have the Raliegh “R” at the hub end so can be easily distinguished.
The original Villiers freewheel was beyond repair so has been replaced with a modern part – although I have a vintage Bayliss-Wiley freewheel which can be swapped in for “authenticity”. Chain is new and much smoother running than the over-stretched original Coventry.
Hubs, pedals and bottom bracket were all stripped, cleaned and rebuilt using high quality marine grease which is a little bit thicker than modern lithium cycle lubricants but lasts longer and repels moisture more effectively.
Rear brake blocks are original, just cleaned up and the repainted, the front blocks are NOS leather-lined jobs that work better on steel rims in the wet. This is Scotland and wet is a major part of the national costume.
The hide on the Brooks B2 could still do with some TLC and moisturising.
Still, not bad for a lady in her seventies…eh?
r:B
I was trying to put “The Sun” together for a test run following a more-or-less complete strip-down, re-grease and rebuild…but I’ll be damned if I can find the front fork brake stirrup clips! That’s the little jobs shown at the bottom of the picture here:
I last remember seeing them hanging on an old bent spoke above my workbench after being re-enamelled. I must have decided to put them “somewhere safe”!
I’m moving forward with a pair of clips from that now-abandoned 1950’s Superbe in the certain knowledge that as soon as I’ve finished adapting the Raleigh parts to fit, the originals will turn up…I hope!
r:B
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
