Evolution of Raleigh Sports Tourist Forks - Three Generations

 

In the realm of three speed bikes, the Raleigh Sports fork is one of the most ubiquitous. The classic 26-inch "thimble" fork was used for decades on a wide variety of models. But did you know that Raleigh changed the construction of this fork slightly over the years?

 1930s to Late 1940s 

The Raleigh Sports bike as we know it today was largely the product of innovations that took place in the early and middle 1930s. Brazed-up frames on 26 x 1 3/8 wheels, with cable brakes and "north road" style bars all came together to set the standard for the Raleigh Sports style bike in the years prior to World War II. Early Raleigh Sports forks feature the thimble crown, but the fork crown tube and thimbles are slightly larger than later forks. These early forks also have pinched fork ends.  

This style of fork persisted even after World War II. But not long after the war ended, Raleigh Industries made a large number of improvements to their Sports bikes. One of the improvements was to replaced pinched fork ends with brazed-in, plug-type fork ends.

On these early forks, the fender eyelets are separate pieces brazed onto the fork tubes. They mount somewhat higher on the arms than the later fender eyelets. 

 

Late 1940s to 1960s

In the late 1940s, Raleigh made a number of improvements to how it made the Sports bike. One improvement was to begin using brazed-in, solid fork ends. These fork ends had a plug-type end, which in turn was brazed into a circular opening in the end of each fork tube. Raleigh's classic front axle nuts "keyed" into these solid fork ends, adding a measure of safety and solidity to the front wheel mount. The fork crown tube was shrunk a bit, and the thimbles made just a bit smaller compared to earlier bikes. The plug-type, brazed-in fork ends are more robust than the earlier, pinched type ends. Raleigh Industries was at the apex of quality in its manufacturing from the late 1940s through the early 1960s.

 The fender brace eyelets are small, separate pieces. They were moved slightly lower on the fork arms. 

 

 1960s and Later

During the 1960s, Raleigh and its parent company, Tube Investments, focused primarily on making manufacture of the Sports bike and its parts faster and cheaper. This included a few changes to the front fork. The crown tube and thimbles remained basically the same as before, but the fork ends were attached differently. Gone were the more refined and better-finished plug-type fork ends that brazed into the tubes. Instead, each fork tube was slotted, and a stamped, flat fork end. The end was solid but the joining was not quite as smooth or well-finished as the previous generation of works. They are still reasonable strong forks, but they just are a bit cheaper in finishing than the earlier ones.

The fender eyelets underwent a substantial change on these forks. On these later forks, the eyelet is incorporated into the stamped fork end. This saved a step at the factory because it eliminated the separate process to braze fender braze eyelets onto the fork arms. 

 

Photographs

 Let's take a look at three forks, one from the late 1930s, one from the start of the 1960s, and one from the middle 1960s. That is, one fork from each of the three generations described above. 

In the above photograph, the first generation fork is on the left, the second generation fork is in the middle, and the third is on the right. There's not much to say at first glance. The steerer tubes are all roughly the same, and all three come from 23-inch men's frame bikes. The second generation fork has a bit less threading than the others, but they all take the same headset pieces. The crown race is missing from the first generation fork, but those all take the same bearings.

 

What about the crowns? They're all pretty similar. The first generation fork has a slightly larger crown tube and slightly larger thimbles. The second and third generation forks are basically the same as each other. 

 

 

In the photo above, the ends are reversed. The first generation fork is on the right. The thimble piece is slightly larger than the second and third generation forks.

 

Let's look at the fork ends. Now we start to see some real differences. The first generation fork on the right is a simple, pinched set of ends. The fender eyelet is a loop brazed to each arm. The eyelet position is higher up than the second generation fork.

The second generation fork in the middle has the plug-style fork ends brazed into the arms. The finishing is quite nice: the fork end is no bigger than it needs to be and a subtle taper matches to the fork arms.  The fender eyelet mounts lower than the first generation fork.

The third generation fork on the left shows the later type. The arms are slotted and a single piece of stamped steel is brazed into place. The fender eyelet is part of that fork end, reducing the number of operations on the fork at the factory. The ends are fairly robust but they lack the refinement of second generation plug ends. Both the second and third generation fork ends show the keyhole style mounting for the Raleigh axle nuts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving, and a Nice Raleigh Book

I think aftermarket support and maintenance was much stronger many years ago when neighborhood bike shops were plentiful and manufacturers strongly backed their products. It seems products today are more readily disposable and finding service is more difficult. 

 Along those lines, recent arrival is this beautiful Raleigh service book from the early 1950s. The original owner of this book wrote his name and the date of 1951 inside the cover. This book is 60 pages long, covering all the various aspects of maintaining an old Raleigh three speed bike that an informed owner would want to know. This is not necessarily a complete "shop" manual for the bike, but it is a detailed look at the bike from the owner's perspective, including basic maintenance done at home.

 Even some of the trickier aspects of maintenance are covered, such as Dynohub wiring and maintenance of the accumulator battery unit.

 The book even still had 1950s era bicycle hangtags and shifter inserts, probably from the original owner's bike. These were stuffed into the book about halfway through. 

 Overall this is a wonderful find of a full-length piece of Raleigh literature from not long after Second World War ended. It gives us a look at what a more involved owner might have to maintain a classic Raleigh of the 1940s or 50s. 

Finally, a happy Thanksgiving to those out there celebrating this coming week. Thanksgiving in the USA is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.

 

Riding Vintage Bicycles on the Road to Irrelevance

 

The end of riding season here has given me some time to reflect on the vintage bicycle repair hobby. I've written recently about difficult sellers who hurt the hobby, and I've written more generally about trends and people that drive away new people. I've also discussed a few basic things that can help to remedy some of those negative trends. 

This article provides a basic discussion of how certain online venues contribute to making the vintage bicycle repair hobby less relevant to cycling in general. 

 

Old-School Forum Users - Arguing the Tangential and Esoteric

Online discussion fora are one of the older forms of medium dealing with vintage bicycles. There is no shortage of them still operating, in a variety of languages and focusing on a variety of old bikes. I love old-school fora for discussion because they are technologically simple but also offer a direct line to expertise on a variety of subjects. 

But when discussions on these website go bad, the rabbit hole is potentially bottomless. Sometimes one or two "keyboard warriors" monopolize a discussion and endless debate generates all heat but no light on a subject. 

Some fora also have an "old boys club" of gatekeepers who belittle new members or gang up against differing opinions. A newcomer will notice this within about two weeks of joining because the same handful of people always seem to "go nuclear" in a pack when certain subjects pop up. 

Some fora ostensibly about old bikes devolve endlessly into tangential discussions by long-time members about whether vinyl records are actually "niche", whether supply and demand principles apply (or what "supply" and "demand" actually mean), or whether bike helmets make riders less safe somehow (including numerous sequels to that discussion). 

Some fora refuse to curb lunatic members who spout conspiracy theories and bad information. They may suspend these members, but they keep coming back. [For example: a user who jumps into a thread about repairing an old middleweight bike with claims the L.A. wildfires were set by the government using a laser; or a user who claims vaccines have altered his dreams in a thread about bike path usage. No links here - I'd rather keep this humane and preserve the posters' anonymity]. Then there are the users who think personal attacks are OK if you disagree or who make outrageous statements. [For example, a user likening his repaired/"saved" bicycles to Jewish people being saved from the Holocaust. Again, I won't post a link singling the person out, to keep this humane.]

I deeply believe in freedom of speech and open discussion. But it is possible for discussion in this hobby to degrade to the point that sane people and newcomers just walk away. Once that happens, you start down the road of irrelevance.

 

Reddit and Similar - the Peanut Gallery Strikes Back

Reddit is less "clubby" than online fora seem to be, but it has its own virtues and vices. Reddit tends to have more "drive by posts" where people modestly interested in a subject throw out advice (good or bad), then roll on to the next topic. Some of the hardcore Redditors may act like "gatekeepers", but it seems it is the peanut gallery who rule the roost.

Newcomers and casual posters absolutely can give some very good advice. But I've also seen people show up, post bad advice or incorrect information, then roll on to the next topic. The person asking for help hopefully is redirected to the right information, but if they take bad advice and something breaks down on their project, then it just leads to more frustration.

Reddit has a lot of potential but it seems very chaotic and disorganized to me. It has a different set of vices from the "rabbit hole" problem that the traditional online forum might have. 

 

Videos: Be Careful What You Wish For...

There's a famous, old story from the early 1900's called "The Monkey's Paw". In it, an enchanted monkey's paw will grant three wishes to each of its owners. However, it grants those wishes in twisted and horrifying ways, as the price for altering fate. [Worth reading, if you have not - it's a classic.]

In a sense, streaming and seemingly endless online video venues are "what we may have wished for" as hobbyists 20 years ago. But as with the monkey's paw, the wish was granted in a chaotic and distorted way. 

Some online vintage bicycle videos are very well-done: they give good details, move at a workable pace, and provide a certain artistic value. But others devolve into long and rambling rants, bad information, or insidious and misleading advertising. In a sense, we received an endless stream of classic bike videos that would have seemed impossible in the days of UseNet emails and dial-up internet, but many of the videos show our hobby to be at best inaccessible, or at worst, an online lunatic consortium. 

For example, I love hearing about how you fixed your kickstand or your brakes, but I don't want a long rant about President Trump, either for or against, while you try to fix stuff. Just fix stuff or show stuff on your bike video and be treat others as you would want to be treated... Again, I won't single-out anyone, to be humane about this. 

Other videos have click-bait titles,  and at first appear to be legitimate, but gradually it becomes apparent to the viewer that it's actually an advertisement for a particular shop or product. I have no issue with a certain amount of advertising, but be honest about it up-front, or at least make it optional. I shouldn't get 6 minutes into a video and realize the entire video is going to be about a particular vendor you use. Be honest with people and it's a lot more comfortable for everyone...

Then there is the concern about privacy, data use for marketing, shafting many decent content-creators, etc. The companies running these services do pretty well compared to many of the small-time content creators using the service. And then there's the ever-present, "If you don't know what's for sale here, then it's you." Who knows where your data is being sold by some of these companies. Other companies running these services have connections to shady companies or hostile foreign regimes and dictatorships.

The monkey's paw gave us our wish of immediate access to a wide range of information in video form, but the way it came was somewhat twisted and with some nasty strings attached. 

 

So, What's the Point?

The point here is that in each of these venues, we should always strive to engage in a productive way with newcomers. Sometimes that means encouraging a new project, other times it can be counsel about a project that will be a money pit. Sometimes it means verifying our information or providing scans of manuals or classic bicycle literature. [FYI - the Veteran Cycle Club in England has a wonderful library of literature and information available to members. It is well-worth joining.] Other times online venues can be used to facilitate group rides and shop/co-op repair days. 

We should work to make each of these online venues productive and helpful to hobbyists of all skill levels and not allow them to devolve into the hostile, nonsensical, overly esoteric, or exploitative. 

Ask yourself, "what did I do to help someone today?", which is good advice in the vintage bicycle hobby and perhaps for life in general.