Monday, October 5, 2015

1970 Raleigh Sprite 5 Speed Continued


And here are a few better shots of the now-assembled Raleigh Sprite with Sturmey Archer S5 hub. The bronze green on this bike is particularly nice and has a lot of "shine" to it, at least compared to some of the later 1970s bikes I have seen.










I am debating whether to add frame pump clamps and a frame pump. I have a short Zefal pump here at the shed, and another, more authentic one on the way. We'll see where it goes, but I may leave it as it is now. It's an interesting, "gadget" bike compared to an AW or even an FW Sports.






This one is definitely a "busier" bike to ride, with dual stick shift, hand brakes, bell, rear "bottle" generator, and dual-beam front light. There's a whole lot going on with this one.





 The white wall tires are not entirely my idea. I was inspired by the late 1960s-era Sprites in the U.S. Raleigh catalogs, which had white wall tires. I wanted a "classic" late 1960s-type Sprite look, and I think this one does nicely.
It looks to have the original B72 saddle still, which looks great on this bike. Proofhide really brought out the deep brown of this saddle. The bag is a Banjo Brothers Barrel Bag. This bike has the classic, Prestube Minor matching rack.