1951 Raleigh Clubman - A Classic 3 Speed Road Bike

About this time last year, I bought a 1951 Raleigh Clubman and stashed it in storage at my family's place not far from where I would eventually be moving to in Connecticut. The bicycle sat in a box for a few months, and this spring I began gradually getting it back together.

I made a few changes and upgrades as I worked on the bike, and eventually I was left with what I think is a pretty nice Clubman. There are a few items that need some tweaking, mainly I think I'll replace the narrow saddle with a Brooks Flyer (the B17 with springs). Our roads here are rough enough that the springs will probably be helpful.

The bicycle really is a lively performer - it's deceptively light for a steel framed bike and everything is quite well-made on it. The aluminum Bluemels fenders are a great touch, and I prefer aluminum over the old celluloid type (celluloid tends to crack).

While this project is not 100% done, I think I'm almost there. The main item now is to go to a bit more comfortable saddle.

As an interesting side note, I ended up making a custom, fixed-length Sturmey Archer shifter cable for this bike. I managed to locate my Bell Systems Type-B crimper and some brass tube stock. Using the crimper, a cable blank, and the brass tube stock you can make your own Sturmey Archer cable that is a fixed-length type, just like the originals. These will not have the "cinch bolt" type mount back by the rear wheel that the generic type shifter cables today have. The job isn't hard, but takes attention to the measurements.

The test ride for this bike was a baptism of fire, of sorts: a ride of several quite hilly miles to a lake in the next town over and back again. The bike performed nicely, though as I mentioned before, the saddle could use a little more cushion on our bumpy roads. When I lived on relatively short flat streets in suburban Virginia, a test ride would have been a 10 minute out-and-back loop never more than a short walk from home. But here in a more rural environment in western New England, riding is more done on the open-road instead of on looped little streets. So why not test it in the true road-going fashion?

The ride position is somewhat aggressive, but nothing terrible. The John Bull grips are very comfortable. I added a little Newbaum's cloth tape to give a second spot to grip on the bars so I can vary my ride position a bit.

I'm pretty happy with the bike - it's certainly different from the vanilla Raleigh Sports or the heavy Raleigh Tourist/DL-1 bikes. Each type has its place in a good collection, and they each have a different ride personality on the road. All we need now is some more good weather.

Humid Evening Ride to East Shore Road

A successful, but humid evening ride over to East Shore Road in Morris. Got a little rained on along the way, but nothing to soak me. The Panaracer Col de la Vie tires add a little extra cushion, and that comes in handy along some of these roads. But at the top of the hill along East Shore is a very nice little park.

To the Lake and Back

When I lived in Virginia, I did a lot of riding on local streets, which were largely flat and were limited to quiet, residential areas. I didn't do much over-the-road riding because the streets that went through longer distances like that had so much traffic that it really wasn't worth it.

Here in Connecticut, we don't have the flat streets the way we had in the tidewater of Virginia, but we do have some rather nice back roads that don't get quite as much traffic as there was in Virginia. The result is that I've gradually been doing some longer trips rather than riding circuits around residential streets.

This evening I took a ride from the center of town down a wooded state road, and finally over to a lake in the next town to our south. This ride was certainly more challenging - plenty of up-and-down over the hills. But at last, I reached the lake on my 1958 Raleigh 4-speed. I coasted back into town and got back to the car after a ride of about an hour in total.

1958 Raleigh Sports 4-Speed Ride

After several months of sitting in storage, this 1958 Raleigh Sports is back on the road. This was one of the bikes I moved before winter set in, so that it would not be exposed to road salt while transporting it to my new home. The bike then sat in storage for the winter, and into May, when I finally got around to pulling it back out and putting it back on the road.

One of the good things about the Sturmey Archer gear systems is that they tend to store well - that is, they are mostly closed systems that aren't prone to rusting or getting damaged in storage. All this bike needed was a good dusting and a little air in the tires. Then it went right back on the road as if it had been running right along.

This is probably the last season for these Duro white wall tires. My experience with the Duro tires is that quality is hit-or-miss. I had a set on a Raleigh Sprite that seemed to last well - not prone to separately or fading. The set on this 1958 Sports is starting to separate where the wall and the tread meet, never a good sign. But I think they have one more season in them before a change is needed.

The local nature preserve is White Memorial in Litchfield, Connecticut. White Memorial is a well-known wildlife refuge in our area, and is well-regarded as a place where people can walk, run, bike, snowshoe, and cross-country ski. The roads in White Memorial are paved, but there are also dirt paths through the woods, as well as a few dirt roads to other areas. There are lots of opportunities to see wildlife and many types of birds.