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.