Summer Rides, with a Bit of Contrast: 1953 Raleigh Lenton and 1964 Schwinn Traveler

 The wildfire smoke from Canada is starting to filter back this way... though not quite as badly as earlier this month. We finally had a couple dry days at the end of this week, so I was able to take these two fine bikes out: a 1953 Raleigh Lenton and a 1964 Schwinn Traveler.

The Lenton is a relatively lightweight bike with relatively trim geometry. It is a fast, agile machine that climbs and corners nicely. The electric green color isn't bad either... It represents a good balance between the performance of a road bike and the comfort of an upright utility bike.

 

 

In contrast, the Schwinn Traveler is a fairly laid-back, heavy bike. It is a solid and comfortable bicycle. It is more of a combination of a middleweight cruiser type bike and an upright utility bike, having an electroforge welded steel frame. 

These two bikes are a reminder that not all three speeds are the same, and not all of them are Raleigh Sports bikes. There is a wonderful variety to explore in the world of old utility bikes with internal gear hubs.

1949 Raleigh Clubman - Progress

I purchased this very nice, 1949 Raleigh Clubman from a fellow bike collector a few weeks ago. He decided to downsize his collection a bit, and I could not pass up the chance to clean up and ride a high-quality, old road bike like this one. 

 

As-purchased:

 

This bike appears to have originated from a bike shop in Wisconsin, then traveled to Canada, and finally to the home of Raleigh USA, Boston. The previous owner then sold it to me. This is a well-traveled bike.

As purchased:

I disassembled the bike a few days after buying it. This bike had been gone over by the previous owner, he estimated, about 15 years ago. The bike had already been cared-for and just needed a good cleaning and tune-up, and not going one of those projects that had been sitting 50+ years and needed to be totally taken down to the screws.

I took the bike apart and stored everything in labeled, ziplock bags a few days after buying it. I recommend using ziplock bags for storing assemblies and parts. They help keep things clean and you can label the bags so that parts stay together and do not become lost. 

Once I had done that, I became distracted and ended up rebuilding the 1941 Schwinn New World, which I have discussed previously. 

And so I have returned to the Clubman. 

Here is where the project currently stands: I have taken apart the bike and cleaned up all the parts. For this project, I have used acetone for small, non-painted parts, and I have used an ultrasonic cleaner with Simple Green and hot water for larger parts or parts inappropriate to clean with the acetone.

Progress:

I have cleaned and re-packed the bottom bracket and headset. I have disassembled, cleaned, and greased the brake calipers. In both cases, the calipers are checked for play and, as necessary, M8 red fiber washers are used to take out the play.

The bike came with two sets of fenders, a 1960s-70s era set of Bluemels aluminum, and the original 1940s aluminum Raleigh fenders. The previous owner was using the 1970s set, which was a bit cleaner than the original fenders. I plan to use the originals, so I tapped out any dents in them, cleaned the hardware, and found a riv-screw (a smooth-headed, self-locking type screw) to fill the hole drilled in the front fender top. A leather washer takes up the slack.

 

The paint on these bikes is also notoriously fragile. There is a durable, black undercoat or primer of some sort used, but the topcoat of aluminum-green often just fades or rubs off. In this case, the top coat can be matched carefully using a mixture of Testor's flat aluminum and flat beret green. Disposable eyedroppers are used to control the mixture, which on this bike ended up being about 50/50 green to aluminum. The paint is then applied in a very thin layer to match the original finish. In some spots, just a touch of flat black is added to "age" the touch-up paint.

Touch-up painting is done as sparingly as possible, and it is a gradual process of tweaking until I get what I want. I revisit any last areas I'm unhappy with after the bike is reassembled. The process is an on-going thing, which I will periodically revisit right up until the time the bike is complete.

With old Raleighs come the dreaded, proprietary cables that are fixed-length and double-ended. I reuse and save as many of these old cables as I can, only replacing them when I really need to do so. In this case, I have the required Raleigh cables. The front cable is a somewhat newer one.  

Below is my set up for cleaning and lubricating the cable cores. It is very simple: a nail in the wall stud, where the cable adjusters can hook on and suspend the cables. Then oil or liquid grease can be dripped in from the top. I hang them up overnight and let the grease or oil gradually run down to the bottom. A small glass jar at the bottom catches the excess oil or grease to prevent a mess. I check to make sure the grease or oil is running relatively clean by the end of the process. I repeat the process if the cable cores are still dirty or feel rough moving in the housing.

 

After the cable cores are cleaned and lubricated, I will clean the housings carefully and also patch-up any problem areas on the housings using clear or color-matched heatshrink.

So that is the progress for now. I will try to show the process of cleaning and repairing the cable housings in the next entry.

1941 Schwinn New World - Summer Begins

 

Summer officially began today, which is also the longest day of the year. The weather was excellent for a ride this evening: just a touch on the cool side but still plenty warm to be outdoors. There were plenty of other bikers on the roads and trails after work this evening. 

 

I took the 1941 Schwinn New World project for a ride. I reset the left pedal bearing tension, fiddled with a few fine fittings and brake pad positions, and checked to see that everything was still in place after the first "shakedown" ride. So far, so good.

 

 This bike is quite comfortable, apart from having to break in the new Gyes leather saddle. 

 

The ride is fairly upright, being somewhere in between my sportier 1950 Superior and the more upright Raleigh Sports type bikes. The 1941 New World is not an especially fast or sporty bike, but it's well-balanced and comfortable to ride. 

 

The bike has my usual treatment of retro lights with LED bulbs so that I can be seen more readily by drivers on the road. The Acorn small saddlebag is also a nice addition, being a moderately priced but high quality item. It holds enough for a short ride: wallet, cell phone, a few little tools, keyring, etc.

The kickstand is a new Greenfield. These stands are a "low profile" type stand that will not interfere at all with the cranks, and which are fairly lightweight. The black painted ones go nicely with an old bike like this and look the part. They can take an add-on rubber foot so the bike is quite stable on the stand. These stands are also still made right here in the USA, which is perfect for an old, American-made bike.

 

I must say that I am certainly looking forward to more summer riding. We had a very cool spring, with a fair bit of disruptive weather. At times it was wet and rainy, and at other times it was very smoky due to wild fires. We're into the long days of the year and I want to make the most of them.

This bike has the classic "Schwinn Built" caliper brakes. These are the right brakes for the bike, though I will admit that from a purely functional standpoint, they are nothing particularly special. They're on a par with similar steel side-pull calipers made by Phillips, Hercules, and others from that time period. They appear to have been copied from English designs (my guess is they copied a 1930s era Hercules or Phillips caliper).

 I topped off the bike with a retro Plymouth motors lapel pin for the bag and an old spiral decoration bell. I enjoy adding a "period" type lapel pin to the bags on some of my bikes. My 1950 Superior has a period "Pontiac 8" pin, the 1947 New World has a Chevy pin, and my 1942 New World has a WWII aviation themed wings pin.

This bike even still has its old, red glass reflector. It rattles a bit but certainly goes nicely with the bike.

 

 I still have a couple more projects this year: a 1949 Raleigh Clubman that is being cleaned up and rebuilt, as well as a 1951 New Hudson Silver Arrow that I need to get reassembled and back on the road. There's still plenty to do, but ride time comes first. I'm glad I added this bike to my collection. It's another variation of the New World bikes, which are among my favorites.

 

 

Progress - 1941 Schwinn New World

 

With the headlight for the 1941 Schwinn New World project arriving just in time to ride this evening, I was able to take the bike for a shakedown ride lasting about 60 minutes. The bike is comfortable to ride, with the taller touring bars and taller stem offering an upright ride. The only downside is that one of the pedal cones self-tightened to a degree during the ride. I reset it afterwards. 

I still have some cosmetic work to do on the bike, filling in little spots in the finish that are missing paint. 

So far though, this is a fun rider.

Wildfire Smoke

 We're into some of the best riding days of the season - long days with normally warm weather. Unfortunately, this week has been unseasonably cool and the air is very, very smokey. 

 The wildfires in Quebec have been sending smoke down the Hudson Valley and into western Connecticut to the point that just being outdoors, everything smells like a barbecue, or someone is burning railroad ties or sooty campfire wood. 

 

The smoke was particularly bad this past Tuesday and yesterday afternoon, but it remains a problem today. I'd like to get some ride time in, but it's unusually rotten outside in terms of smell and burning nose/eyes. One can walk around outside and maybe do light yard work, but anything more strenuous and the smoke really starts to take an effect. 

I'm  fairly tolerant of wood smoke, having grown up in a house partially heated by a wood-burning fire place, and tolerant of cool weather, but I will admit this weather has been tough for June. The last couple of days it has been in the 40s at night and 60s (at best) during the day, with lots of acrid smoke around. My wife, in particular, dislikes it. She grew up in Maryland, where this time of year it's supposed to be 90 and humid (and of course there isn't supposed to be all this smoke around). For her, the hotter the weather, the better.

The wind is supposed to shift in the next couple days, so I am hoping it will be over soon.

1941 Schwinn New World - Progress

 

Here is a quick update on the 1941 Schwinn New World project. 

This bike began as a bike core from eBay and had been parted out. It is unusual in that it has a plain "Schwinn" downtube decal and a "Planes and Trains" badge. The frame is otherwise the basic, fillet brazed pre-WWII New World.

 I've been rebuilding the core as a traditional three speed bike with a Sturmey Archer AW rear hub. 

The rims are new-old stock S6 chrome rims from a closed-down bike shop. I decided to go with those because they are straight and run smoothly. They should perform nicely. Spokes are double-butted old stock Torrington spokes.

This bike has "Schwinn Built" caliper hand brakes with the old-style hooked springs, and Schwinn built brake handles. 

The handlebars are a really nice item - old Schwinn New World style bars that have a little extra rise to them than the regular bars. I was thrilled to find these bars because they are the right profile, but with a little extra rise for an upright, traditional three speed bike position.  Stem is a tall "razorback" type.

The original front fork, which was not even and seemed to have a weak (bent and re-bent) blade has been replaced with a good, matching fork from a late 1940s New World. The rear fender has a very nice, intact red glass reflector. 

The crank set is a pre-war #502 Schwinn dog leg crank and four-hole sprocket. 

Seat post is a Cr-Mo type for a Schwinn seat tube and standard 7/8 saddle clamp. Saddle is a Gyes three-spring roadster type. I have a nice Acorn saddle bag that should go with it.

Tires are basic Kenda black walls for Schwinn S5/S6 rims.

I still have to decide which pedals I want to use.

I still need to set up the brake and transmission cables. I have a nice Sturmey Archer quadrant shifter for the top tube for this bike. 

 

Getting into Summer

 The 1950 Schwinn Superior returned to the road the other day. Summer weather is starting to arrive here - it will be 90+ degrees F for the next couple of days.

 

I love the green color of this bike, and the English-style white rear fender tip is a nice touch. I find with a Brooks B66 saddle, this bike is a very comfortable rider. 

Earlier this year, I replaced the smaller barrel bag with a larger saddle bag similar to those used on post-war English 3-speed bikes. This was an eBay purchase, though not disclosed was the fact that the bag had apparently resided in an area with a lot of cigarette smoke. On opening the bag, the smell of cigarette smoke was unleashed in the garage... Airing the bag out some has helped, as has some spray on the inside of the bag. I transplanted the period style Pontiac "straight 8" lapel pin from the barrel bag to the this larger bag.