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.