Hobbyist and Reference Website for Vintage American and English Bicycles
Decent weather most of this week, which was a good turn for riding. I took out the 1940 New World and the 1960 Traveler. The New World has a distinctly 1930s-40s design, versus the post-war Traveler. The New World has a much more traditional style. Both are good riders, though I give the edge to the Traveler with its Weinmann brakes, handlebar shifter, and stainless fenders. But variety is the "spice of life", as the old saying goes...
I will admit to being a bit sentimental, including about bikes I have owned for a long time. I've owned this bronze green, 1974 Raleigh Sports for about 23 years. I remember getting it in September 2003 as a $30, second-hand bike. This time of year tends to remind me of getting, fixing and riding this bike, so it tends to come out in September and October.
I've made some changes to the bike over the years, but it has always served me well and has held up nicely. I used it as a commuter for part of college and post-graduate school. After that, I used it as an occasional commuter on nice days and as a recreational machine on bike trails and road rides. It is on tire set #4 since 2003, which isn't a lot for a high-mileage road bike, but is decent mileage for an upright 3-speed bike.
I've always had a generously-sized saddle bag on this bike, a holdover from its days as a commuter when I'd have my personal stuff, lunch, and a few other items in the bag. The British flag lapel pin came from the Crystal City Mall in Virginia at some point very early in the bike's time with me, probably in fall 2003. If I were rebuilding the bike for the first time today, I'd probably use a brown, Acorn-brand small saddle bag. But this large bag is a leftover from bike commuter days...
I believe I got the bag, pump pegs, and pump from Menotomy Vintage Bicycles (the old "OldRoads" website), which is no longer in business.
I remember getting stuff for this bike from their shop and from Harris Cyclery in Boston (both are gone now). I got advice tuning the gear ratio and the AW hub from Sheldon Brown (now also gone, too soon). He was always very helpful and would answer emails if his website didn't have a particular detail that was needed for a repair.
Not every bike you own needs to be highly-collectible. This 1974 Sports is a solid, old bike, but not as collectible as some other Raleighs. But I certainly have a soft spot for this bike and plan to keep it as long as I am around.
Here's a throwback photo from the C&O Canal Trail in 2008, same bike with a little different configuration. (The Trygg double-leg stand cracked and was replaced). I've moved away since, but if you're ever in the DC area, the Capital Crescent, Mt. Vernon, and C&O Canal Trails are all great biking and walking venues.
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| 2008 - C&O Canal Trail, looks like it was a nice evening... |
Not much to report on the biking front this week, just a few ride photos of the 1949 Schwinn New World.
On a separate note, it is difficult to believe that 25 years have passed since the 9/11 attacks occurred. At that time, I lived in an apartment across the Potomac from the Pentagon. I remember the chaos and destruction of that day well. There was also an extraordinary amount of sacrifice and bravery that day on the part of the police, firefighters, medics, military personnel, and ordinary citizens who helped others during and after the attacks. It's odd how the memory of it sticks in my mind like it happened just last week, and yet it was a quarter century ago. But that is a good thing. We should all remember.
Over the long weekend, I was fortunate enough to meet up with a fellow Raleigh enthusiast and to buy this very nice, 1951 Raleigh Clubman, along with some extra wheel sets and parts.
This Raleigh is in fine shape. It has most of its blue paint and frame graphics. The Bluemels fenders are in good shape and the chrome is clean.
I've owned several Raleigh Clubman bikes before. The best of them were a re-painted (professionally, it seems) 1951 Clubman and an original paint 1949 Clubman. Those bikes have since moved on to other Raleigh collectors, but I've always wanted a nice, blue Clubman.
This one was relatively close by, so I decided it would be a good one to own.
A nice feature of the 1951 Clubman is the use of 27 x 1-1/4 rather than 26 x 1-1/4 rims, which makes finding good quality tires easier today. This particular bike came with two spare wheel sets. All three wheel sets use the very nice, Dunlop Special Lightweight steel rims of that time period. One seat of wheels features a 1951 Sturmey Archer AW hub and the other a classic flip-flop single-speed fixed-gear and freewheel hub. The bike currently has a Sturmey Archer FM four-speed, moderate-ratio hub.
This 1951 Clubman has a 22-inch frame on 27-inch wheels, which is a of a moderate size and should fit me pretty well.
Even with steel rims, this bike was very light weight for its time period. I had it parked alongside an old-school Phillips rod brake roadster I was cleaning. It's quite a contrast.
I have been finishing up a very basic refurbishment of my re-purchased Phillips roadster lately. The Phillips was a bike I owned for a few years, sold to another enthusiast, then bought back when he no longer wanted it. That bike is nearly ready, so I have to decide whether to proceed next to the early Raleigh Dawn or to the Raleigh Clubman. We have maybe 45 to 60 days left in the riding season here, before the cold weather really starts to bite. We will see...
The Clubman also came with a number of nice parts, in addition to the extra wheels. These Shockstop grips are in nice shape and very pliable.
The bike also comes with a lightweight pump with a Robin Hood logo on it.
I don't know if I will get to this bike this season or not. I'd really like to, but it depends on whether I start work on the early Raleigh Dawn roadster I picked up last winter. They're both nice bikes. "Good problems to have", as the saying goes...
This week's rides are the 1947 Raleigh Model 35, 1958 Raleigh Sports, and 1949 Schwinn New World.
August is usually a hot, dry month, but this August has been fairly damp. Even the lawns here are still green and needs to be mowed at least once per week: June weather more than the usual August. A damp August has also produced a strong population of mosquitos. They find you quickly and bite in numbers if you stop to take photos... I got plenty of bites trying to get these...
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| 1947 Raleigh |
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| 1947 Raleigh |
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| 1958 Raleigh |
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| 1958 Raleigh |
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| 1949 Schwinn New World |
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| New World |
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| 1949 Schwinn New World |
Raleigh made a number of subtle changes to their famed Sports bikes in the 1940s and 50s. This included improved front fork ends, frame-brazed pulley bosses, more modern frame graphics, improved dynohub systems, rubber rather than cloth-covered brake cables, improved shifters, and more ornate frame lugs.
I've talked earlier about the subtle evolution of front forks, so let us take a closer look at frame lugs. In this case, I'm comparing a 1947 Sports frame and a 1958 Sports frame.
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| Plain lug (1947) |
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| Plain lug (1947) |
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| Old-Style (1947) Seat Cluster Lug |
In the early 1950s, the old-style seat cluster lug gained a directly-mount boss so the pulley wheel could be mounted to the frame without a clamp. It is a hybrid of the pulley boss shown below on the later 1950s bike, but with the old-style lug of the late 1940s bike. These are transitional lugs because they combine the direct-mount pulley with the old style seat lug.
During the 1950s, Raleigh changed the lugs to be somewhat more ornate. The lugs are not as ornate as those found on the Clubman, but the Sports bikes did get a bit of embellishment. These lugs go nicely with the more ornate frame graphics of the later 1950s.
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| Later 50s Lug (1958 Raleigh Sports) |
The later 1950s seat lug is very different from the old-type. It has a deep cutaway with an ornate hook pattern. It also has a pulley boss mounted to the underside of the lug. A special pulley axle/stud is used to mount directly to the lug boss.
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| Later 1950s Ornate Lug with Pulley Boss (1958 Sports Bike) |
Bottom brackets also change a bit. In this case, the oiler port moved and settled on a more user-friendly, flip-cap type top. The spring-ball oiler does seal a bit better, but it is notoriously more difficult to use with a common oil bottle today. At the time, there was a thin-tip, needle oiler meant to go with this spring-ball oiler, though I don't have one in my tool bin. I prefer the flip-cap type for adding oil. The bottom bracket lug shape was largely the same, plain type.
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| Late 1940s bottom bracket (1947) |
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| Later 1950s Bottom Bracket (1958) |
These kinds of changes show the subtle evolution of the Sports-style Raleigh frame. It's not that one is better than the other. Rather, they form a nice variety in the bikes from a collector and historical standpoint. Both of the bikes used in these examples, a 1947 Model 35 Sports and a 1958 Sports, ride beautifully and are representative of their particular eras of Raleigh history. I enjoy both.
I took out the 1947 Raleigh Model 35 for a ride this week. The 1949 Schwinn had a successful, first "real" ride, so I changed it up later in the week and went with the Raleigh. The Model 35 was Raleigh's pre-war and early post-war "budget" version of the popular Raleigh Sports. The Model 35 came with minimal extras but still offered the great performance and handling of the Sports.
Riding them back-to-back gives an appreciation that the Raleigh and the Schwinn handle differently. The Schwinn has a more relaxed, cruiser-like feel, versus the sportier and crisper handling of the Raleigh. The Raleigh is also lighter, owing to the brazed frame, and lack of chain guard and kickstand. Both are well-made, durable bikes.
The Raleigh Sports family of bikes is probably the most "well-rounded" and versatile of all the vintage utility bikes. It's stable enough to be comfortable in traffic, durable enough to be a commuter or grocery-getter, low-maintenance enough to be a daily rider, agile enough to handle narrow roads, and light enough to give lively performance when pushed. If you are limited to "just one" vintage bike of this style, the post-war Raleigh Sports and similar would be my suggestion. I know the rod brake roadsters and club bikes are also excellent machines, but nothing serves as the "jack of all trades" like the Sports family of bikes.
I also have put up a new page with my notes on saddle position, including excerpts from an old Raleigh manual for how to set up a saddle. The basic lesson is use the manual as a "starting place" and then adapt the saddle position for what works for you. Don't be wedded to the manual if you need to fiddle with the saddle position to be comfortable. More on that discussion HERE.
The opalescent blue Schwinn New World is well along. It performed nicely during its first full-length ride. I added an Origin8 brass bell and did some very small adjustments on the brakes after the ride. But everything worked nicely and smoothly. It should be a good rider.
The paint is opalescent blue, which is a common color on Continentals from the late 1940s, but is very unusual on a New World. It was an added-cost option for the New World. The frame graphics are also in excellent shape.
I've finally refurbished the 1949 Schwinn New World that came from Facebook Marketplace back in January. This is a bike that was originally from NYC and moved upstate with a collector, from whom I purchased the bike.
The bike had a later stem and handlebars, and some later tires, but it was otherwise pretty much original. This made it a good platform to refurbish, add a three speed hub, add brakes, and remedy the stem and handlebar setup.
This bike has passed its "shakedown" ride and is ready for its first full-length ride.
Here are the changes made:
This bike uses a little different tail light set up than I typically use. I normally mount the reflector in the reflector hole on the fender, then clamp a tail light onto the seat stay. This is typical of old-time lightweights. In this case, I thought I'd try something more streamlined. The loose fender brace rivet is removed and replaced by the reflector. The LED light is then mounted directly to the rear fender in the former reflector mounting hole. It gives the safety of a reflector and LED combo but without the need for any additional clamps on the frame. Everything mounts neatly to the rear fender.
The full-length test ride is next for this bike. After that, I'll pick a nice bell out of my collection and mount it to the handlebars. I'll probably use an Origin8 brass striker bell, which is a simple and effective bell that looks nice on these bikes.
