Classic & Vintage - What color were most 60's 3 speeds?

So, I've got this Royal Master built in Nottingham England. It was brush painted red. Poor thing. I checked the date on the Sturmey and it says 65. So I'm thinking, the bike is only a year older than me. What are the usual colors for 3 speed bikes of this era? There's a powdercoater here in SoCal that's advertising in CL and I might go for it.
Black is the obvious. Should it be glossy black?
How about puke gold color?

Burgundy, dark green, black.

Many of them that I've seen were more of a satin rather than a glossy finish.

I've seen some gold also. Not sure what exactly "puke gold" looks like.

Satin? I'll have to ask the guy if he can do that. Is that possible with powdercoating.

Dark Green sounds interesting....

http://web.mit.edu/nlerner/Public/Bikes/RaleighColors.jpg

I like 2, 5, and 8 those are my votes, for whta it's worth.

I would paint it black - but not glossy.
You can't go wrong with dull-finish black when it comes to old British 3-speeds.

Black is probably the most common color and every Royal Master I've seen has been black.
There would be gold lettering on the seat tube.

I'd paint it white.

They were glossy, at least when they were new. you can get powdercoat in any finish you want, though. It's your bike, get creative.
I had a royal that was metalic blue with white fenders and chainguard.
If you sand very carefully, you might find the origional color at the bottom of all the layers, you could also look inside the tubes, folks usually didn't repaint those.
I understand that Raleigh used a process similar to powdercoating origionally.

Most in the UK were dark green with gold lettering although Red flambuoyant (metalflake) with light blue mudguards came a close second. (Memories of the bike sheds at my school at that time - and come to think of it, not just for the bikes that were parked there!)

Black is probably the most common color and every Royal Master I've seen has been black.
There would be gold lettering on the seat tube.

I'd paint it white.

My expert Googleness can't seem to find pictures of Royal Master 3 speeds

I'll see if I can carefully scrape away the paint to see what the lettering looks like.

85 bucks to powdercoat seems like a pretty good deal to me.

Pulling the fork and taking a look at the steerer tube will likely tell you what the original color was.

Neal

(Memories of the bike sheds at my school at that time - and come to think of it, not just for the bikes that were parked there!)

Don't you mean behind the bike sheds?
I remember 'bikes' in the classrooms, according to some of the boys anyway.....

Most English 3-speeds here in the states in the 50's and early 60's were black, dark green, dark blue, or dark red. In the late 60's and the 70's they may have been almost anything. However if they had a department store brand on them they would probably be bright blue or bright red. Those six colors accounted for probably 90% of them from what I remember. I believe there were a lot more choices in England.

There's a powdercoater here in SoCal that's advertising in CL and I might go for it.

I had my Colnago done at Olympic Powdercoating in Santa Ana and they do a great job and they're cheap. Also, there close to a place that can re-chrome anything you want for dirt cheap.

I had my Colnago done at Olympic Powdercoating in Santa Ana and they do a great job and they're cheap. Also, there close to a place that can re-chrome anything you want for dirt cheap.

Their website seems to be down. There's a guy called deluxpowdercoating on 515 S. Santa Fe in Santa Ana as well.

I'll try a quote from Olympic

You might give them a call for a quote. Their site really didn't have any pics of the bikes they've done, but they do great job. Check out this thread on my Colnago Mexico that was done by them. It came out perfect.: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=394880

check out post #13

Most of the ones I remember were usually Raleighs, and black.

Don't you mean behind the bike sheds?
I remember 'bikes' in the classrooms, according to some of the boys anyway.....

Got it in one!!!

I saw one at the local swap shop a month or so back & it was black. I can see the script but lack any skill in being able to reproduce it. I have a Hercules in #5, crimson, a 10 speed on the sports frame. That color works fabulous. When the batteries in the camera recharge will post.

All the 3 speed "English Racers" that I remember were more like #5 - burgundy to me, Crimson according to the color chart*. Crimson with gold decals.

You can't go wrong with black - black with gold decals.



* If you call around to inquire, I'd use the word burgundy not crimson. Crimson, in common parlance, is more like the USC crimson and gold. Not bad, but not authentic to the era. You really need the painter's color pallet to get the color right.

All the 3 speed "English Racers" that I remember were more like #5 - burgundy to me, Crimson according to the color chart*. Crimson with gold decals.
You can't go wrong with black - black with gold decals.

* If you call around to inquire, I'd use the word burgundy not crimson. Crimson, in common parlance, is more like the USC crimson and gold. Not bad, but not authentic to the era. You really need the painter's color pallet to get the color right.

I finally got around to peeling off some of the paint and its IS INDEED Crimson underneath. Sort of a dark burgendy. All I need now is to find what the decals on this looks like.

I've already took a razor blade and took off a bunch since after these photos were taken. I think I am liking that Burgendy color.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3067/3066427840_93f6bf0d0d.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3165/3065586255_b09f84b3a8.jpg?v=0

The decal on the seat tube...
You'll probably find it under the rattle can paint.
It is a long oval, with "Royal Master" written vertically.
The font is the same as the head badge.

The decal on the seat tube...
You'll probably find it under the rattle can paint.
It is a long oval, with "Royal Master" written vertically.
The font is the same as the head badge.

Its getting reeeeaaaallll interesting! I have an exacto knife and it looks like there's some type of design on the seat tube. Kinda looks like a couple of parallel lines going down the seat tube. On the bottom, near the BB, I can see "made in england".

I found a "Bill's Bike Shop" type sticker but I can't tell right now if it is a sticker. Its not "raised" like a sticker. I'll keep going with the exacto knife and post more pictures.

When I was a kid, there were several others that were lucky enough to have the bucks to buy an "English Racer 3-speed". All but one of the bikes I saw were gloss black with a white tip on the rear fender. The one exception was a kid who owned a french bike that was gold.
I prayed that some day I would own a three speed Raleigh. Finally got it last year.

What I remember from the shop in the late '60's/early '70's:

Dunelt's were metallic blue
Triumph's were red
B-line Raleigh's (LTD-3, etc.) were black with gold pinstripe
Raleigh's Sports (and I believe Superbe's, although we never got many in) were either metallic coffee, a somewhat metallic olive (visualize army olive drab, only metallic, not drab), DL-1's (the rod brake models) were invariably black with gold pinstripe, and I owned one Raleigh Sports in ivory with gold pinstripe. I've never seen one in that color since, and as far as I know it was the only one the shop ever got in.

Also, quick and dirty restoration tip: If you've got a black bike and the paint is basically decent but lots of little nicks and scratches, use black paste shoe polish. It fills the nicks, shines up the paint, but you may want to avoid rubbing it on the decals, as it'll darken them.

I did that to the last two B-lines I fixed and flipped. They looked good when finished and brought me $100.00 each, easily.

Would oxblood shoe polish work on the crimson paint?

Would oxblood shoe polish work on the crimson paint?

In theory, yes. No guarantees on the color match, however. I've tended to limit that trick to black bikes, if only because how many shades of black are there?

Also, quick and dirty restoration tip: If you've got a black bike and the paint is basically decent but lots of little nicks and scratches, use black paste shoe polish. It fills the nicks, shines up the paint

I did that too - it works great.