BigChief

That's great. Beautiful bike. Don't judge it by the way it rides at first. There's a good chance that it hasn't seen proper servicing in many years. I can see that it has old, maybe original brake pads that will be hard and work very poorly. You will be amazed at what a difference a set of salmon Kool Stops will make. The cables might be dry or rusty making them feel sticky .The bottom bracket, head set and wheel bearings will likely have old dried up grease in them making the bike feel stiff and not roll and pedal as smoothly as it should. The shifter and cable might be sticky and out of adjustment. Don't worry if there's problems shifting. Those AW hubs are pretty indestructible and problems are usually just cable adjustments. Just keep in mind that she's almost 50 years old, but getting these old timers running like new is something we do all the time.

gster

Another local Toronto bike for sale. $180.00 asking.
Not sure of the year or model but does have the eye stamping on the heron (pre 1961), a dynohub and those proprietary calipers and cables.
Interesting paint scheme.
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clubman 

Pretty sure it's a 61' Superbe. Singular paint job to that year.

Maybe, the forks usually have painted or chrome sox. 59-60?

johnnyspaghetti

That one has all the candy of a Superbe and the paint highlights of the 61' in amazing condition.

dweenk

I rescued this one a while back. It has been cleaned up, but the rims are rough (as in flaking chrome, after an OA bath). The frame has "patina". I was going to make it a scorcher for someone smaller than me, but no one in the family is interested. I think it will go on CL in the spring.

gster

I like to see bikes in this early stage of assembly.
Keep the photos coming, please.

clubman 

You don't see a lot of those 19" camelback frames. Interesting that it has Superbe stlye braze-ons for the chainguard. Never seen that before.

BigChief

Although...You could find an alloy stem with more forward reach and a tall seat stem. It is a nifty looking scorcher.

SirMike1983 

Warm, breezy day. Weather was dry enough to ride this Raleigh DL-1 export model.

johnnyspaghetti

It looks like its coming together nicely. Someone will want it.
I had a AMF/Herc camelback, they are small for a 6 footer It was very clean I rode to an event downtown & gave it to a complete stranger that was impressed with it. My only investment in it was elbow grease.

Charmlessman

Well, she is home now. I took several pictures and wanted to upload a few but I get a message saying there is an authorization error. Which is weird cause I already posted pics in one of my past posts.

I can confirm its a 69 bike. 10 years before I was born!

The front brake is not working and I believe the tires are deflated but not sure if flat. I will check that later today. I have tried reading the sides of the tire. It reads Dunlop Champion made in Great Britain but I cant find the recommended pressure. Any idea on what that should be?

clubman 

Dunlop Champions often say INFLATE HARD on the sidewall. Probably 50 psi would more than do it.

(you're supposed to have at least 10 posts, don't know how you managed pics before.)

Charmlessman

Ok I realized I cant post pics greater than 2 MB, I will fix the rest then

BigChief

That looks nice! We've had lousy weather in New England this week. Haven't been riding at all. There is something special about these heavy roadsters. I never thought I would enjoy riding them as much as I do. My preconceptions of what makes a good bike were shattered when I realized how nice these bikes ride. I spend most of my riding time on one these days.

BigChief

Beautiful. This bike will clean up very nicely. I see only light rusting that could be removed easily. The paint and transfers look to be in great shape too. You have a choice with the paint. Enamel develops a thin dull surface over time. You could just clean and wax the finish and leave the more aged look or buff with a fine polish to give a shiny deeper color for a newer look before you wax. The chrome can be restored by using a soft abrasive like aluminum foil or copper cleaning pads like Chore Boy. Be careful of fake copper pads! some are steel with just a copper flashing. Or you could soak then in something like Evapo-Rust. So, what's your plan? Are you going to do a quick clean up and ride for a while or start on a complete teardown? BTW, those John Bull brake pads ARE likely original to the bike. They will be hardened from time and very ineffective.

Charmlessman

Thanks for the advice, my plan is to fix whatever is needed to get on the road as soon as possible. This bike will take me to my new job and back home everyday. About 8 miles each way. I want to start working on the brakes since the rear one is stuck. I will check tires later today. I am 220 lbs so I am thinking after doing some research to inflate around 90psi and see how that goes. I will check the forum for advice on working on brakes once I am in my laptop and will start cleaning the chrome with aluminum foil and see if that's enough. Thanks for the advice

clubman 

I'm also 220 and you can't put 90 lbs in those tires, the rims aren't designed for it and the rubber is old. Seriously, try 50 psi, you''ll be surprised how firm they are.

BigChief

I'm pretty sure your rear brake problem is a common one on step throughs. Since the cable comes up to the rear caliper instead of down, water can drip down into the cable housing and rust. You could try spraying some penetrating oil like Kroil or liquid wrench in there and let it sit for a while and see if you can free it up with the lever. Even if you do end up replacing the cable, don't throw away the original housing. More than likely, it could be used again. They don't make that style of housing anymore and having the correct part is always a nice feature to have on a vintage bike. +1 on the tire pressure

Charmlessman

Thanks, I will follow your advice.

johnnyspaghetti

It's a 69' yr model. Don't be surprised if one of these old tires have a age related failure and just blows out just sitting there. I put lower PSI in them just because they didn't look good and maybe 40+yr's old 30-40psi.
Some just blow and they don't do it right away it may take a couple days or more. when this happens, you loose a good tube. You may still have tubes with steel valve stems and they won't degrade w/age like the ozone exposed.tires.
On the other hand the tires maybe good to go at 50-55 PSI. The tread does look ok on the frt tire.

ThermionicScott 

Yeah, put in some earplugs before inflating those tires "HARD".

Charmlessman

Front tire went from 20 to 50. Rear tire went from 10 to 48. It took longer than the front one to get there.. There is no way I was going to get to 90. Thank you all

SirMike1983 

Located a set of 1947 Schwinn Continental wheels to replace the standard steel ones I built with 1950s parts for this 1941 Schwinn New World. The Continental wheels come with really nice, stainless steel rims; aluminum front hub with oiler; and double-butted spokes. This was a premium wheelset in the 1940s. Sturmey AW hub has October 1947 date code.

Ballenxj

Very nice all the way around.

johnnyspaghetti

I don't know if those tires are manufactured to handle 60 psi. they must have some sort of max pressure on the sidewall perhaps it is a metric measurements "KPA" or"BAR" on the sidewall that would need to be converted PSI equivalents. Some simple tire air gauges have multi-type presssure readings. Check the tire for a KPA or BAR inflation number.You are most likely safe at 50 PSI.
That bike was stored well looks to be in great preserved shape, but hubs & Headset, the bottom bracket all need lubrication.
These should be oiled sooner than later if you need to use this for 8 mile rides to work. The hubs are easy to oil The headset can be oiled flipping the bike over.
You can get oil down to the crank through the seat post tube.
These are only temporary lubrication band-aids and these components all need dissasembly-cleaning & fresh grease when re assembled.
Then you can search for YouTube videos to restore the grease hubs & other individual components for your Raleigh.