greengage

Beautiful bike! I am still adjusting my new-to-me '65 DL-1--the geometry feels different than any of my other bikes. And $170 sounds pretty good to me! Decent Tourists are going for more than that on eBay and in the Boston area, they seem to fetch between $300-500.

28-inch wheels seem to me to make a huge difference--you definitely bowl along faster than normal and seem to float over certain rough terrain.

wahoonc

I haven't seen any Koolstops that will fit. Even if you tried to modify some of the refills I haven't seen anything close enough in size to make it work.

Aaron

noglider 

Yes, I meant cutting them to shape. You don't think that would be possible?

Grishnak

I Might try bolting the orange kool stop continentals to the original holder.Once i have dug the old black rubber out.

wahoonc

Possible? I dunno, haven't found a blank large enough. Also on the OEM pads the bottom is rounded and crimped over, and would probably crack if you tried to open it up. I am playing with brakes today on another bike and will take another look. I have the over sized Firbrax that Harris sells (SH144), I have the rear brakes adjusted up pretty tight and they stop very well, the front are still on the loose side until I can get the wheel trued.


Aaron

Reynolds 

I read or heard somewhere about leather rod brake pads being better than rubber when wet.

mkeller234

That is something that I will look at before I buy new pads. I started disassembling the bike last night and soaked any rusty chrome in vinegar and water. I have the brakes all finished (and reassembled so I wouldn't forget how). Examining the brakes and how the operate was very interesting to me, I love how the brakes spring back.... without the use of springs. I also noticed that nearly every piece has that Sir Walter Raleigh logo stamped into it.

Buikema

I have two rod brake roadsters and I love them. I find that as long as you have true-ish wheels that rod brakes are far better than most people get them credit for, they stop my bike just fine. Of course it does help that since its so heavy that the bike never gets going particularly fast, so you don't have to stop from speed. Rain + steel does create a problem, but here in California it isn't a problem for me that often.

In Africa they have a lot of these and they take the old brake pads out, dig out the rubber and put in new rubber cut from old car tires in the old brake pad mounts. Not exactly koolstops, but it works and is a heck of a lot cheaper. I'm going to try it next time I wear out a set of pads.

mkeller234

Here are some pictures I took last night. I finished the bike up this afternoon which is much faster than I expected. I have some new brake pads coming from Harris Cyclery and a chrome pump on it's way.

cycler_c

I'm curious when they changed the typeface of the "raliegh" I have what I think is a '71, and I know Velouria has a '73. Somewhere in between they changed to the more "modern" font. Adjusting the brakes makes all the difference, although they're still lousy when wet.
I installed a chaincase from yellow jersey (after a bit of confusion when they accidentally sent me a 26" model- to their credit they comped me the 26" chaincase) and a rack from Seattle Dutch Bicycle company that would hold an adult pillion- very very sturdy. The chaincase installation is a breeze if you have a threaded bung cast into the chainstay. Mine has one, I don't know when they changed the design. It's surprisingly quiet and stable.
pictures and information here
https://bikinginheels-cycler.blogspot...3/minerva.html
https://bikinginheels-cycler.blogspot...ion-creep.html

mkeller234

You know, I just pulled 1972 from the hub. The serial number is on top of the seat lug, 748912 and seems to suggest that the hub date is close. I also own a 1973 Raleigh Gran sport with the "modern" type face. I did notice the mounting point for a chain case is on my frame, although I will probably not look for one. I suppose the chain case offers better protection but I like the weight savings of the hockey stick chain guard.

I still need to make some adjustments to the wheels. They spin close to true but both have a slight wobble. I am going to wait until the brake pads arrive from Harris.

Thanks for sharing the pictures. I like the Raleigh logo on your bike, it looks like their 1960's version to me.

mkeller234

A couple of quick pictures:

cudak888 

1973 was the first year for the new italicized font.

Unlike the Sports, the DL-1 never had the "Tourist" name applied to the downtube, and used the 1961 serifed block-letter font all the way into 1972; only seat-tube decals varied throughout this period. The Sports, on the other hand, dropped that font in 1964:



-Kurt

P.S.: November or December hub dates almost always indicates that the bike was made for the next model year as what's shown on the hub. The decals confirm this.

wahoonc

I believe they were leather strips in between sections of rubber pads, the idea was they would wipe the rims. I remember seeing them back in the day, but have not seen any for sale in quite a while.

Aaron

kiwigem

Nice! I'm in Ohio, too. Where did you find it?

mkeller234

I got this one in Ohio city, right outside of downtown Cleveland. The seller was one of the guys with 200 craigslist ads that refresh daily. Like I said earlier, it was not really a bargain but I have sold about a dozen three speeds that were too small for me so I felt ok buying it. The original Brooks saddle is in great shape too so I assumed that was worth at least 30-40 dollars by itself.

I did get to have a fun conversation about the legendary Shogun seller. He was all in all a decent guy to talk to.... even though I found out he was behind a fake Cinelli ad that about made me sick last year.

Coreyk

Congrats!

They are wonderful bikes. Mine is an 1980, and curiously for a US model, has a full chaincase. Also the original B-72 saddle... The original owner ran a Raleigh dealership on the San Francisco Peninsula. I got it in late November of last year.
Cost was just shy of $300, which is almost low for the SF Bay Area - I've never seen one advertised for less than $200, regardless of condition or age.

Enjoy that beauty.

Corey K

FishBiscuit

I know this is an old post, but I figured I'd reply anyway since I had a similar experience when I first brought my 1976 DL-1 home. The headset shouldn't be tight at all- In my case, it turned out that whoever built the bike used the wrong sized bearings. It had 3/8" bearings installed, where all my other Raleighs had 3/16". Once I swapped those out and fitted them with some good grease, everything assembled properly and everything worked freely like I'd expected it to.

And I'm sure that you've discovered by now that, yes, you do have to take the brake pads off if you want to remove the wheel. Once you get the hang of adjusting the brakes, they're a cinch to adjust and maintain. And they actually work quite well once they're broken in. They're not the most responsive brakes, but more respectable than they're usually given credit for.

NormanF

They are - wrong saddle though. A roadster needs a B-73. Its a heavy bike.

mkeller234

You are correct about the headset. Once I got everything cleaned up and adjusted it feels just as smooth as any one of my road bike headsets. So far in my experience, the rear brakes seem to be easier to set up than the fronts.

Thanks for the post.

I should post a link pictures that won't be deleted. I have pictures on velospace, but the site is down at the moment.

mkeller234

Ok, links to pics that won't get deleted:

Sixty Fiver

Beautiful... makes me miss my '48 a great deal.

mkeller234

Thanks. Imagine it now, with a dusty oily hub, and a bit of crud here and there along with some black rubber streaks on the rims.

oldroads

170 is a great price.
Not sure if Kool Stop makes makes roller pads.

greengage

Corey--there's one on eBay right now that looks like a late 70s-80 model but with a full chaincase. I've never seen anything like it before, with the modern "Tourist" logo on the chaincase. The guy had originally advertised it as a '51 but someone must have corrected him.