rifraf

A little bit of trivia about lighting that you may or may not find useful is that I had great success with a Sturmey Archer front dynohub powering my Moulton APB's Edelux headlight which makes me suspect it will have no issue with the less expensive B&M Cyo range which the Edelux shares some innards.
I was told it couldnt be done due to the Sturmeys lowish output but found (to my dismay at having forked out for a Sondelux at the time) the headlight fantastic and one of my favorite purchases ever.
The only reason I ended up building up my Sondelux wheel was I'd already purchased the hub and at 390 grams it was less than half the weight of the Sturmey.
The APB was already a bit on the heavy side and changing B73 saddle and Dynohub knocked off over a kilo.
Having made do with the Sturmey and a chrome switched headlight for many years it was an epiphany moment.
Hope this info helps in some way.

Narhay

Thanks all. I do like the look of the chrome headlight but all the steel parts on the bike will make it handle like a tank. I suppose it will be good for the sea wall here but you may find me keeled over and passed out next to the bike anywhere else in the city.

I ordered the CR18 rims, 590 36 hole from amazon yesterday. Estimated delivery is sometime this week. This should shave some weight off the bike and make it a bit more agile but it also negates the steamroller effect of the chrome wheels. The current rims are just too badly worn and steel in the rainy city here is pretty dangerous. I will keep you updated on how the rim replacement goes and if I need to replace the spokes.

Narhay

Alright. The rims have arrived as well as my sun pyramid deluxe truing stand. The truing stand is fine and the first i have ever used. There is a faulty part with one of the female receptors not being threaded but it is useable for the time being. Must have been built on a Friday. Ill see of amazon can source me the part I need.

It took me hours and hours to swap the front rim and build it but I managed and have some good experience for the next time...which will be tomorrow's rear wheel. All that is left to do after that is to repack the bottom bracket, clean the crank and install the chain and cables.



Sun rims cr18 590 36 hole rims. Each rim weighs 503g. The previous rims weighed 884g, a savings of 381g per wheel or 762g in total. Not bad. Also good to note that I was able to re use every single spoke and nipple. Granted new nipples wouldn't have been a bad idea as some were a bit rusted but they all held nicely. I dabbed a bit of grease onto the spoke threads.



You can see the front wheel of my latest project in the back. A 1984 Norco Loop Frame folding bike for my wife to play on for a bit until I find something a bit higher end. We will have matching sturmey archer aw hub drive trains. I'll be posting about that one in the future once the seat post for it arrives.

Narhay

Both rims have been replaced now. Of course I managed to puncture the new tube trying to get the tire to go back onto the rim...

wahoonc

Looking good! (how about turning the bike around for a picture )

Aaron

Narhay

Hah I figured someone would say that. Give it another little while and ill sort out the other issues with the bike and we will have a glamour shot session with drive side photos.

noglider 

Butted tubing? I doubt it. Does it say so anywhere on the bike?

Narhay

Yep, on the steel ID sticker it says 'Butted High Tensile'. They really went all out on this gas pipe.

My mistake. It is not butted.

noglider 

Wow, never heard of that.

wahoonc

****... Now I will have to go an look at mine...

Aaron

Narhay

I was mistaken. It is high tensile unit brazed steel.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bicycle-Bike...item35c78d3864

would these work with my sturmey dynohub? I see 2.4w and 6v as he spec and would slice it off that generator it comes with. They look like pretty nice retro reproductions, and darn cheap.

wahoonc

Nope... well maybe if you change the bulbs out for a lower wattage ones

Dyno hubs are 1.8 watt on a good day. LED's are your friend when it comes to having working lights with the old dyno hubs. I have a Superbe with the original lights still on it, they are more of a marker than a usable light. I run LED clip on lights to see where I am going. I don't ride that bike at night very much. I have a 1971 Raleigh Twenty that gets a fair bit of after dark riding, that one has the rear dyno hub that only puts out about 1.6 watts, I run a B&M Cyo head light and a B&M 4D fender mount LED tail light on that one, generates plenty of light for riding.

Aaron

Narhay

I pulled out the bottom bracket...driveside crank arm is bent and the other is stuck to the cotter. I'm going to replace the whole assembly with a sealed bottom bracket cartridge (anyone know the cartridge and spindle length required for a single crank) and an aluminum crank. Anyone have any recommendations that wouldn't look out of place? The original had I believe 48 teeth.

BluesDaddy

https://sheldonbrown.com/raleigh26.html

Narhay

I'm bringing this one back from the dead. It has been sitting in my living room ever since...well since approximately forever. The bottom bracket was completely gummed up and the cotter pins were stuck (of course). I was able to drill out the old cotter pins from the crank and free up the bottom bracket. The driveside crank arm was bent and the other suffered a bit from the drilling so I purchased a new Raleigh crank from Thailand. Go figure. I was initially going to use the cups and a square spindle but have since decided to go back to the original look. I think it looks good with the nickel SRAM single speed chain but the crank is a bit different than the original (doesn't have the raleigh woman engravings and the crank arms are a bit thinner). The box it came in was completely thrashed but these steel cranks can take a beating.

I installed the new brake cables, housing and a new Sturmey cable set for the rear hub. Although I built up the wheels myself and trued them about 95%, I still dropped them off at the LBS for the final finishing touches from the professionals and to properly tension them so they don't come out of true. I'll have it all together by next week, give it a rinse and take it out for a photoshoot without my living room as the backdrop. Here are some progress photos.


















Would you say this chainguard is the same colour as my bicycle? Doesn't quite look like it to me but maybe those with better colour distinction could prove otherwise. I feel my bike is the darker green and this chainguard is the olive.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Raleigh-...item25867d8eed

I may have a line on a non-functioning Sturmey headlamp. I also hooked up my dynohub to a voltmeter and the reading was all over the chart. It would jump up to 9, then back down to 0.2, then up to 2.2, etc. Not sure if my dynohub is a dud or if that's what they read and the amperage is what matters.

old's'cool

The voltmeter does not provide any load to the generator. You might as well test it with a proper load, i.e. a bulb of whatever voltage and wattage the generator is designed for.

Narhay

Thanks, it was concerning me but I will try to find a headlight...if only for aesthetics and to complete the look.

noglider 

Besides, the voltmeter doesn't necessarily tell you how it will work in real life. Hook it up to a light and see how the light performs. I'm using a couple of ancient bottle (sidewall) generators to power modern LED headlights and tail lights. I'm satisfied, because the lights have voltage regulators build in.

Narhay

I picked up one of the final missing pieces for this build. Only problem is that it does not light with neither battery nor dynohub. I have a feeling the bulbs are burnt but I will be playing with the wires and bulbs. I think I may try one of the E10 base LED bulbs as a replacement and may throw some new wires on there. If anyone has any experience with certain 6V E10 base LED bulbs that they have tried with success, let me know.

The last missing piece of this build is the chainguard. If anyone has the chainguard in my colour that says either Raleigh or Superbe (not Sports), let me know.

Narhay

The front headlight now works after some surgery but the rear bulb is kaput. I am going to replace the wiring as it is frayed and cut, clean it up, put a new bulb in the rear and install.

There are a few minor adjustments to do:
1 - Refurbish light and install headset
2 - Adjust cable stop clamp on chainstay (not tight enough)
3 - Adjust rear brake pads
4 - Tighten saddle - squeaking
5 - Tighten rear hub cones by 1/8 of a turn
6 - Minor detailing of a bit of surface rust/general clean
7 - Touch up paint - anyone know a good match for this colour of Raleigh?
8 - Find a matching chainguard and install
9 - Maybe if I like it enough riding it around...Brown Brooks B17 and matching hand grips.
10 - Replace the rear reflector space with another (two empty holes in rear fender)
11 - Align rear fenders

Without further ado, some progress photos:

Narhay

noglider 

It's coming along well. I hope you find a chainguard. It shouldn't be that hard. What tires are those? They look nice.

Narhay

They are your typical $13 Kenda tires found almost everywhere...I don't know the model name offhand.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Raleigh-...torefresh=true

Does this look like the same colour to you? I feel it is lighter but maybe it is the flash that is distorting it.

noglider 

I can't remember more than one shade of green on their three speeds, so I think it's a good risk. If you don't like it, you'll probably get back close to what you paid for it.

arex

I just picked up one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/161170165485...84.m1497.l2649

Allegedly NOS, $38.50.