from what i was able to gather, the maker was either gazelle, peugeot, or a sub of raleigh (phillips). not terribly important really. good chance it was made in 1966 based on the original wheelset that came equipped with an SA 3 speed dated 66. deciding who the maker was may be down to which head badge looks the coolest.
(actually i'll probably design my own badge..)
the black bracket you see under the 3 speed shifter is stem clamp. it adds a significant amount of rigidity to the long nitto technomic stem.
i also have the original fenders and rear rack. i had the whole thing media blasted and powder coasted black with a diamond clear™© coat added. the wheelbase is 950mm. effective toptube is 520mm.
i toyed with the idea of having a top tube added. but, ultimately, couldn't make up my mind which was probably for the best anyway. the bike is very stable as is. adding the brompton front mounting block is still likely, though.
the wheelset is comprised of a 349mm recumbent front wheel from a p38 lightning and the rear is a brompton wide range hub with 15t and 12t cogs. i considered adding a derailleur, but found that i liked the current set-up. manually switching takes less than 5 minutes. ideally, i should remove a chain link to switch to the 12t. there is some slack in the chain as the dropout isn't quite deep enough the take up the slack. the bike is fast and very responsive without much flex (surprisingly). that may have something to do with the massive lugs. the overall weight without the fenders and extras is approx 7.5kg(16.5lbs).
having a wide range 3 speed takes some getting used to, but i learned pretty quickly to love it. you wouldn't use it to cycle through gears the way you would normally with a 3 speed. it's basically a steep hill gear, a cruising gear, and a speed gear. big steps between gears.
instead of modifying this bike any further, i'm working on building a new one. fanciful i know. but... we'll see.
