Originally Posted by
3alarmer
...the design and execution of them changed very little from 50's through the 70's. Even the Austrian made copies sold by Sears are very similar.
I didn't think there was a heck of a lot of difference between the various English "sports" 3 speeds but Sheldon Brown thinks that the Humber is one of Raleigh's better models and that the bikes made in the 50s were better than those made in the 60s and 70s:
Servicing English Three Speeds (you have to scroll down a ways before you get to the different model names used by Raleigh)
Sheldon Brown's Raleigh Twenty Bicycle Page
Not arguing with you but I'm curious. I don't have a lot of experience with 3 speeds so I'm just doing some online homework on the bikes.