Originally Posted by
bikemig
I am fishing around for a project bicycle. I really don't need anything but I'd like to find a bike from the 50s.
The easiest ones to find are English 3 speeds. I wouldn't mind one but I'd like for it to have a 531 plain gauge main triangle and those are harder to find. Show me what you have and what you would look for if you wanted a bike from the 50s. I'd prefer to stay away from a bike with a derailleur from the 50s since I figure back then sturmey archer was in many ways a better choice.
Bikemig, are you familiar with the blog "https://on-the-drops.blogspot.com/"? Peter Kohler wrote it in the 2016-2019 time frame, covering steel road racing and sport bikes of the UK from the 1920s up until the classic Raleigh Professional V. Some of it has been published in the Vintage Cycling material from the British VCC, and some articles were incorporated into the Sheldon Brown website - you would have to search carefully for them. He has reproduced a lot of original factory information, magazine reviews, pictures, and sales brochures for Club-type and roadsters of the days. He also has a lot of Sturmey-Archer information. The sales info nearly always includes frame details, sometimes including geometries. 531 was a known brand back then, so if a bike had 531 tubes Raleigh advertised it. I would think you could find half a dozen specific models to target in your search.