T-Mar

Yes, I'm well aware of the difference in terminology between Canada and the USA, which is why I defined it. During the boom, in Canada, a 'lightweight' was anything with 27" wheels. We didn't have heavyweights, but 'standards', which were bicycles with 28" wheels. The only other adult category was 'balloon tyre', for bicycles with tyres wider than 2".

The reason that single speed roadsters dominated the USA was because of the prohibitive duties placed on foreign bicycles in the wake of the late 1890s recession in the industry. This kept most of the foreign innovations out of the USA and without competition the American industry stagnated for 5 decades. Most developments were simply styling changes, revolving around making bicycle look like pseudo-motorcycles and automobiles. Things didn't start changing on a large scale until after Worrld War II, when duties were slashed in English bicycles, to be followed by reduced duties for other nations in the 1960s.

roccobike

I'm surprised no one mentioned the weight difference between most three speeds and the typical entry level 10 speed. When I bought my first adult bicycle I wanted my dream bike, the bike I always wanted as a kid, a Raleigh Sport 3 speed. When I went to the shop, the sales guy looked at me and asked "are you sure that's what you want?" He brought out an entry level Raleigh Record 10 speed and a Sport 3 speed. Then he said, "Pick them up." Even with chrome wheels, the Record was several pounds lighter. I know the Sport probably weighed about the same as a Schwinn Varsity, but even in the 70s we were becoming aware that lighter is better. I bought the Record.

bradtx

I was hoping that you would expound on this point, thanks you.

Brad

noglider 

It's a big country, and generalizations often fail. 3-speeds are very common here in NYC, old ones and new ones.

Rje58

I had a Schwinn 3-speed when I was a kid, and man was that a fantastic bike! A 1970 model green Typhoon, I went everywhere on that thing. Well, everywhere in about an 8-10 mile radius of my parents house...

It was a middleweight. I used it to deliver newspapers, too.

stardognine

I'm probably most guilty of over-generalizing. There must be an inordinate supply of smaller framed bikes, around where I grew up (Ohio/PA state line area).
For reference, I was born in '61, so even though I witnessed the bike boom of the '70s, it didn't fully register in my young mind at the time. Plus I started on minibikes at 11, so a lot of my bicycle knowledge was learned much later in life. 🙂

Bad Lag

Yep! The premise of the OP's question is flawed, so it is difficult to respond.


It is not that they "never caught on", it's they were popular before you were aware of them and they withered and were replaced in pop culture by derailleur-equipped bikes.




With the advent of the Shimano Nexus and Alfine, in 7, 8 and 9 speeds, it is possible that internally-geared bikes will make a comeback. SRAM and Sturmey Archer make them, too. It just hasn't happened... yet.

ryansu

Two words, car culture. In pre war Europe the working person got around by bike and transit and had the facilities to do so, And if they had a bike it was a 3 speed. In pre war America you wanted a car period, and didn't have many other options unless you were someplace like NYC with decent transit.

uncle uncle

Well, I guess my thread title could be construed as misleading. I basically ran out of spaces (I filled in all the blank space available for a title in the entry box, so I thought I didn't have any more room to be more descriptive). And I'm sure if I sat here and thought about it some, I could create a better title. But titles can't be edited.

That said, the thread has 34 responses, so some people felt they had enough to run on. I believe I phrased my initial post as a collection of my personal history.. and then asked others for their insight. I honestly tried to start a thread about a subject on which I don't have as much knowledge and I thought I was adequately humble with my request. I wasn't looking to be controversial, only curious.

Again, I thank everyone for the insights. I learn a lot on this site.

nlerner

You have made me curious if there are Raleigh sales records broken down by model. I've seen aggregate sales by year, but no breakdown.

3alarmer 

...don't feel too bad. I once started a thread on anti-seize versus grease that went for like ten or fifteen pages, and had people calling me names before it was all over. That was very educational for me.


Personal hint: do not start any threads on the topic of anti-seize or chain lube.

Lovenutz

If no-one has said it yet, because 10 is more and more is better. Still happening today with bike culture. That is my uneducated opinion

GamblerGORD53

Gee, I wonder why derailleurs never caught on in Europe. LOL

jimmuller 

Hmm, 3-speeds don't break down but generalizations fail often. So if I want reliability...

Suza

I'm reviving this post because it brought back memories of my childhood bicycles.


When I was 8 years old I really wanted a bike. My dad told me when I learned to ride a two-wheeler (no training wheels) he would get me a bike. I'm sure I wondered how I was supposed to learn to ride if I didn't have a bike, but I must have wanted it bad because my friend had an old kid's hard tire bike that I borrowed. I recall a big chunk of one of the tires was missing! I practiced balancing on that bike (the gap in the tire made it easier) and still remember the day I just took off pedaling (ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk). For my 8th birthday I got a beautiful turquoise Western Flyer 26" with chrome fenders, white wall tires and a handlebar basket. I had many adventures on that bike, as was evident by the bent up front basket. But, after a few years with my dream bike, my best girl friend's dad bought her a White Schwinn Sport 3-speed and hid it in my dad's shop until Christmas. I seriously coveted that bike and spent many hours in Dad's shop drooling and wishing it was mine. Well, drooling must have helped, because I got one just like it (blue!) for Christmas that same year. One thing that sticks in my mind about that bike is that the shifter was always out of adjustment. Perhaps this is why 3-speeds lost their popularity?


I had that bike until I went away to college in 1970. Remember the 70's, when you weren't "in" on a college campus unless you rode a 10-speed? So, I spent my Summer earnings and bought my very own 10-speed, a beautiful yellow Schwinn Continental. Again, I rode that bike everywhere, skinny tires and all, until I got married and moved to the country. I quickly realized that bike was not safe to ride on marginally paved roads with gravel shoulders, so I sold the bike for $50 and bought a wheel barrow (yellow)! Not to ride, but for gardening.


Twenty years later, our kids are riding bikes (mostly BMX types) so my mom gave me a Schwinn 5-speed she acquired from a friend. Great bike with a bit wider tires, more of a touring bike. I rode it mostly as a fitness bike, but when the kids grew up and went to college, my husband and I started doing a bit of camping and wanted bikes to pedal around the wilderness. My boys, who now were seriously into biking (their bikes cost more than my first car) convinced me I needed to "upgrade". By then hybrid bikes had hit the market and the rest is history.


My current bike is a Specialized Crossroads. Gets me where I want to go, but I'm looking to upgrade. These days you aren't "in" if your bike doesn't have disc brakes

palincss

The heyday of 3-speeds was much earlier, in the 1950s and 1960s, when the Raleigh Sport was known as an "English Racer" to all the kids on my block. Then the derailleur came along in the 1970s.

palincss

Unless you count things like Bikeshare bikes. They're all 3-speeds.

Road Fan

This isn’t right, Schwinn made the Suburban, which was steel 27” frame with Sturmey Archer 3, 5, or 5 spd non Sturmey derailleur. I think Raleigh did nearly the same. And I recall Raleigh Sports in stores in different sizes

I think the main marketing issues were lack of 10 speeds, perceived excess weight, and the mystique of the racing bike.

USAZorro

I'm referring to the consumer market. Nothing against bike shares if I happened to be traveling and there were no other options. Anything that gets people riding is positive, but when John or Jane Doe goes bike shopping for a new bicycle, they aren't thinking, "I wonder what 3-speeds they have?"

USAZorro

John (Jack) Kemp, who was my late uncle's business partner from the era when 3-speeds were a thing, is/was one of the best sturmey archer hub mechanics this side of the pond. Great guy who never imposed on others, but ask him a question and prepare to receive a fount of wisdom. I need to check to see if he's still around. (we need a "feeling humbled" emoji)

BigChief

I'm glad to see this thread again. I can add a bit more history. I've been a cyclist since the mid 60s. Rode tons of the older bikes back then. Worked in the LBS in 69-70. Yes, 3 speeds were totally out of style by the time I worked at the bike shop. Everybody wanted 10 speeds. I still rode my stripped down Rudge to work everyday. It was the typical "racer" we made out of English light roadsters as kids. No fenders, chainguard or kickstand. Flipped bars, cheap moulded plastic "racing seat" and steel pedals we could put toe straps on. Old English bikes set up like this were far nicer than a lot of the cheap department store 10 speeds of the day. Those cheap 10 speeds that were cashing in on the craze were heavy, handled like tanks and had crabby shifters. It wasn't until you went up to the medium price level that the 10 speeds started to really out perform the old 3 speeds. Companies got away with selling junky 10 speeds in a way that could never happen today.

Andy_K 

When I was a kid my sister had a 3-speed. She used it for riding around the neighborhood, so it was fine. When I graduated from my crappy Huffy to a geared bike I wanted a 10-speed. I also used it for basic transportation, but I imagined that I was going really fast when I rode it. Anyway, in my teenage mind 3-speeds were girls bikes. Young American males have never been known for their nuanced thinking.

CliffordK

I remember back in the mid 70's... Mom & Dad had a couple of OLD 3-speeds... Probably old Raleighs from the 1950's.

But we were rural cyclists at the time. Dad was commuting as far as about 20 miles to work by bike. And the 3-speed just was the wrong bike. At some point he purchased an old Torpado road bike. A couple of geared mixte bikes later, Mom ended up with a nice Motobecane Grand Jubilee Mixte. My brother and I eventually upgraded to 10-speed bikes.

Visiting Parma Italy in the mid 80's, 3-speed bikes were the thing to have there... at least that is what the locals thought. But, the city is small and almost entirely flat. I still bought a used road bike while I was there and rode it all around the area and to neighboring towns.

I suppose the big thing is the type of riding a person does.

By the mid 80's, mountain bikes were really becoming dominant in the USA, even when people never rode them up mountains. Perhaps a reaction to the perceived flimsiness of the high-end road bikes.

thumpism 

Motobecane made the Nobly in a 3-speed that used 27" wheels (with those literally groovy serrated Chromix steel rims) and was available in a 23" men's frame, but that was in the '70s. The '80s Fuji Cambridge III also used 27" and made a men's 23" with a curved top tube, the cantilever frame look. Many of us have Raleigh Sports 3-speeds in a men's 23" and I personally have built 700C 3-speed wheels that will fit one.

Senior Ryder 00 

This relaunched thread really brings back memories. I grew up with the usual, balloon tired cruiser. For Christmas when I was in the 8th grade I got an Evans Lightweight English three speed. Boy, was I the envy of the neighborhood. By the end of school year, almost every kid in the age group had a three speed. These were our main mode of transportation until we got our driver's licenses two years later. Then, they were passed on to younger siblings.

Bikes didn't reappear in my world until midway through college when I got a Schwinn Continental. This was used periodically until my mid 20s when I started doing centuries. For the next several years it was all 10+ speeds for me and the family.

In the mid 80s I ventured back into the IGH world by building a winter commuter using an old, cheap Bianchi frame. I used the OEM 700c front wheel, the large chain wheel on the crankset, Universal brakes, as equipped bars & seat. The rear wheel was a 700c rim laced to a Sturmey-Archer three speed hub with two sprockets and cheap derailleur which gave me a wide range six speed. By-the-way, these type bikes were quite popular in Europe until reliable gear changers were readily available.

Those who don't remember the time of popularity of three speeds are just too young. 🤓

Thanks for the memories.

Cheers,

Van