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Why do you think 3 speeds never caught on in the U.S.A?

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Why do you think 3 speeds never caught on in the U.S.A?

Old 07-22-17, 04:21 PM
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Why do you think 3 speeds never caught on in the U.S.A?

In the mid to late eighties I worked in a bicycle shop as a salesman/mechanic (smack in heart of the U.S.A.). We saw all sorts of bicycles come into the shop, mostly bmx bikes, but we had a fair share of road bikes, touring bikes, and on rare occasions, the random tandem and unicycle. What we didn't see a lot of was the 3 speed. Even the "mom and pops" type bicycles were either 5 speeds, or singles. Most of the bicycle repairs tended to be for bicycles from the seventies, except for the bmx stuff, because boys tear up things on a regular basis, and have a way of finding flat producing spots to ride. So, why do think there was such a limited traffic of 3 speeds thru our shop? Were they viewed as old fashion through the seventies? Maybe people just didn't bother having them repaired (I don't recall us carrying any new 3 speeds)? Any insights? (thanks for your responses, in advance)
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Old 07-22-17, 05:56 PM
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I can only speak for myself, but part of it was, they only made them with 26" wheels. And then almost exclusively on smaller frames. If they had made the same bike with 27" wheels and taller frames, I'd definitely have ridden more than I rode the 26"-ers. Tall people get no respect, sometimes. 😉
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Old 07-22-17, 06:08 PM
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...when I was a kid in the 50's and 60's, 3 speeds were about all we ever saw in a multi-geared bike. Ten speed bikes, mostly low end Peugeots started showing up at the end of the 60's and were the bicycle of choice in the 70's.

So by the time I hit college in the early 70's, there were a gajillion 3 speed bikes like Raleigh Sports languishing in thrift stores and getting thrown away, because everyone knew that more speeds was better. There used to be one section out at the old landfill dump on Gerber road here that was nothing but 3 speed bikes. They buried it under dirt when they moved the landfill to a larger location out in the county. But if anyone ever does an architectural dig out there, they'll hit a layer of 3 speed bikes that demonstrate your original premise is a little off. They caught on, but by the time you were mechanicking, people were not paying to get a shop to fix them.

If you couldn't fix it yourself, you threw or gave it away and bought a derailleur bike with more speeds. Because everyone knows that more speeds are better. Since I could fix them myself, these are the bikes that got me through college and the early 70's, if for no other reason than that they were cheap (almost free), and nobody would steal them.


Anyway, that's how I remember it. You'll have a difficult time convincing me otherwise.
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Old 07-22-17, 06:13 PM
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Hybrids have pushed them out of the current market, so I doubt that new 3-speeds will ever be more than a very small niche.

As others have noted, they were a pretty big thing until the 70's. Back then. not many adults rode bicycles at all, and most kids wanted the latest and greatest, so they really dropped off.
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Old 07-22-17, 06:16 PM
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Yeah, I never understood the "one size fits all" approach on 3 speeds... maybe the British are more uniform in stature than us Americans. You have my sympathy Stardog9.

My initial comments were just what I experienced... which, isn't to say they are correct. I never knew three speeds had their heyday in the sixties here in the U.S.A (having never read it anywhere, or experienced it). Thanks for insight 3Alarmer.
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Old 07-22-17, 06:32 PM
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Do the math. 10 beats 3 every time, except in golf. I grew up in the 50s, had an "English Racer" Raynal with Sturmey Archer 3 speed. I loved that bike and rode it everywhere. Until my cousin got a new Schwinn Continental. After a fair amount of whining, my folks finally came thru with a new Continental for me. I loved that bike, until I rode it in my first road race, where all the real racers were on their exotic Italian race bikes ... still 10 speeds. Eventually I got a new Legnano race bike, still have it. A few years ago I upgraded it with a 6 speed freewheel. I have a couple of modern bikes with 10 speed rear clusters, and two vintage bikes with 6 speed rear. I'm a pretty avid rider ,nearly 5000 miles a year, and still love the old 6 speeds. I saw a 1935 Raleigh Record Ace on a vintage ride, and now I'm thinking it might be fun to play with a 3 speed again. Single speeds, just never caught on with me, and i just dont get fixies. I tried a track bike on the velodrome once, scared the hell out of me. Gears are good things, the more the better.

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Old 07-22-17, 06:33 PM
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I agree with 3alarmer. In the '50s/'60s both my father and I had 3-speed bikes. But when the bike boom came around 1970 10-speed bikes were marketed as 'The Bike' to have. I imagine part of it was a desire to capitalize on the bike boom as much as possible. Lots of people already had an old 3-speed sitting neglected in the garage or basement so if they came into a bike shop and saw new 3-speeds they might opt to go home and try riding their old one first. But if they could be convinced that 3-speeds had been made obsolete by the new derailleur bikes then the shop could make a sale.
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Old 07-22-17, 06:33 PM
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Originally Posted by 3alarmer
....when I was a kid in the 50's and 60's, 3 speeds were about all we ever saw in a multi-geared bike.
Originally Posted by USAZorro
As others have noted, they were a pretty big thing until the 70's. Back then. not many adults rode bicycles at all, and most kids wanted the latest and greatest, so they really dropped off.
+1 to both comments. As I remember it, adult cyclists were pretty scarce and 3-speed "English racer" bikes were the hot ticket until derailleur bikes ("10-speeds") showed up. Derailleur bike sales got a lot of momentum from the OPEC embargoes and a growing public awareness of environmentalism in the early 1970's. By the time adults started buying bikes 10 gears were better than just 3!

I never owned a 3-speed but rode a younger brother's 3-speed enough to appreciate the lighter weight and gearing. By the time I was financially able and socially ready to buy an adult bike I didn't know anyone who rode or who owned a 10-speed. But I knew that more gears would be better. A 3-speed was never an option.
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Old 07-22-17, 06:57 PM
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I think that American car culture may have contributed to this. 3-speed bikes were very popular in England, and were marketed as dependable, versatile transportation in a society in which automobiles were still somewhat uncommon. I know my grandparents in England never owned a car, and when I was living with them in 1965 my aunt and uncle were very excited about buying their first car. We got around walking, riding bikes, and using public transportation.
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Old 07-22-17, 07:02 PM
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I have a hard time with expanding this generalization to the entire US. Here in the Boston area, 1960s and 70s three-speeds continue to be plentiful, and that's likely because Raleigh USA was headquartered in Boston for decades, and the distribution channel/supply chain was in place. If you didn't see three speeds in your shop in the middle of the US, it's likely because the supply chain never made it out that way.
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Old 07-22-17, 07:30 PM
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Originally Posted by uncle uncle
Yeah, I never understood the "one size fits all" approach on 3 speeds... maybe the British are more uniform in stature than us Americans. You have my sympathy Stardog9.
Adult bikes in England were usually offered in at least three frame sizes, 21" 23" and 25".

At any rate 26" wheels making the bike smaller is a misunderstanding, a 26 x 1 3/8 tyre is about as tall as a 700c when you put them next to each other. I'm 5'10 and all legs, and with a sprung saddle a 23" framed 26" wheel Raleigh fits me like a glove.

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Old 07-22-17, 07:42 PM
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Three speed IGH bicycles enjoyed popularity in post war USA, though not to the extent of the 10 speed, derailleur equipped models of the early 1970s. While they were virtually unknown in the USA prior to the war, American military personnel became familiar with them while stationed in Great Britain during the war and found them a more practical bicycle than the traditional American roadster. Their popularity was assisted by the post war easing of duties on British bicycles. This was marketed as an attempt to help Britain rebuild her bicycle industry, which was true, but the reason behind it was to increase British cash flow so she could repay war debts to the USA. However, what limited their popularity was a post war movement out of cities, to suburbs, which almost mandated an automobile. It would take the baby boom to inject much needed stimulus into the bicycle industry, first with the hi-rise bicycle and a few years later with the 10 speed.

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Old 07-22-17, 07:49 PM
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Originally Posted by Cute Boy Horse
Adult bikes in England were usually offered in at least three frame sizes, 21" 23" and 25".
I don't know what I'm talking about... my experience with 3 speeds is pretty limited. Those that I've thrown a leg over have always seemed to be in the roughly 21" frame size. Some of those could have been 23" in size, and I just didn't pay that much attention to them. I can honestly say that I've never seen a 25" frame 3 speed in real life, or at least it didn't register with me.
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Old 07-22-17, 08:08 PM
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I worked at the local Schwinn Raleigh dealer in 69-70. By then, the shop was full of Stingrays and 10 speeds. I still rode to work on my 50s Rudge. Even then, I preferred the upright 3 speed for riding around town. Keep in mind, back then, the 10 speeds only had downtube friction shifters. 3 speeds were plenty and far easier to use in traffic. Today, I have two 24" framed 3 speed roadsters. They're around.
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Old 07-22-17, 09:00 PM
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I've found many 19/21/23 inch Sport Raleighs and 22/24 inch in the DL-1 line. Not sure about 25" except in the derailleur models. 3 speeds remained a reduced constant in Eastern Canada, even after the boom rolled over us with a tidal wave of Delrin. Lots of British heritage is deeply embedded in the culture and many kept their bombproof English Racers in the basement. Eventually families cleared them out in the great Yard Sale hysteria of the late 20th century and I was able to buy dozens of Superbes and their ilk for under $25 each, fix them and give or sell them to friends.

The US east coast experienced similar influences, there were still loyalist sympathies especially around the educational institutions. Oxford and Cambridge exported professors to quality schools everywhere and they brought their roadsters to town or bought new ones. Raleigh choose well when it picked Boston for HQ.

In the US, the Indians and Harleys designed the human powered motorbike that came to dominant in the home market. I do admit to having a penchant for a valenced fender but I prefer the Euro ones made of alloy. Or fiber glass on my Beemer

edit...Now this might be 25', 3 speed design with rod brakes and bifurcated fork. Oh yeah.

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Old 07-22-17, 10:15 PM
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I went on my first multi-day tour when I was 14 in 1958, going with my
best friend of the same age. I rode an old 28" single speed man's CCM bike
while my friend had a brand new Raleigh 3 speed. His bike broke down, we
think the extra touring weight stripped the cone mechanism inside. It might
have been a 'one time' thing, but I also noticed that a couple of school buddies
had mechanical problems with theirs, likely because they used them roughly.
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Old 07-22-17, 10:30 PM
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In my region, during the early 1970s, 3 speed IGH were a good seller for the 30+ crowd. They wanted to get involved in the new bicycle culture but were intimidated by derailleur systems and wanted something with an upright riding position. Consequently, they gravitated to the more familiar 3 speed, middleweight bicycle, which is what we called bicycles with 26" wheels.

The big 3 speed middleweight seller was the CCM Elan, as it was Canadian made and inexpensive. The 30+ crowd still believed in Made in Canada, whereas the under 30 crowd had no allegiance. My recollection is that the Elan was CCM's 2nd biggest seller after the Targa, which was the base 10 speed model. However, you find more surviving Elan, as they were ridden less and rec'd better care, both of which were 30+ traits. The Elan was available in men's 21" and 23" frames, along with a 20" mixte. These bicycles, with their instantly recognizable olive green paint, surface regularly in local classified advertisements.
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Old 07-22-17, 10:48 PM
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Adult cycling in the 1930s-50s period in the US took place in pockets. Someone cited Boston as an example, and that's a very good one. Raleigh developed a special connection to Boston, particularly through the work of Hamilton Osgood and because of the university presence in an urban area. But in some other parts of the US, adult cycling on three speeds and similar utility bikes really never took off. This held true even after a bump in cycling during WWII because of gas rationing and the availability of utility bikes to workers in vital war industries (mostly major cities in the northeast and upper midwest). The automobile was America's primary love overall, though the pockets of adult utility cycling activity existed.

So I think the two big points are: (1) not all of the US was the same - three speed and similar utility bikes certainly had a following in some places and (2) on the whole, the automobile was America's primary love, especially in the late 1940s-50s era.
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Old 07-23-17, 05:02 AM
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@uncle uncle, I grew up in south Texas where hills don't exist. Most everybody I knew rode a single speed roadster and only a couple of 3 speed examples.
@T-Mar, Where I grew up there were three "weights". Roadsters were heavy or medium weight with the only difference in tire size and wheels (My Schwinn American was considered medium weight.). A 3 speed would be a light weight, regardless of actual weight.

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Old 07-23-17, 08:39 AM
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Old 07-23-17, 09:37 AM
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As a teenager in the 79s, 3 speeds were for dorks. Cool kids rode Schwinn Varsities.
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Old 07-23-17, 10:27 AM
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For Christmas in '56 I got a coaster brake Schwinn Spitfire, while the cool older kid down the block got a real 3-speed English racer. Four years later I got a Schwinn Corvette with Sturmey-Archer 3-speed, just like that other guy had. Working in shops I found some manufacturers held on with hub gears, like the original Fuji Cambridge III and the Motobecane Nobly, both Sturmey-equipped. There were not a lot of them as the derailleur craze had taken off. I went through the 10-speed era and found that for flatland city riding the old fashioned 3-speed is very handy.
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Old 07-23-17, 11:21 AM
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I remember Sears "Free Spirit" 3 speeds and later 5 speeds. Everyone owned one back in the day...

But like others mentioned, 10 beats 3 and 5 any day, as 10 speed bikes got more and more popular, the old 3 & 5 speed roadsters faded into obscurity.
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Old 07-23-17, 11:43 AM
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As others have said, 3 speeds were popular, at least through the 70s. They were more or less replaced by mountain bikes and hybrids in the 80s. I'm sure it did vary by region. They weren't cool, but considered practical. I remember as a kid wanting a Stingray, but getting a Japanese 3 speed instead. Better for going to the store or riding to the beach or whatever.
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Old 07-23-17, 12:22 PM
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I had a Sears Freespirit. It was fine around town and back and forth to school in the mid-late 60's. Then my Boy Scout troop went on a couple of "bike hikes" and there were some hills involved. I wound up walking up while my buddies with the derailleur bikes rode right up like nobody's business. At that point I was done with the 3 speed and bugged my parents for couple of years until I got my first 10 speed and I haven't looked back. I don't miss it one iota.
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