Just picked up this Sears Roebuck 3 speed cruiser. Frame is marked as made in Germany on the rear brake bridge and made in Austria on the headtube sticker.










I'm going to repaint the frame a flat black and redo some of the cool white ascents on the lugs. Any sense in trying to save the Sears sticker? Seems there wouldn't be a way to.

Planning on polishing all the metal to get rid of the rust and hopefully bring it back to a shine but what should I use to protect it from future rust? Clearcoat?

The saddle is a San Marco thats unfortunately seen better days. I'd like to keep my budget as tight as possible and reuse all that I can. Would there be any sense in attempting to recover the saddle with new leather or vinyl?

Should the front basket stay? I think its kind of cool but don't know, definitely functional though. Don't know if it was original equipment or not.

The Sturmey-Archer 3 speed isn't working right. All I can get it in is the highest gear and the lowest. I think it needs a rebuild. Any instructions, tips, etc about doing this?

I think I should repack all the bearings including the BB but cottered cranks have always been my enemy. How should I tackle this?




Thanks in advance for any advice

I may have pedals for you , have to check. There is a guy around here that does repro stickers some one will give you his name I dont remember. If you find a good place to get a seat recovered let me know I just got a brooks that I think would be worth it. Question, how do you like that stand? Is it stable? I am thinking about getting a similar one. If you like the basket keep it. Original or not most bikes that style have a basket or rack.

Here's one site I found for three speed Sturmey Archer specific maintenance, it goes through the whole disassembly process:

https://www.karrot.org/ascotto/three_speed/

Sheldon Brown's site also has some good info, and the shop he works for (Harris Cyclery) has a pretty good stock of SA parts. You can also get hubs on eBay pretty cheap if you poke around. That's how I got my spare. Of course, with that said, that hub doesn't look like any of the Sturmey Archer AW hubs I have seen.

I would leave the basket on... I doubt if it is original, but it s something many who would ride a 3 speed back in the day would add on. The one feature that is missing that probably would have been standard on most 3 speeds is fenders.

I am finishing up my Sears 10 speed, (now indexed 12 speed wide range) and I expect it to ride well. The reason I bring it up, is mine was built in Austria and has a very similar reflector on the fork. Mine is early 70's so that's where I would place your bike too... If the ub is a Sturmey Archer, they are pretty good at marking a year of manufacture on the hub.

Looks like a fun project!

Nice bike, I have a bike very similiar to it, a Drei Stern Silber, here are a few pics, like I mentioned in my reply to another posting, I hope you guys dont get tired of seeing this one, good luck with it, please post after pics

A fender ornamnet, never seen that before, that's cool

The repair stand is excellent for the price ($30). Very sturdy and works well. Only reason I'd want a more traditional stand is for my tandem and for mounting any bike with a sloping downtube (cruisers).

The shifter is definitely Sturmey-Archer as it says it right on there but the hub does not mention SA. The hub body says "Sears", "Hub Model 503", "3 Speed" and "Made in Austria". I'm thinking its an SA with a different hub shell.

I'm pretty sure this had fenders at one point but somewhere along the line they were swiped. I'm going to try to score a junkyard find to replace them.

I know that my 1961 Schwinn Jaguar has an Austrian made hub that is Sturmey Archer compatible... My guess is that yours is probably a copy as well, just with a different shell.

Those hubs were knockoffs made when Sturmey's patent expired and can date back to the 50's.