I spent the better part of the evening working to remove a frozen quill from that 1954 Raleigh Sports road bike I got in a trade last year and I can still smell the liquid wrench on my hands.

It was quite a battle but I won which means that in a few weeks i will have this old girl back on the road and will be fitting a vintage Cyclo Benelux 3 speed conversion kit to the bike to make it a 9 speed.

The only other change from the stock bike will be the 700c wheels I am using as finding decent tyres for Dunlop EA1 wheels is hard enough for one bike (my 1955 Lenton).

The original front wheel for the bike was fragged beyond repair but the rear is in nice shape and a 1954 SA hub is a beautiful thing.

Teasers...





I will try and post pics as the rebuild progresses...

One more...

I've got a pair of old, NOS EA-1's

I saved them in the hopes I would find one of these things someday, but have since figured that I don't care for Raleigh's workmanship; therefore, I don't need the tires.

-Kurt

Send me your asking price and we can haggle...

This statement is worthless without PICTURES!

Love that crankset too!

At least you knew from the start the steel stem would probably come out. It would have been a darker afternoon with an aluminum stem.

Love the 'bird head cut'. Can still get them (new):
https://www.caballobikes.com/chainwheel.htm

The thing that makes a '54 SA hub beautiful is what you can't see... the quality of the internals was much much better than later models.

From the outside they look almost identical save for the filler cap which is plastic on later models.

I have a 1979 hub laced to a Super Champion for the rear and need to find another rim to rebuild the front wheel to match.

At some point I will swap in the '54 hub or build another EA1 for the front and have two useable wheel sets as the bike can accommodate both without changing the brakes.

I can't wait to install the 9 speed drive.

All good except they say "Caballo"... Raleigh made so many heron chain wheels that finding a spare (if you needed one) should not be a difficult task and the Raleigh cranks tend to be pretty robust.

My 1955 Lenton does not have a Heron chain wheel but rather, a cottered track crank with a swappable bolted chain ring.

I was worried that it had welded itself in place but once everything came apart things looked pretty clean inside.

My thought is that someone overtightened the wedge bolt or tightened it when the stem was off the bike which may have caused it to flare a little... I'll see how it all goes back together tomorrow morning.

I rode the bike last fall and it was really nice... the 3 - 4 speed Sa shifter is a pita with a 3 speed and I may use a straight 3 speed trigger.

I will have to find some nice Bluemels for it and then it will be like a poor man's Clubman.