2fat2fly

I've got an almost identical twin to the brown Sports above that I bought off CL last year this time, it had been listed for two years for half that amount. The woman who had it said I was the first one to even email, let alone show up with cash. Mine is a shade darker but also a later 70's model with the tall rear reflector and newer chain guard. It was lsted for $700, I left with it for $90. I also bought a spare set of wheels, and a near new ladies Free Spirit three speed bike. I gave the Free Spirit a few shots of oil and a wax job and sold it the next day for three times what I paid for the whole mess.
It was the first minty clean, nearly rust free bike I've found around here. Most are a rusty mess, and rarely do I find any with good wheels.
Even being as clean as mine was, i still tore it completely apart and went over everything on it, giving it a new set of original 'Raleigh' Scripted gumwall tires to keep it looking like it did day one. I hate the look of gumwall tires though, If I decide to keep it, which I most likely will have to since these simply do not sell here, I'll have to find an appropriate set of black tires for it,.
I'm not sure what's up with CL and FB here but there's just no buyers lately, nothing sells, regardless of price. I've found bikes and other items for sale that I had missed months ago that should no way still be there but they always are, regardless of the price. I've even picked up a few nice bikes for free that were listed there for months. I just drove 10 miles to pickup a 1960 Royal Crown that was listed under the free section, it came with two well used beach cruisers and a small frame early 70's Schwinn Continental.
The RC is completely rideable as is, its a 21" frame but its like brand new. The Schwinn is in fair shape mostly just needed bar tape and tires.
I won't likely mess with the Schwinn because it simply won't sell for enough here to cover the cost of two tires and tubes, let alone my time, some bar tape, and maybe new cables. The RC is a keeper, its just that clean, even if its a bit small. A taller seat post will make it rideable. Once the weather warms a bit I'll get some pics up of it.
I stuffed it in the shed outback when i got back with it and got back into the heat here.

adventurepdx

Cities change, folks. Sometimes it won't be to your liking, either. And nostalgia and getting older will mean that you'll pine for some time in the past. But you can't expect the place you live to be frozen in amber.

There's things that I miss about the Portland I moved to twenty years ago. And I don't like the increased cost of living. But any place that's somewhat cool and desirable is going to change like this. You can find a cheaper place to move to (if a city), but then you'll just be the vanguard of gentrification and the process will repeat itself.

I'm going to stick around the place I love and fight for the good things. Complaining is only going to get you so far.

And for the record, I love coffee shops.

Ged117 

I'm pondering my next three-speed move. With my well-preserved 1950 Superbe now in good hands in the sunny tropics, I'd like to find one of similar late '40s to 1960 era in Raleigh, Rudge, or equivalent flavour for me to enjoy - but not as perfectly original, so I don't feel bad changing things up! I've got a '48 GH6 dynohub, a lamp set from a '49 Clubman to be powered by it, and an AW hub from '56. Let's see what's out there.

Greg R

This 1974 Superbe is the latest acquisition. It's missing the front light, but the rear red one works. Thanks to this board I've avoided mistakes in getting the alternator working. The former owners took some care with it keeping the paint in good shape. Mechanically it needed work. The SA hub was gummy, rusty, and I never saw gears so worn. All bearings were "dry" and/or crusty. the brakes way out of adjustment, and worst of all it had tan or off white tires. The tires were Schwalbe but white does not set well with a green frame for my taste. Couple of weeks later I put new black Schwalbe tires on. They're easy to work with and ride great. Better than the Kenda I have on the other bikes. White wall would've been a nice touch, but none to be found in stock. I had a hard enough time finding these.

dirtman

1964 Raleigh Sports All-steel bicycle - $65 (Frederick)

https://frederick.craigslist.org/bik...415354597.html


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antique Raleigh Tourist 28" 3spd Rod Brake English Bike - $250 (Binghamton)

https://binghamton.craigslist.org/bi...423231858.html


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VINTAGE MEN ,S RALEIGH MADE IN ENGLAND - $350 (Baldwinville)

https://syracuse.craigslist.org/bik/...427652030.html



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1950's British 3-Speed Frame- 21" - $200 (South Philly)

https://philadelphia.craigslist.org/...403873643.html


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BigChief 

Good work. I mounted the dyno hub on the right side of my Rudge also. Doesn't matter with a Dynohub and I think it balances the look with the chain ring visually. Looks like a 22T cog on your hub? Right now I have a 20T on mine but I think I'll go up to 22 because my legs aren't getting any younger. And my Rudge has the heavier pre- 20-30 frame. Love the B66 saddle. Perfect for a roadster in my opinion.

Greg R

Thank you. Good eye on the gearing, yes it is 22T. This is my 1st foray into different ratios. I was surprised by how just a couple of teeth on the rear and chain ring, made such a difference. I also have a blue Sport that has the 44/18. I'll call the Superbe a city/short haul. I did swap out the gears and pins from a pristine older spare SA hub and now the Superbe's hub has a much smoother running and shifting. The seat is actually a Champion Flyer. I am working on tweaking for a good fit. If it's level it seems to push me forward. A slight nose up, I sit better but there's a bit of interference with the male hardware. I got a good price used, but it wasn't broken in, very new stiffness to it.

gster

An over priced Dl-1 here in Toronto @ $600.00

thumpism

Check out the stem/bar setup on this old Sports.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...40831269510167

clubman 

That's an old nickel plate stem, likely Accles and Pollack. Cleaned up, it's worth $200 to the right buyer. Bars look old as well. nlerner

nlerner

The whole rig looks kind of pre-war to me.

SirMike1983 

I agree - that Raleigh has a lot of the pre-war type stuff - old style box pattern rims, the pre-war style brake calipers, lizard-like headbadge, outline frame graphics. Probably worth throwing down an offer if you're local. Sell off the stem and bars, and then rebuild as a traditional Sports with the upright bars and stem, chain case, etc. I'd try it if it was near me. They're the kinds of challenging projects that get me in trouble with the wife.

thumpism

A very nice old 23" with 3SC for $100 in VA.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...36937696566841

clubman 

They dropped the price to $100. Perhaps that may change your mind? Damn the border!

(I'll give you $50 US for the stem )

nlerner

Hah! I hadn’t clicked on that link till now (I’m FB averse) and didn’t realize they were local to me. Hmm. I’ll let you know on that stem!

clubman 

You could flip that brown sports in a heartbeat and make a couple of bucks. I also avoid FB but my wife has an account so I can still see ads.

scarlson 

Still have all this stuff, free for the cost of shipping! Please take them before I have to toss them!

Rims are EA3, 36h. They clean right up with a little scrubbing using tinfoil, as you can see in pic 2. Just ten seconds of scrubbing produced that result.

sykerocker 

That's what I'm hoping to find when I go to Westminster, MD next month. Will have a '55 Royal Enfield, 21" frame to swap.

Ged117 

Folks here have really wild expectations of what these or other vintage bikes can bring in money wise. Anything vintage with 40 years of grime and dust on it seems to be $200 or more.

I wish bikes like this one appeared more often in Ottawa or Montreal. Mostly rattle-trap lower end department store three speeds.

SirMike1983 

Exactly - make a little money on the stem and bars, then fund the correct parts with what you get. It looks like one from the early days when they weren't importing a huge number of Raleighs to the US.

cudak888 

Saw this waiting for repair at the LBS and recognized it. I've always been looking for a green Superbe (I finally picked up @Ged117's '50 Sports Superbe Tourist last year), but this one happens to be part of that story. 10 years ago, I spotted this exact bike, with its owner, outside his house. I stopped to have a brief chat with him about it and never saw it again - until it showed up at the LBS a few weeks ago, quite a bit rougher than I remembered on first encounter (but still missing the lower chaincase cover at the hub sprocket).

Nonetheless, that's only the tip of the story. This, if I'm not mistaken, is the first incarnation of the late-1970's Raleigh Royal Roadster, before the ground-up redesign of the Sports/Superbe frame for the UK market in '82. I'm not 100% sure on this, as the UK/EU catalogs appear difficult to come by even now, but the '78 French catalog is a fairly close match. This is obviously a post-1972 bike by decals (and 36/36 rims), and it's a Sports-style frame (73°/73°) with EA3 / 26x1-3/8" wheels. It's the equivalent of a 1950's Dawn, specifically, a Dawn Superbe Tourist (though, of course, the Dawn name was retired by the TI era). The similarities with the 1950's lineup don't end there, as it's basically a factory 1970's clone of a 1950's-spec Superbe. Not only is it fitted with a chaincase and Superbe-staple AG hub, it's finished in the green of a 1950's Superbe, not the metalflake Bronze Green that got plastered on everything after 1967. Personally, I find it fascinating.

Note the Sir Walter transfer on the seattube in place of the hideous Rampar logo; the telltale sign of a Raleigh not made for the North American market. Headbadge is Nottingham, and it has remnants of the late-1970's Union Jack decal on the seattube (where the tubing decal often resides on NA bikes).

Again, I'm not 100% sure this is a Royal Roadster and I couldn't crane my neck far enough to read the chaincase or decipher the date on the hub. It does have the Pletcher rear brake bridge that showed up on the 1978 US models. Note that the later case has a vertical pinched seam at the joint between the two halves, instead of the overlapped and soldered seam of the 1950's bikes.









-Kurt

P.S.: Wound up selling the shop my last Michelin EA3 World Tours to the LBS so they could finish up the repair for this gentleman, only to realize I need one more tire for my own projects... - anyone have a spare?

thumpism

$55 in NoVa.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...88129252261207

nlerner

Well, thanks to the enabling of @thumpism and @clubman, those two bikes are now in my possession. Here's the Raleigh Sports:





You can see that rear hub is "AW Patent" without a date code, which I believe = its first year of production: 1936. I have PDFs of the 1935 and 1936 catalogs, and am not seeing a perfect match, but something about this one leads me to believe that it's all original, maybe even the B17 "made in Great Britain" (though that looks more late 1940s to me)? Wheels are EA3/26 x 1 3/8".

The grips are a brand I've never seen before:


Warren, if you want that stem, email me: lerner dot n at gmail dot com.



Oh, and this Peugeot was the other bike in the lot, some sort of early 70s UO8 variant. Also seems quite original:

clubman 

Cool, cool cool! Email coming.

thumpism

Sale pending and only 26 minutes in. Somebody's getting a deal.