thumpism 

Looks like a his 'n' hers Hercules pair with 23" frames for $150 in PA.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...56399763219665

nlerner

Well, now it looks that the seller did drop the price to $100. Hmm.

https://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/bi...586716132.html

SirMike1983 

Around here, that pair might sell for $100, probably not for much more. I live in a fairly rural, hilly area and 3-speeds are not popular here. People seem to like how they look, but most of the bikes I see are mountain or road bikes with 10+ speeds, or more recently, e-bikes. I'd pay more for an old 3 speed around here than most people would, but I'm one of the few people who specifically looks for them. I'm surprised at how quickly e-bikes are proliferating here. I now see 1 brand new e-bike on the road for every 2 regular bikes I see. I bet within the next two years it will be 50/50.

If you want his & hers 3-speeds as a Valentine's Day present, I'd say they're worth $200, given that $200 doesn't actually buy much any more. And there is $200 worth of parts there if you are the less romantic type. The bigger issue is the space to store them and the time and parts to fix them. I know I couldn't add two more bikes - I'm out of space to store them and probably won't have time to fix them. As it is, I need to downsize a bit.

nlerner

Thanks, Mike. I did reach out to the seller last night, and they reported someone was coming by this morning to purchase the bikes. The seller did confirm that the price was $100 for both. I wouldn't have bought them to keep; instead, I would likely sell off the saddles to finance the operation, overhaul them, and then give them away to colleagues (grad students seem to be the most keen group to get a free bike). Getting more people on bikes is my goal!

Ged117 

Visited a LBS looking for some brake cables for the Triumph (finished a parts-bin drop bar conversion - the semi-upright bar set up wasn't working). The owner had his 1958 Raleigh Superbe within, including a B-72 refinished by Brooks some years ago. I didn't grab any photos since we were speaking, but it looks like the bicycle below, same blue colour, but in a much better condition. His came with an SW hub, which he put aside as it wasn't working, and now runs a '54 dated AW. Fun to see one in such a nice state of preservation. In these parts, I see old Raleighs and their Canadian made brands of the 60s and 70s really often during warm months, and rarely a '50s type. I usually don't run into people with deep Sturmey Archer and old Brit bike obsessions like myself, so it was fun to chat with him.

dweenk

I am not sure that this is allowed but, I just posted my Raleigh Tourist in the "For Sale" section.

markk900

Ged117 : love that superb....same colour as my Humber....

clubman 

His and hers Superbes. Minty fresh. Different secondary colours, I believe these were '61s

markk900

clubman : I must have been sleeping but when did Raleigh 3 speeds get chrome socks? Lovely bikes but I expect very expensive if they are even for sale.

Ged117 

The men's model is exactly the same condition as the fellow I spoke with, only his has the darker, somewhat gold secondary colour, and running a very nicely redone leather B-72 in aged honey colour. Fun to run into one of these in the wild. I almost made him an offer!

clubman 

There was a period in the late 50s/early '60s where Raleigh Canada used either paint or chrome for their sox. I had a very nice 57 women frame in the bold red with white sox and a couple of the chrome versions as well. These bikes usually had starbursts around the headtube lugs.

thumpism 

Sportsette for $40 here in town. Looks like it needs a gear cable.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...47900769903488

1989Pre 

'33 Sunbeam Golden (not my bike)

thumpism 

Turista bones still languishing outside the now-closed co-op. New place is not open yet but they evidently moved everything they wanted there over there and the stuff left behind has been disappearing piece by piece.


I like Tourists but don't need/want one and don't want to hassle with another one (this would be about #5 if that were to happen) but if someone really, really, really wants it, contact me and I'll try to help you out. Missing the front wheel and part of the chaincase; fighting my instincts, I really have not looked that closely.

cudak888 

Don't need a Tourist, but a neighbor of mine does need a replacement rear (IIRC) rim for his Tourist, if you come across one in your travels.

-Kurt

thumpism 

I think the rears are all 40H but you might want to verify with your neighbor what he needs. If he's desperate I can fetch the carcass, remove the wheel and cut out the spokes in order to ship the rim, then keep the hub for myself and junk the rest but that's way more work than I want to do in the middle of the house remodel (kitchen and living room coming along nicely, thanks). I don't even have time--and more importantly, the energy-- to play with my own bike stuff. I'm sure your neighbor can find a rim more easily than that. Or maybe not. Perhaps by the time he decides, this one will have vanished.

P.S. I'd hate to junk the remains. Tourists are just too neat for that kind of treatment. If the thing disappears I'd wonder where it went but would at least be certain that I was not the one who sent it to its demise.

cudak888 

Even the later DL-1s with 36h front rims run 40h in the back, IIRC. I'd feel safe in assuming his follows that pattern.

From the looks of it, the rim looks pretty rusty anyway; was really just fishing to see if anyone had a spare hoop they'd part with.

If it wasn't for your remodeling, your time and effort, and the fact that these things are the size of the QE2, I'd just say plop the whole thing in a box and we'll tear it apart here. I know both my neighbor and I could both probably make use of the bits

-Kurt

thumpism 

I might just go grab it anyway. This is the essence of C&V, after all, and what reasonable practitioner of the art can refuse?
------------------------------------

Meanwhile, a men's 24" Turista and a ladies' Sports for $300 in NJ.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...42855893226963

cudak888 

So long as your War Department doesn't object to it, it'll be in much better hands sitting around your place gathering rust slowly with a potential future (assuming you have no other place to store it than outside), than sitting in that dirt pit rusting quickly for inevitable scrapping.

Face it, even if someone else does pick it up with the intent of putting it back together, the chances that said person is familiar with rod brakes, 28" wheels, and 90mm dropout spacing is unlikely.

-Kurt

thumpism 

War Department is no problem. She's a fabric junkie and we have an "arrangement," one of those don't ask, don't tell things. Storage is an issue. Eventually I'll run out of space for bikes or tools or lumber or something, or else the garage will simply split open and spill everything down the hillside behind it. Problem then solved.

I'll try to go by tomorrow, hoping the thing is still there. Hate to lose it now that there's interest.

cudak888 

Best of luck. Storage shouldn't be an issue for a parts junker if you don't mind leaving it outside for a few weeks - it won't hurt that DL-1 any more than it already has been.

-Kurt

thumpism 

Welp, sad news for you Tourist tourists. I swung by late today to get it if I could, and I could so I did, but it is not the bike--or the bike bones--that we expected/hoped/wanted it to be. Something happened to the left fork blade.


Aside from that heartbreaking detail, the frame and its finish are in pretty decent shape. Paint looks good-ish for the most part.


Hub date is January of '81, so one of the later bikes I've come across. Note the corrosion on the spokes, of which one is bent and pulled the nipple through the rim. Despite this, the rear wheel is astonishingly straight although there are rust patches on the rim.


Never seen a chaincase rusted through like this.


So that's the bike of our collective dreams and speculation. It's in my garage. I don't want it but there are many useful pieces on it for someone in need. Fenders are okay but stays are all bent up, rod brake hardware is mostly there but missing the front pads and a couple of small fasteners, bars and levers are decent. No idea if the Sturmey hub is good but you don't find many bad ones, so I'll need to put an indicator chain on it and see if it shifts.

There you have it. Let me know what the next steps should be. I'd like to see it go to a devotee or, barring that, to a different crazy person. I won't miss it and I think I already have a 40H hub rattling around here somewhere so I don't really need anything on this poor old bike. Thanks for following along.

gna

You can see it dangling on the ground. May just need to be attached.

thumpism 

I suspect the trigger end of the cable is broken off, in which case the little ferrule might be missing, but someone might get lucky.

clubman 

I have a number of NOS 28" replacement forks albeit with standard threading. They are white, easily painted and available for you or anyone else for the price of shipping. Long steerers too.