3speedslow

Those are great. Have used this type for years with the greatest of ease.

arex

@Narhay, that's a beautiful bike. I like your bikes a lot.

Narhay

I purchased the double butted spokes from Danscomp and the rims from Niagara Cycle. I don't recall the gauge for the spokes but they were the standard DB spokes and $0.40 each if I recall. I used a spoke calculator online to get the correct spoke length.

Narhay

Thanks. Appreciate the kind words.

Velocivixen

@BigChief - that's interesting about the water slides on various background colors. Would you happen to have photos you could share? I think this would be useful information for someone considering new decals. I'm building Mr. VV a modern Dynamo wheel for his bike #2 , so won't do the decals immediately. I will post "before" & "after" when I finish in the next few days.

Yes, @Narhay's Superbe is superb! Very clean, functional and well thought out. Plus, it's green. I recall, also, having one of those oil cans in our garage. I would like to find a used, but functional one. There are places online you can order from but I want an old, ancient one that has a story to tell.

Narhay

The oiler can I got from ebay ($9 with free shipping) appears to be used and was in the antiques section. I have no idea what sort of vintage it might be but I am hoping it is functional.

adventurepdx

Before this becomes too much of a "For the Love of Low Gravity Bikes" thread, Worksman out in Ozone Park, Queens still makes their low-gravity bike (aka cycle truck, aka butcher bike, aka delivery bike) the same way they did back during the war. (Which war? Don't know.) I had one for awhile, and it could haul the stuff. I did have a three speed wheel installed to give it a little more range. I know it's a factory option when you order through Worksman, plus getting a drum brake front wheel.



To bring it back to the love of English three speeds, the Low Gravity is good for hauling your stripped apart Rudge to the bike shop!

3speedslow

Love looking at Rudge projects too. Is yours a restore effort? What year is it?

Mine is as a bare frame with parts gathering. Will build as a 3 speed to replace the original Huret DRs. When did they stop using the Hand on the crankset?

gster

I've never seen a Rudge here in Toronto.

Narhay

Same. Schwinn, rudge, Hercules and the old canondales are not particularly common in the frozen north.

3speedslow

That surprises me! Really. They must have imported them to Canada.

This one is the first I have seen in person down here but I know they're around.

Slash5

And I've never seen one of the older Trek road bikes for sale that are on here so often.

adventurepdx

In the (in)famous words of Travis Bickle, "Are you talking to me?"

If you are, it was a 1953 Rudge Sports. The restoration happened about four years ago, thanks to the help of the OP. But I sold it in late 2014.

markk900

I got mine a few years back when it was posted on kijiji....Bloor Cycle was the original dealer that sold mine so there must be some others around!

browngw 

A friend of mine in Simcoe Ontario owns a Rudge that belonged to his father. We think it might be pre WW2. I need to have a loser look at the bike some day.

gster

I've seen, Ralieghs, Gliders, British made Supercycles (for Canadian Tire), Dunelts, Hercules, Triumph, BSA, Philips and one Norman that I bought last fall. An also Robin Hood. Of course there are lots of CCM 3 speeds
as well.

gster

George at Parts Unknown has a rough Ladies' DL-1 that I may buy and harvest for parts to restore this one (Brake system/back wheel) and then leave the donor bike as a coaster.

BigChief 

I would jump on that deal before it gets away. Rough DL-1 donor bikes are super hard to find these days and that is one nice looking roadster you have there.

BigChief 

Yikes!
Well, here's my Rudge so far. I sanded through the old over paint to get an accurate measurement and placement of the downtube graphic since I'm planning on reproducing it. Today, I finished the prep work and gave her a couple coats of rattle can black paint. It has a non-Raleigh fork with no fender stay lugs. I decided to leave it since it's nice and straight and this bike isn't getting fenders anyway.

Velocivixen

Look forward to seeing it built up. Must be warm where you are. It's around 20 degrees here.

BigChief 

Yes, It's warm here. My work has me in southern Florida for the time being. What I'm doing with this Rudge is reproducing a bike I had as a kid that I always regretted selling. I had lots of old 3 speeds, put together from junk day finds, but the Rudge was my favorite. I had a summer job at the LBS. When a guy came along and offered me money for it, I jumped on the deal because I was saving up 75 bucks for a new 10 speed Record. Now that I'm getting too worn out for serious biking and going back to casual upright riding, I want my Rudge back. I never used fenders on my bikes back then. I was hard to pretend you were road racing with rattling fenders!

3speedslow

Glad to hear that a Rudge is coming back to your stable. With no fenders, you must be going for the fast, upright, nice weather type of ride. You don't sound worn out at all.

Are you going to leave the chain guard off as well?

kikaso

Hi, everyone.

Does anyone know of a good bike shop in NYC that works on vintage 3-speeds. Every time I bring my bike to a shop, I have to re-adjust the shifter and pay for new nuts because the tech. stripped them. A lot of the newer shops in my area (central Brooklyn) don't know how to work on older bikes--I've had axle treads damaged, complaints and surcharges because of bike weight/complexity, etc. I haven't brought the bike in for anything major yet, just brake adjustments, wheel truing, chain installation...I've visited three shops so far and each has been a big let down. I've learned to work on my bikes myself just because the local shops are unable to fix my bike without ruining something else, but sometimes I just want to get my wheels trued without dealing with the issues that inevitably come up. Vintage 3-speeds are pretty simple to work on so I can't understand why it's such a problem.

Thanks and happy new year!

BigChief 

My old Rudge didn't have a chainguard. Or a kickstand. Couldn't have ALL that extra weight slowing me down! But this bike came with a chainguard and for some reason whoever fixed up the bike last time didn't repaint it. They only added a stick on pinstripe. I can't bring myself to refinish it since the transfer is in pretty decent shape. I think I'll shop ebay for another 2 point chainguard suitable for refinishing. I'll be using an old English adjustable Sure-Sta kickstand I have just because it's cool.

noglider 

I've heard good things about 718 Cyclery but haven't been there and don't know if they have any affinity for old bikes.

A couple of friends of mine run Nomad Cycle in Long Island City. They can definitely get your bike working right.

Larry at Larry's Freewheeling in Harlem started working on Raleigh 3-speeds about 50 years ago and knows everything you need, but he's far.

I just visited Bicycle Habitat in SoHO for the first time in over 30 years, and there's a guy named Hal who appears to be in his 50's. He's an expert mechanic and knows old bikes, and I'd bet he could serve you well, too.

If you visit Larry's or Nomad, please tell them I sent you!

If you don't have any luck, you can bring your bike to me. I don't work in the industry any more, but I can help. I'm in the West Village (Manhattan).