For the love of English 3 speeds...
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For the SA hubs, once you have the cog off there is a cap with 2 notches up against he hub shell. What does the tool look like to remove that cap? My friends LBS has an even darker corner where all the old tools of 40+ yrs are thrown. I want to go dig in there and see if he has some internal hubs gems.
Thanks!
PS. Still looking for a work surface to put the punch to the shifters. I want to do a good job!
PSS. The owners of that Raleigh Twenty on CL never returned any of my emails after I told them the machine was in a sad state.
Thanks!
PS. Still looking for a work surface to put the punch to the shifters. I want to do a good job!
PSS. The owners of that Raleigh Twenty on CL never returned any of my emails after I told them the machine was in a sad state.
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@SirMike1983 I'd like to ask a favor. On your 1958 Sports, does the head tube and seat tube lugs at the top tube joint look like this black one or this green one? Thanks
Attachment 576894
Attachment 576895
Attachment 576894
Attachment 576895
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Classic American and British Roadsters, Utility Bikes, and Sporting Bikes (1935-1979):
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https://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/
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Cleaning and riding today: cleaning and dusting a pair of 1947 Schwinn three-speeds: a fillet brazed Continental and an electroforged New World.

And off for a ride on this Raleigh Sports

And off for a ride on this Raleigh Sports

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The AW internals are at the back, S5 in the middle, AB at the front.
For a proper clean I would lever out the ball bearing retainers (labyrinth seals I think they're called) to get the ball bearings out.

Planet cages L to R - AW, S5, AB

AB innards next to an S5 in an AW shell
Last edited by arty dave; 08-27-17 at 12:42 AM.
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3speedslow it's called the ball ring and there are 2 kinds, one with square notches, one with half round notches - there are SA spanners made for removing the half round
C-spanner by arty dave armour, on Flickr
0000000770763_370_0 by arty dave armour, on Flickr
...for the square notches most people use a hammer and punch. Usually this works quite well, at first I thought this was a freakish thing to do with a hub
. I use a slightly rounded cold chisel - I find it fits into the notch well, and doesn't slip out as I'm tapping. Some use a screwdriver, I think for the same reason. Watch the vids.


...for the square notches most people use a hammer and punch. Usually this works quite well, at first I thought this was a freakish thing to do with a hub

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Beautiful rides as usual Sir Mike. I always like the look of whitewalls on vintage steeds.
It snowed here today which is very unusual. Yesterday it was bike-riding sunny.
It snowed here today which is very unusual. Yesterday it was bike-riding sunny.
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@arty dave Thanks for those hub internal photos. Very useful!
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For the SA hubs, once you have the cog off there is a cap with 2 notches up against he hub shell. What does the tool look like to remove that cap? My friends LBS has an even darker corner where all the old tools of 40+ yrs are thrown. I want to go dig in there and see if he has some internal hubs gems.

For the modern, half-round notches, you need the official tool. BikeToolsEtc carries them; just tell them what hub you have as there are a couple variations of the tool:

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The AW internals are at the back, S5 in the middle, AB at the front.
For a proper clean I would lever out the ball bearing retainers (labyrinth seals I think they're called) to get the ball bearings out.

Planet cages L to R - AW, S5, AB

AB innards next to an S5 in an AW shell
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Classic American and British Roadsters, Utility Bikes, and Sporting Bikes (1935-1979):
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https://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/
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It does seem strange to me that Raleigh kept a line of rod brake bikes in production so long after cable operated caliper brakes became available. They even developed the dual use westrick rims for 26" models and the DL1 never lost it's rod brake system. The only reason I can think of is that there may have been enough conservative customers who demanded traditional bikes and Raleigh didn't want to rock the boat. I remember when motorcycles first started using electric starters. For a few years, they had both electric and kick. It was a while before they phased out kick starters entirely. Must be something like that.
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As the former longtime owner of one of Yamaha's legendary problematic-electric-starter models, I certainly wished many times they'd kept up the kickstarter practice a few years longer.
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It does seem strange to me that Raleigh kept a line of rod brake bikes in production so long after cable operated caliper brakes became available. They even developed the dual use westrick rims for 26" models and the DL1 never lost it's rod brake system. The only reason I can think of is that there may have been enough conservative customers who demanded traditional bikes and Raleigh didn't want to rock the boat. I remember when motorcycles first started using electric starters. For a few years, they had both electric and kick. It was a while before they phased out kick starters entirely. Must be something like that.
In addition to underlying conservatism in design, you have the fact that the machines used to produce the bikes and parts have a fairly long life if the manufacturing machines are of high quality. So the machines and materials used to make the parts will have a lingering effect as well. "I've already got all this stuff to build a rod brake bike, so why not try to get a little money for it."
Then you do have some conservative segments of the cycling public as well. The somewhat older cyclists who preferred 3-speeds during the bike boom of the 1970s are an example. There are some people who just like older stuff. I knew an older college professor who commuted to work every day on a 1970s-era DL-1 up until maybe 5 years ago.
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Saw this great old Rudge Pathfinder ad while browsing today.
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It does seem strange to me that Raleigh kept a line of rod brake bikes in production so long after cable operated caliper brakes became available. They even developed the dual use westrick rims for 26" models and the DL1 never lost it's rod brake system. The only reason I can think of is that there may have been enough conservative customers who demanded traditional bikes and Raleigh didn't want to rock the boat. I remember when motorcycles first started using electric starters. For a few years, they had both electric and kick. It was a while before they phased out kick starters entirely. Must be something like that.
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Shifter disassembly
Could not come up with a hardwood block so I found a tough piece of heart pine. Drilled two holes to match the pins that have to be driven out. Didn't go all the way through the wood so the pins would stay in the wood pockets. Previously put tri-flow on both sides and let it soak.
It took all of 3 taps with the small hammer and the 1/16 punch to knock out the pins... success!
Now on to cleanup.
Could not come up with a hardwood block so I found a tough piece of heart pine. Drilled two holes to match the pins that have to be driven out. Didn't go all the way through the wood so the pins would stay in the wood pockets. Previously put tri-flow on both sides and let it soak.
It took all of 3 taps with the small hammer and the 1/16 punch to knock out the pins... success!
Now on to cleanup.
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I took this shifter apart because the case had been smashed. Now I need to figure out how to straighten the plates. @BigChief has given some good advice and will work that into my plan.
I was pleased to see that the cable housing cover is a screw in. I will need to go look for one of those for the other shifter I will work on next. That one has a busted spring. With luck I should have both shifters ready for projects.
I was pleased to see that the cable housing cover is a screw in. I will need to go look for one of those for the other shifter I will work on next. That one has a busted spring. With luck I should have both shifters ready for projects.
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finally located some bronze wool in the next town at a blue water marine supply shop. Great stuff for gentle cleaning of these old bikes. First up is a dunk in some OA for awhile to see if it takes some of the rust away. The parts were more caked with oils and grime then anything else.
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Shifter disassembly
Could not come up with a hardwood block so I found a tough piece of heart pine. Drilled two holes to match the pins that have to be driven out. Didn't go all the way through the wood so the pins would stay in the wood pockets. Previously put tri-flow on both sides and let it soak.
It took all of 3 taps with the small hammer and the 1/16 punch to knock out the pins... success!
Now on to cleanup.
Could not come up with a hardwood block so I found a tough piece of heart pine. Drilled two holes to match the pins that have to be driven out. Didn't go all the way through the wood so the pins would stay in the wood pockets. Previously put tri-flow on both sides and let it soak.
It took all of 3 taps with the small hammer and the 1/16 punch to knock out the pins... success!
Now on to cleanup.
Very helpful.
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Any suggestions on how to clean surface rust from around the inner hub flanges and inside 'corners' of a hub shell? The spokes are making it tricky to get anything in there. I might have to de-lace the wheel? It's been laced with stainless spokes that are in good condition.
Sir Mike, yes, I have really enjoyed reading through the thread, it's such a great mixture of images and info, advice and opinions, innovations and speculations. I agree, a resource of some kind would be good for just technical stuff. Now who do we know that has an awesome blog that already has great technical content...hmmm
Sir Mike you're quite welcome to any of my images and/or comments.
If people gave technical posts a post title, would they become more searchable or googleable?
Sir Mike, yes, I have really enjoyed reading through the thread, it's such a great mixture of images and info, advice and opinions, innovations and speculations. I agree, a resource of some kind would be good for just technical stuff. Now who do we know that has an awesome blog that already has great technical content...hmmm

If people gave technical posts a post title, would they become more searchable or googleable?
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I took this shifter apart because the case had been smashed. Now I need to figure out how to straighten the plates. @BigChief has given some good advice and will work that into my plan.
I was pleased to see that the cable housing cover is a screw in. I will need to go look for one of those for the other shifter I will work on next. That one has a busted spring. With luck I should have both shifters ready for projects.
I was pleased to see that the cable housing cover is a screw in. I will need to go look for one of those for the other shifter I will work on next. That one has a busted spring. With luck I should have both shifters ready for projects.
The only reason I have so much experience with these is because I bought a box full of SA stuff years ago at a auction. Must have a dozen shifters. When I didn't have a bike to work on, I fixed up shifters.
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