Amesja

The Raleigh has 590mm wheels with a big wide tire and a massive steel fender. A 27" wheel is 630mm with a skinny/short tire and often many frames had barely any room for a fender. I'd say anything that fit on a 27" bike would fit on a Vintage 3-speed Raleigh roadster. If anything it'll have a bit more clearance rather than too little.

Worst case scenario is you would have to modify the way it mounts to the frame which often happens with any bike. The upright length from the wheelstay to the rack is the more important dimension.

If the price is right I'd say go for it.

Doohickie

Too much talk so here are some new pics of The Old Gentleman from this morning's ride. It was the first ride on my new B72 (to replace the original, which split. I tell ya, after only 44 years or so, those Brooks saddles are junk!) First, the C&V pic:



The new saddle:







And a few more pics of the bike:

Velognome 

Doohickie- I love the CV shot of your DL , keep waiting for Ward and June to come out the front door with the Beaver!

To my surprise, they do exist!. A 24" drop frame Rudge built for 28" wheels....it's huge, or just right if your 6' plus. Would make the perfect townie

nlerner

I did this to an old Rudge Sports the other day:







That's 27" wheels with a rear built on a SunTour single-speed coaster-brake hub. It's about 27 lbs as shown and zippy!

Neal

Doohickie

I think you're missin' a coupla speeds there, buddy.

erileykc

A bike for the working day. Not nearly as spiffy as many of the bikes in this thread I must admit but it's been there for me since 1980.

biaddiction

So I bought it. After shipping is $15. Hopefuly the price is not so bad? Can't wait to receive and install it! ! ! Thanks for the info!

biaddiction

So I bought it. After shipping is $15. Hopefuly the price is not so bad? Can't wait to receive and install it! ! ! Thanks for the info!

nlerner

Well, here's an English 5-speed, so now I'm even!



Neal

Doohickie

Hmmmm... I think I need to get a ruling on this from SixtyFiver.

Sixty Fiver

5 speeds are fine... they are just a 3 speed with and extra 1 up and 1 down.

Just built up a new 5 speed w/ drum hub to a 700c rim for my friend's wife... her winter / utility bike currently runs a Sachs 3 speed and she needs a little more range for hauling and towing but also has an electric assist for when the going gets tough.

Have been thinking of ordering up another one of these hubs as well as a front hub with a drum brake.

Doohickie

Yeah, but does posting a 5-speed make up for posting a single speed?

Sixty Fiver

6 total speeds with two bikes gives us an average of 3 speeds per bike... might have to let this one slide since both bikes are so nice.

What would happen if I turned a 3 speed into a dual drive and made it a 6 speed ?

banjo_mole 

Hey Neal!

I see you have a quick-release front hub on that bike. Did you have any trouble with the front fork spacing? I know older Raleighs had a different fork dropout spacing, didn't know if that one did too, or if it gave you any trouble.

-Nick

ecsjr

nlerner,

That Sprite looks just like mine. But the shifters on both my step-through and my man's model are on the top tubes.

Do you know if yours is the original placement?

Easy enough to reach when on the down tube? (that placement avoids the embarassing shifter poke when coming off the seat)

Maybe we need an S5 hub thread.

nlerner

Nick, that's a replacement fork made for 27" wheels, so no problems with dropout spacing.

That bike came to me with top-tube mounted shifters but both levers were snapped off (lousy plastic design). I replaced them with the DT shifters shown.

Neal

nlerner

Well, I turned my Grand Sports into a nine-speed with a 3-gear Cyclo block on an AW hub:





But I've since converted it to a 2-speed with an S-A kickback hub:





So do I credit for a 5.5 speed figuring the average of the two?

Neal

sekaijin

Sorry to interrupt this party of counting speeds on our English (non) 3-speeds!

But I'm looking for advice on baskets for my wife's Raleigh Sports.

As some may recall, my wife is an almost-non-cyclist and I got her a 1978 emerald Ladies Sports a few years ago. It seemed to satisfy her sense of style and she has ridden it on neighborhood family rides in summer. She is now talking about using it for neighborhood grocery & errand runs once the weather gets nice enough. This is an extremely heartening development that I want to encourage.

She wants grocery baskets and I want to find her the perfect ones. She wants fixed rear baskets, newsboy style, that will fit a pair of reusable cloth grocery bags (about 13" x 7" footprint) well.

I'm thinking the Wald 520 may be the way to go. Does that seem right? Any other suggestions?

Amesja

They make some really nice faux wicker baskets like this one.

My LBS has something like that but in aluminum which is a lot nicer and much lighter.

If you can get your wife to ride then get her something nice rather than cheaping out. Something that looks stylish and classy with that fine English three speed that will make her feel good about riding it about and makes her feel chic and fashionable. Take a look at Lovely Bicycle and see what a lady likes when it comes to fashion biking. That girl knows how to do it in style!

HSean

I guess I should post a few of mine on here. I'm glad I didn't get rid of this bicycle when I first wanted to, It's my most fav bike I own, Id dosn't stop very well though lol, it also still needs a new seat but I did locate some nos tires that where a for it that are a weird size for the best price of Free.

I always thought it was a Sports but then I seen a picture of a golden arrow that was identical besides fenders, most other parts where the same,

Snows almost gone and it's almost time to ride it again!

sekaijin

Amesja, thanks for that suggestion. I will show her the faux wicker baskets. I like the look of them and I've been thinking from the outset that folding makes sense.

But I also see the Walds as a valid option with a fitting classic look (in the chrome finish that is), and not "cheaping out." In any case it will be her call.

And whatever baskets she ends up with, I'm thinking some daisies (her favorite) woven into the basket rims just might be the icing on the cake.

Re Lovely Bicycle, yes I read it on occasion and it's great. I've showed it to my wife. She has yet to show an interest. But when she says she wants cream tires, I'll know she's hooked!

nlerner

I don't know if this will work for your wife, but for grocery hauling I used a rear rack and folding grocery panniers from Nashbar, which cost all of $15 for the pair during one of their sales. I leave those panniers on the bike (they attach easily and stay put), and they a re-usable grocery sack will to the brim fits fine. They also come with rain bonnets, which is useful when the bag is over-filled (essentially acts as a top). So the advantage is that they weigh very little, do what they're designed to do, and don't cost much. Oh, and they don't look ugly.

Neal

Amesja

My LBS sells the aluminum faux wicker backets at just a hair over $100/EACH which is kind of pricey considering I can buy and build an entire E3S for less than that but they are really nice. the same LBS sells the Walds in black or chrome for $20 each. You get what you pay for though as the walds are fairly ugly (IMHO) and after a while start to get messed up and the little doo-dad hingy bits stretch and the panels slide down when they are deployed and don't stay in position like they should and rattle around. Sometimes they don't want to close or stay closed and they rattle when open (although not when closed usually).

The mounting hardware that comes with the walds is really poor. I just gave up on it and used High-quality zip ties for them except for the top two at the corners that really hold all the weight. For those I used high-quality stainless screw-drive hose clamps which are very strong. These hold the folding baskets very well against the back rack.

Make sure to check pedal clearance with the baskets open to the way your wife rides with her feet on her pedals so her heels don't clip it. If it's a smaller sized frame they might have to be put much further back than you might initially think.

ahson

Is it 'not right' to put these kind of crankset on my Superbe? Notice those crank arms are rounded edges instead. I've been looking for the original crank for my bike long enough and I am finding alternatives. 46t and regular non-rounded edge crank is just hard to find! I search around ebay and ebay uk almost every single day.

Amesja

Looks like it would work and wouldn't be that far off. Just from a different time period I think. You could always put it on now and find a matching crank later that matches your other driveside.

It depends on the price. Like I said before I used to find these cranks attached to a whole bike every few weeks in the $40 price range. I'm looking for a non-drive sie crank myself for my last purchase as it came without one and it looks like the market dried up here too for a while.