Dsprok

The drop bar will look better to me. Upright will have a broader market though.

BigChief 

I can understand about the aesthetics. I would choose a 23" as a personal rider especially if I wanted to keep an original appearance. But, I have to say that I'm very pleased with the way my Rudge semi scorcher turned out. The project started out as me trying to replace the 50s Rudge scorcher I had as a teenager and always regretted selling. I wanted it to have new paint so I needed one with either an over paint or a finish that wasn't worth preserving. I found this over painted mid 50s Rudge with a replaced fork and a Schwinn front wheel. But it was a 21". The tall sterm doesn't look so bad to me on a scorcher build and it turned out to be a really nice ride. Of all the bikes I have around, this and the DL-1 get the most ride time.

zzjan21.jpg

Ballenxj

That's a really nice looking bike. What brakes are those? They look more effective than the original?

browngw 

The Raleigh made 21" Supercycle as found with drop bar.

BigChief 

Those are Tektro R559 brake calipers. I can't say they stop the bike any faster than the stock steel calipers with KoolStops, but they have more mechanical advantage and stiffness so they require less pressure on the lever and fit the scorcher image. Very luxurious feel to them. Like power brakes. I did have a lever travel issue with the rear brake. I ended up using 2 Sturmey Archer fulcrum clips (cable stops) on the top tube with some fine sand glued to the inside diameter (so they don't slip) to eliminate the compression from 18" of cable housing. That small amount of efficiency made the rear brake lever travel acceptable for me. Someone here mentioned compressionless cable housing as an alternative, but I went the cable stop route.

brake01.jpg

Oh, an afterthought...These brakes have the cable mount on the right side instead of the left like the originals. So when you route the cables for left front/right rear, they cross out in front like the bikes in England where they use the left lever for the rear brake and right for the front. I always liked the look of that cable routing.

SirMike1983 

Out and about on the Raleigh export model roadster this evening.

JaccoW

Full Reynolds 531 3-speed anyone?
Gazelle Superlicht - Marktplaats

EDIT:

johnnyspaghetti

Winter continues. Very possible foot or two of snow, ice this weekend. Its good today to take out the Poodle riding.

IMG_20170819_142758.jpg

johnnyspaghetti

The angles on that frame look so laid back.

BigChief 

That looks great. Aren't these old roadsters fun? I never expected to like them as much as I do, but now I'm totally addicted.

BigChief 

Brilliant! I wish Raleigh had done that for the US market.

nlerner

An early 1950s Raleigh catalog I have shows the RRA (full DB 531) in “tourist” guise with upright bars and IGH. Don’t know if you could actually get it that way, of course.

gster

That bike checks all the boxes.

paulb_in_bkln

johnnyspaghetti, I hope your dog is following Leroy's Dog on Twitter. The two, they might be soul mates.

paulb_in_bkln

I have just purchased something similar, with the original fork and chrome crown cap, and the head tube badge nice, but I think not the Rudge pattern chainwheel, which I don't know why. Maybe I can dig one up, somewhere. I'll need similar extra lift at the seat and stem, but yours looks fine that way, maybe it has to do with the absence of the chainguard and fenders. I doubt the wheels are as perfect as the ones on yours, so most likely it will get CR18s. (I'm intrigued with the notion of going 700C.) But I have a project bike ahead of it so the Rudge will most likely get taken apart for storage in the closet until next winter.

johnnyspaghetti

She is not a nice dog. Said that she is so smart. it's wow smart. watches the bike front wheel then follows. i

I use a leash. She doesn't like small children or small dogs.

paulb_in_bkln

Yes. So true. But during those years it was such a struggle for bike companies to get adult Americans to take bicycles seriously. Schwinn tried and tried and it wasn't easy for them. Every once in a while here (NYC) I meet someone who says how their grandfather loved bikes and had a beautiful old 50s or early 60s racer and the next thing they say is, wait for it, he was an Italian immigrant.

paulb_in_bkln

I like how my friend and his wife aren't bike fans at all, they just ride the bike around the neighborhood for errands and don't worry about appearance. Like you say, hard worker. No vanity. Is the seat tube bent? I will look closer. Not that it matters. Steel! (Some young guy was selling this in the middle of a snowstorm in front of Paragon Sporting Goods on Broadway. He wanted $40 so I thought what the hell. The guy I'm friendly with at my LBS did a nice job overhauling it, just the usual stuff, and when I rode it over for delivery I was so thrilled I bought my own Sports shortly afterward.)

johnnyspaghetti

LBS I say yes then no.

nlerner

paulb_in_bkln

It is a shame the owner is so hard-nosed.

paulb_in_bkln

Almost a custom bike. Wonderful to know it existed.

paulb_in_bkln

She's ready for a job interview. You know the advice: never say anything bad about yourself.

BigChief 

The RRA , the original RRA I should say, is the Grail English IGH bike in my book. At my age and ability I couldn't make the best use of one though. It would be wasted on me at this point, even in roadster trim.

paulb_in_bkln

Imagine the enjoyment buying one new--the discussing with the shop which of all those equipment options to choose, and probably a few kibitzers interestedly observing, with their own opinions, because it wouldn't be every day someone ordered one of those, and then waiting for the bike to finally appear from the factory, and then the sheer crazy enjoyment of those first rides.