carfreefamily

Thanks for the insight. I rebuilt the hub about a year and half ago, but I'll take it apart again when I have time - I've run out of other options.

Johno59

The only grease necessary is on the caged ball bearings. The inner gears, springs, shafts, driver and clutch don't function properly if grease gets on them. So less is more where grease is required. Under no circumstances put heavy oil or grease down the filler hole.

gster

You always seem to find good NOS parts. I guess you're closer to the source.
gster

cudak888 

Correct - with exception to "00" grade grease - and only "00" grade. This is the stuff used in the current Sturmey hubs, and it's unbelievable. Smooth as silk, quiet as a whisper.

The hub must be opened up and cleaned of all other fluids if one does this though. No other way. But if someone has put the wrong thing down the filler hole...might be required anyway.

-Kurt

PeterLYoung 

After WW2 new bikes were hard to obtain in UK and I believe somewhere around 80% to 90% were exported to earn foreign income so given that sports/racing/clubman bikes would have been mostly exported to USA and other countries you would think there would be plentiful NOS parts out there. Maybe family run bike shops did not survive as long in those locations so their stocks were dispersed/scrapped long ago, whereas here there were plenty of them still around here into the 80's and 90's, nowadays a lot of these family shops are finally closing down and there is a lot of interest now in restoring/saving old bikes. I think that is one possible reason these obsolete parts are surfacing in UK. Having said that I also do source such parts occasionally from USA and Canada. the handlebars and pinch bolt stem for this Humber came from a guy in Canada. The Dunlop Lightweight Rims ceased manufacture around mid 1950's when 27" appeared. These were an incredible lucky find for me, I was looking for over a year and when I visited bike jumbles enquiring after them I found many of the other people were also looking for them. These were separate offers a few weeks apart on eBay.

gster

Kenda K023 tires fit nicely and have a simple ribbed tread.

PeterLYoung 

: Frame came back today from Bob Jackson, It is looking good and I have refitted Headset, Head Badge, Bottom Bracket, Saddle and Wheels. A lot more work to do but it is exciting seeing it go back together, here are some Photos:-



Preliminary Assembly.

View showing Seat Tube Transfer.

View showing Down Tube Transfer.

Handlebars with Pinchbolt Stem & Clamp. Bars are Female Version, I do Have Male Version, will decide which looks best later.

Head Badge.

Frame Number remains visible

Salubrious

Sweet

PeterLYoung 

Are they 32-597? which is the tyre size for my 26" x 1 1/4" Rims This bike is beautiful, lovely restoration. Love that twin tube fork design!!!

JIMBO53

That's quite an interesting bike.Obviously of German origin, but rod brake/caliper brake combo is something I have not seen before. Rod brakes do poorly on regular rims and caliper brakes do poorly on rims to be used with rod brakes, bur rims look like those used with rod brakes, and the 28" wheels are consistent with rod brake bikes in my limited experience. Front rod brakes can be retrofitted rather easily since their stanchions are bolted to the forks. The rear rod brakes need frame mounted pivot points, much harder to retrofit. Pedals are newer as is rear brake cable hanger, but 3 speed freewheel/derailleur and Huret shifter look 50's-60's. Bottom bracket looks to be of the cartridge variety-could that be right? I would be interested to know what other history you find out about this.

JIMBO53

That's quite an interesting bike.Obviously of German origin, but rod brake/caliper brake combo is something I have not seen before. Rod brakes do poorly on regular rims and caliper brakes do poorly on rims to be used with rod brakes, bur rims look like those used with rod brakes, and the 28" wheels are consistent with rod brake bikes in my limited experience. Front rod brakes can be retrofitted rather easily since their stanchions are bolted to the forks. The rear rod brakes need frame mounted pivot points, much harder to retrofit. Pedals are newer as is rear brake cable hanger, but 3 speed freewheel/derailleur and Huret shifter look 50's-60's. Bottom bracket looks to be of the cartridge variety-could that be right? I would be interested to know what other history you find out about this.

carfreefamily

I figured out the source of the clonky, thwacky noise on my 1952 Superbe Sport Tourist. I had only been checking the bottom bracket by pulling on the cranks to see if there was play. I decided this morning, that, in spite of there not feeling like there was any play, I would readjust the bottom bracket bearing. When I went to loosen the lock ring, I found it was already very loose. I tightened up the lock ring and the noise disappeared. What a relief. I didn't want to tear the hub down again.

It was actually a good thing, because I found a lot of other things that had loosened up in the year and a half I've been riding the bike. The little bolts holding the section of the chainguard underneath the rear cog were especially loose, but everything I tightened up needed it.

gster

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tyres/ke...h-32597-black/

PeterLYoung 

Hi gster: You will see they are out of stock on that tyre ( which may indicate 'no longer available') I use SJS a lot for bike parts but they do have 350 32- 597 Schwalbe Tyres in stock but every where else I look on the web they seem to be out of stock/not available. My local Bike Shop tells me production of 597 tyres by Schwalbe has stopped and I bought the last ones they had. I guess time will tell if they come back. There will be a few places who might have remaining stock, maybe.
Found these on Amazon from 'BankruptBikeParts' I actually have 4 of these tyres plus 8 of the schwalbes so I won't be shopping for this size tyre for a long time.

Ammaco. PAIR 26 x 1 1/4 WHITEWALL TYRES WITH RIBBED TREAD FOR 1950's,60's,70's,80's,90's RACING BIKES,RARE HARD TO FIND

gster

I bought 6 of them last fall from Amazon and well priced at $22.00 approx.

Rherdegen

I am, once again, late to a thread. But I started a refurbishment of my ‘51 Superbe in past couple of months and only now am getting immersed in Raleigh culture. I have the original handgrips—pictured below—which are pretty tired...worn and dry-rotted, but still intact. I didn’t find any other photos of original grips in the thread, so I hope that this helps even if it is late. For that matter, I don’t think I’ve seen any closeup photos anywhere of the original grips from early ‘50’s. And certainly it seems impossible to find authentic-looking replacements. So, I have a choice of either going with these (pretty well worn, and using them will accelerate their demise, though they may look cool on this refurb with all typical signs of wear and tear), or to go with something that is not period correct or original like the “bullet” grips (which would be more functional but not really look right). Dilemma.

Anyway, I hope the photo helps for the record. (And I did show both the top and side/profile views. Also, the angle makes the scale on tape measure look a little off, but the grips are 5” long.)

Ged117 

These are the same original grips that I have on my '50 Superbe. I can confirm that with use they will deteriorate quickly. Also, the original sought-after Sir Walter kickstands that these era Raleighs came with (and which cost a fortune now on eBay) are not to be trusted. The bike will fall over at the mere suggestion of wind. Such occurrences will add further battle scars to the grips...

I've added real cork grips from Rivendell to my wife's '56 step-through Sports, and they look great with a little shellac. Once the grips on my '50 Superbe are kaput, I'll be adding a pair of these, which are spendy though of nice quality.

https://www.rivbike.com/products/mie...ps-pair-normal

Rherdegen

Thanks—that’s useful confirmation of my fears about using 70-year old rubber grips. I have the “bullet” grips to install for now, but will take a close look at the Rivendell cork grips. And also very useful info about the Sir Walt prop stands. I obtained this bike with an old propstand/kickstand that is not the original, attractive (and today very expensive) Sir Walt stand, but sounds as if it might be far more functional. It leads one to the old debate in refurbishment and restoration of whether form trumps function, or vice versa......

Grateful for the feedback and info!

bmc5733946 

Today when I removed the front wheel on my 1971 Raleigh Superbe one of the drop outs dropped out. I debated whether to silver solder which I had the equipment for or wait till I had brass rod and braze. Since I had the silver solder that's what I did. Now I'm wondering about it and if I did right. Any opinions welcome.

Brian

sykerocker 

My subdivision had a neighborhood wide yard sale today, so Margaret and I did a little moseying around. And I came up with something worthwhile: A 1955 Royal Enfield 3-speed.

Since the fire last November I've gotten the garage rebuilt, redone the interior, assembled a functioning workshop, replaced 80% of my regular tools and about 50% of the bicycle specific ones. As well as bead blasting the collection of crank and freewheel tools that I managed to save from the rubble (plus some other stuff). Completing that side is just a matter of a few more months. What's killed my bike work is the loss of my parts department, limiting me to just maintenance work on the stable while I've been building up a stock of modern maintenance oriented parts. So I've been looking for something reasonably complete to work on and I think I've found it.

Other than a replaced (and wrong) front brake caliper & lever, later replacement handgrips, and the mounting tab on the front fender being snapped off, everything on this bike seems to be original and in decent condition. Asking price was $20.00, which I acquiesced to, quickly. The frame is one size smaller than comfortable for me, although that means Margaret would be able to ride it on the rare occasions she goes out with me on neighborhood rides. Or, I fix it up and take it to Westminster (assuming it happens next Feb) to trade it for something else in a like vintage 3-speed in my frame size. It's in storage in the bike barn for the moment and I'll probably start pulling a few bit and pieces off an refurbishing them starting next month.

Also, a celebration of my new garage door on my new garage, which will be the background for all future shots. It was ordered deliberately without an outside lock, just for this purpose.

sykerocker 

One of these has come up on The CABE recently, as well as a Dunelt version(!?), and I'll admit it's gotten me quite confused.

While I didn't start working at A.R. Adams Cycle in Erie, PA until 1971, I hung around there for the two years before, and it was my caring for the assistant dean of students at Gannon's S-5 Sprite that got me my job at the shop (references always help). The shop would sell a few S-5 Sprites in the late 60's along with a plethora of Sports and a few Superbes, but never had a derailleur model come thru the shop until the 1970's when Raleigh basically gentrified the Record into a commuter bike and transferred the Sprite name to it. Now, whether this was some quirk of regional distribution (like a few other Raleighs I've seen over the years), or just the owner's disinterest in ordering any is beyond me. I really didn't notice them in the catalog back then, and Merle tended to be a very opinionated bike shop owner . . . . being a fervent believe in the Raleigh Tourist, lover of the Sports and hater of drop bar 10-speeds wasn't a prime method of running a bicycle shop in the early 1970's. But he made it work.

PeterLYoung 

I have now completed the restoration of this 1948 Humber Beeston Clubman and below are the finished Photos.
I am pleased with how it has turned out and have just written to the original owner who purchased it new in 1948 offering to take to him so he can see how it turned out (I promised to do this when he gave it to me). Can't wait to see his face when he sees it.

cudak888 

-Kurt

jackbombay

Is that the original paint?!?

The bike looks beautiful!

PeterLYoung 

No the paintwork was far too gone with a lot of rust to salvage.

It is the closest I could find to the original Raleigh Metallic Blue from the 1948 Catalogue and a very good match.

It is Metallic Blue RAL 660 - M from their RAL E4 Effect range.