I wasn't satisfied with my DL-1 until I understood that it was meant to be ridden at less than 20 kmh. Keep your speed low and it's a pleasant ride.

They say streets in China were typically too crowded for too much high-speed-low-drag kind of stuff during the Pigeon's heyday. That said, it could probably use a 36/18 in place of its 46/18!

Edit: I was wrong. Pigeons come with 42/20.

I guess 46/20 or 48/20 would be ideal.

this thread reminds me of a fact i recently learned... http://www.enfieldmotorcycles.com/ royal enfield went out of business in the 1960s but they still make them in indian and are available stateside for quite a mark up.

They also made a lot of Royal E. stuff in the '80s in one of the Asian countries. Had a couple of them. Not too bad.

-Kurt

Someone sells em in NYC. You can often fine one on eBay. But, they are not Raleighs by a long shot, and usually you'll never find the larger frame size. They are very heavy, have only one speed, and the rod brakes are particularly poor. The saddles are usually junk too.
That all being said, if you are riding in a flat city, you'll probably enjoy riding it regardless of flaws. On mine the right pedal completely dis-assembled itself while I was riding, the saddle was awful, and the quality of the nuts and bolts and such was quite poor. It looked great though! Nice paint, and silk screened graphics. I fixed everything I could, but I found my Raleigh DL-1 and sold the FP.

Oh by the way, the Indian made raleigh knock-offs are even worse!!!!!!! Total junk made out of what looked like conduit.

I am in china now and what i see on the roads are mainly phoenix or forever brand. Flying dove is rarer and doesnt seem of the quality of the previous two. I am thinking of getting one myself but i have too many bikes. sorry i do not have complete pics of it.

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I like the Enfield bolt action rifles nearly as much as I like the Springfield rifles. In High school, we shot Springfield M1903's - awesome rifles. And, perfectly balanced for military drills

I'm no expert on the subject, but here's my take on the Flying Pigeon. At one point it was the people's bicycle and perhaps a well made machine, but considering that a) China is rapidly abandoning the bicycle in favor of the automobile, b) Flying Pigeon itself is focusing more on modern bicycle models, and c) has since the late 90's replaced their original factory wherein bicycles were largely built by hand to a mostly automated factory, that is no longer the case. I got a Flying Pigeon last year, and it has about the build quality of your standard bottom-of-the-line department store fair. Can it be ridden? Sure, but I can't imagine anyone using one as their primary mode of transportation or lasting several decades. The current old style Pigeons at this point are nothing more than a cheap nostalgia item.

My Pashley Guvnor Roadster is the exact opposite of the Indian-made Eastman Roadster bicycles. British-made premium Reynolds 531 tubing, hand brazed, 635mm alloy rims with drum brakes and Brooks B-73 triple spring leather saddle. A safe and plush ride. Those who have never tried to ride a high end roadster don't know what they are missing. It is the Cadillac of bicycles.

There is a shop in Vancouver's China Town that sells this type of bike. I am not sure if it was a Flying Pigeon, a Forever or Phoenix brand although Phoenix seems to stand out to me. It was black with rod brakes, a front basket, rear rack etc. They wanted approx. $300 for it new. The shop is not a bike shop but more of your typical China Town souvenier store so they only had one on display. It looked like a neat old style roadster for sure.

I also had a Forever briefly, and I thought that it was a notch above the other Chinese, and Indian made "roadster" bikes I tried out. The paint was beautiful, but it also had a lot of flaws. The saddle was leather, but poorly designed. Probably the worst leather saddle I've ever used. However, for the price at the time: $150 in 1995 it was a reasonable deal. I think with just a little more effort at the factory, they might have had a really good product. I believe that if you buy one, you'll probably have fun riding it around town. As long as there are no hills:-) They can be retro fitted with three speed hubs, and better parts. With a little tinkering, they can be very similar to the Raleigh.
I eventually found a Raleigh "Tourist" DL-1 in show room condition for $450, and I think if you find one of those, you'll be a lot happier.

They're blowing them out for $199 including shipping.

I would go for one at that price except they're slightly too big for me. I don't know how the Chinese ride them.

They're likely not as much too big as you think. The cranks are 165's so the bottom bracket can be lower without increasing pedal strike, and the seat angle is so slack the top tube is an inch lower. It feels more like a crank forward than like a typical newer design. I've got a 24" DL-1, and I thought it would be plenty big. Raleigh used to advertise them as being for tall riders, but I had to extend the stem and seatpost. If you're close to average height it'll be a decent fit.

The Yellow Jersey site used to say the Eastman, also a copy of the Raleigh DL-1, had an 80cm standover height.

I've seen 3 Flying Pigeon bikes in person. They were all lower quality than Walmart bikes. Stay away. Even at $199 they are a rip off, unless you just can't find anything else to ride.

The rod brakes do almost nothing, the seat cluster arrangement is a joke, steel rims, junk.

I've seen one in person, and did not think it was particularly bad. To be honest, I've had Fujis that looked worse.

Really?

Anyway, I'm not sure which model the 3 I saw were but they were city/townie bikes. All the same model. All 3 were purchased by a local jeans company owner while over seas. All 3 had to have the brake setup replaced, which necessitated the replacement of all 3 wheel sets (stock rims had no side wall for the brake pads on the side pulls that replaced the stock rod brakes), all 3 had bottom brackets and cranks replaced (2/3 had cottered cranks that would wiggle back and forth on the spindle), because cranks were replaced the chain guard had to be removed. The brazing/welding at all the joints looked beyond subpar. And although this may not be such a horrible thing, I didn't like how the rear rack and seat stays were tied to the seat lug by the seat binder bolt.

My experience, not I say everyone will have the same but I would advise looking somewhere else for a commuter.

There are lots of these in NYC. I would not buy one for $199, they seem like total junk. I don't know what kind of steel they're made of, but the chrome is really bad. Almost every one I've seen has rust issues.

I know that this is a more expensive option but I was kinda diggin the Brooklyn Cruiser (http://www.brooklyncruiser.com/mens-commuter-bike/). It looks like a good compromise between vintage style and geometry and modern availability (try finding the old Releigh version, in good shape, for a reasonable price) and modern features.

That Brooklyn Cruiser is just a chinese made bike also.
Buy American!
http://bowerylanebicycles.com/broncks_black.html

I agree they are not intended as speed machines, I typically roll in the 20-25kph (12-15mph) range once I get up to cruising speed, but once there it is easy to keep on rolling. Definitely NOT fun in stop and go situations.

Aaron :)

Contrary to Reynolds' position, I must admit that I've never quite experienced the DL-1 until I got it rolling at over 20 mph.

Uncontrollably. Quite the ride.

-Kurt