So I found an old Dunelt 3 speed sitting on the side of the road the other day. The SA hub says its from 1960. The bike is kind of beat; the fenders are bent and rub, the tires and tubes are junk, the brakes work somewhat, the grips are gone, the cones in the SA are loose, the wheels need truing, plus a little surface rust on the chrome parts. The frame and fork are good and the paint is still decent. It has the original white Wrights sprung saddle that is in good shape. Is it worth restoring this back to original? I was thinking of stripping it down and doing something similar to the Dunelt pictured, but if it is a rare bike or something a collector would want I think I should restore it and sell it or try to sell it as is. I don't know too much about English 3 speeds.

Wow! Unless it was in a dumpster, or mixed in with a pile on trash day, sounds like you have is a stolen bike! Local punks often grab bikes for a joy ride and just leave them road side. Hope that's not the case! I'd CL a lost bike before doing anything.

Yup local punks are riding around on stolen bikes with flat tires and fenders that rub harder than a girl at an Asian massage parlor.

Wow, as the spokes person for the Asian massage parlor trade, I protest the crude language!
Also, happens some punks just stole my bike.

Yup, bet the tire weren't flat and the fenders didn't rub until they dumped it. The flipped bars and and rack seem to indicate it was in recent use. Would be the thing to do. The field next to our house is a field where stolen bikes get dumped, they almost always have flats, broken chains etc. Wouldn't hurt to CL the find (without pictures) and see if anyone claims it and can ID it.

Hey Andrew, lemme know if anything good turns up in that field!

More seriously, I really can't distinguish between the ethics of a bike found at the side of the road and a bike found in a dumpster; and one bought off Craigslist is only marginally better. There is an ethical or environmental argument to be made in favor of rescuing either one, but there is an equally strong argument to be made against. Someone owns the dumpster, after all, and all of its contents. In many places dumpsters are specifically labeled to prohibit people picking stuff out of them. On the other hand, people also pay (by the pound) to dump the contents of dumpsters, and may be happy to have some of the contents removed. I'll be perfectly happy to discuss the ethics of this over a few beers sometime, but in a practical sense it does not interest me. If there's a bike out with the trash, or in the dumpster, I'll ask someone who's in the yard anyway; if there's no one to ask, I just take it.

Osiris, congratulations on your new bike! With a little work, it should be very nice. These bikes are not valuable, and you will not make a lot of money restoring it and flipping it. But they are great bikes, built to last more or less forever, and a lot of fun. There are lots of threads here about them; check out "for the love of English Three Speeds" or something like that. If you chose to get rid of it... well, there are plenty of people who will want it. Not me. I have enough bikes. What size is the frame?

If they're any good, we turn them into the police dept. , some people end up getting their bikes back. The junkers and frames get used as donors for the the local kids.

Orisis, Sorry, I re-read your post, the pic is not yours but what you want to do to it. The one you found is more original which lessens the chance it was stolen ( what punk would rist his badness to be seen cruising the streets of Lowell on a fendered Brititsh 3spd!) The make for a fun beaters or absolutley lovely restorations. I just hope someone isn't morning the loss of their ride.

I have a feeling the only person who would be mourning the loss of their bike is the same person who put it out on the side of the road. I found it while I was taking a drive through NH. This town I was in has pretty much no crime rate (I lived there for 7 yrs).
Thanks for the advice.
RHM its probably about a 50cm or so I haven't measured it yet. It is a little small for me but fits my wife perfectly and she is about 5'4"

Is Lowell close to Boston? I used to fix up old 3 speeds and sell them for $100-150, usually to people who drove up from Boston.

Yeah Lowell is about a half hour north west of Boston.

quoted for posterity