I just bought some NOS fenders for a Raleigh Sports. They were recently removed from the factory wrapping. How this person ended up with 50 year old fenders is a good question to which I don't know the answer.

I am so impressed with this glossy black and white paint. It looks like I could lick it like an ice cream cone. No wonder the Raleighs were so well regarded in their day.

I think I might try some polishing compound on my 1962 Rudge. Maybe I can bring that luster back.

Post pictures or we will come and hurt you.



You should know better than this.

Haha, they needed somthing to distract buyers from looking at the not-so-hot lugs. I thought I read that the early Competitions and probably others were dipped in paint.... is there any truth to that? Is it even possible?

WAX,,,,,WAX,, WAX , & it seems like those old Raleighs will come back to life.

I thought I saw a mention somewhere that the black paint used on older Raleighs contained rubber.

When I polished up my 51' DL-1, the frame came out looking like a mirror. The fenders weren't as nice but this thing was a rusty old barn bike.

I do know better than this, but I'm pretty sure my cheap camera and my poor photographic skills can't capture it.

OK, I'll try. Please stand by.

Maybe they use something poison to get this finish. I'm amazed. Lead, maybe?

The reason I get this idea, is that John S Allen once told me that Sturmey Archer used to use cyanide hardening in its hubs but had to halt the practice because of the toxin.

I'd like to see them. The fenders on my Sports look much worse than the frame. I wonder if they used different paint?

Ah, you haters!

But let's be open minded - nope - I looked - my lugs all look ok. Although, in all seriousness, it's sometimes hard to see - the peeling paint and flaking chrome on all the Italians sometimes gets in my eye...

from what I understand that's how they used to paint VW bugs back in the day. They had a pool of paint they'd dip em in.

Don't see why they couldn't do it with bikes too. No waste in overspray

Haha! I can say it because 3 of my 4 bicycles are Raleighs! I love the darned things... I am even attracted to the low end turd models.

I've seen pictures of painting bikes, but I don't think it was Raleigh, it was Runwell I believe. Racks of frames going into a vat of paint all together, then into an oven. Ladies sand the frames lightly, and do it again. "Stove enameling" they call it.
It worked well with black paint, but not so much the colors. As colors came into vogue, the parts would get black as undercoat, and color over that. My '60 Hercules has black under flamboyant red.
Somewhere down the line that changed, I think. The bike boom frames don't have that quality of paint.

The idea that the black paint had rubber in it is a bit off, but not too. Carbon black is the same "blackening" agent going into rubber as paint.

I know - I was just trying to cut off certain Florida people before they chimed in...

haha, I figured... I was just goofing around.

Hmm... Florida people... Cobrabyte.. Miami Jim.... who could it be....

Sure, why not? Let us know how it tastes, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Seriously though, I had a '69 (Raleigh) Triumph, and the frame paint was spectacular; but the mudguards and chainguards had a much inferior finish. Same color, different paint or process.

Those are some super nice fenders Tom!

I've been coating my crusty 72 DL1 in oil and rubbing it off, over and over and over. In early treatments, my towel comes away black, and I don't think it's paint (but maybe, hopefully not). Later, I get brown stuff, probably rust from the rusty spots. Still later, the towels start coming away clean-ish.

Paint keeps looking better and better, though mostly when it still has some oil on it. Can't wait to finally use some paint stuff (e.g., Meguir's) and see how it comes out.

I've heard it was a technique similar to Japaning like they used to do on Stanley planes (wood planes, not air planes). I read up on it once, it was sorta like powdercoating but the powder was brushed on in a clear medium that evaporated instead of electrostaticaly blown on.
Can't recall where I heard that so it might not be very reliable.

Very funny, Rob.

OK, here come pictures...

Even the '70s fenders - when NOS - look unbelievably well finished. Unlike the '50s hardware, however, they don't last long like that unless they are pampered accordingly.

-Kurt

6:30pm

7:30pm..........................................Well, Conan is on in a few hours


Just playin' with ya, Tom

Happy Feast of the Flightless birds

I like Conan. Go Team COCO!

The rest of the pictures are here. As I thought, the pictures don't capture the luster. But as I said, I'm a bad photographer, and it's a cheap-ish camera, a Canon A610 with max of 5 megapixels.

Tom

I assissted jonwvara in a purchase of a coffee colored Mid 70's Raleigh Sprtite 27 that was in very pristine condition. The paint was like chocolate-so sweet! The finish on the Nottingham models was pretty consistantly excellent compared to almost anything from the Continent (excepting, maybe, Dutch bikes). I too, can see why they were always held in high regard.