What the heck is this?
 

Seller claims it is a Nottingham-made bike from the 70's. Has drum brakes front and rear. Can't see much from these cruddy pictures.

What the heck is going on with the top tube? It's bent in segments -not a smooth loop.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-s...s/s800/WTH.jpg

Any ideas? It's out of my knowledge base. I deal in Sports mainly.

It's from the later 70's but may be a Gazelle built bike.

Post 1982, and not made for the U.S. market. I have my money on a U.K. model, late 1980's.

-Kurt

Pretty neat bike! I'm going the second Gazelle-built opinion. I have a 1982 Dutch Raleigh Cameo but it has the smooth curved top tube.

Thanks Kurt.

I hope to see a better pic of the headbadge. I'm thinking it will have a bunch of xxxx's on it or some other name than Nottingham at the bottom. I've never seen a loop-framed bike with such weird bends in it. Did Gazelle make frames with similar abrupt bends in it?

Headbadge has "RALEIGH" in the italicized script as you'd find on the catalogs, with "NOTTNGHAM ENGLAND" below it. It's a thicker aluminum badge as with the Raleigh USA's.

EDIT: This one:

http://imagehost.vendio.com/a/351100..._lbSg__0_1.JPG

-Kurt

You have better eyes than me. I can't see much at all but the bird and something that might be Raleigh in red even when I blow the picture up. It's all pixelated.

I talked my friend into buying this bike.

Raleigh Courier -19" (there-abouts I didn't measure exactly)
700c wheelset w/drum brakes & steel rims
Alloy ST cranks, steel (non-heron) chainwheel (this could be a replacement.) BB looks really weird with strange black lockrings on both sides (I didn't take it apart to look inside)
Headbadge is exactly like the one Kurt posted above -glued, not rivited
Northroad bars
Alloy modern looking quill stem
looks like OEM bottle dyno and lights F&R
Lugged steel frame with sort of sloppy lug highligher paint that matches pinstriping so I think it was OEM. The paint is pretty good on the bike except for the sloppy lug highlights.

Neat bike. I can't wait to tear into it. I can't even find anything about the Raleigh Courier online. I've never seen anything like this.

is definitely a raleigh, probably the only headbadge that is recognisable to most people in britain

I'm pretty sure this bike is a UK or Euro-only model. I've never seen anything like it and can't find anything about it online -not even a picture of a similar bike. Searching Google Photos turns up a few hits on "Raleigh Courier" but they are all diamond-framed versions.

This is definitely a rare bike stateside. I bet my friend will be the only one riding one like it at the Chicago Tweed rides.

I dig that color. Would be a rare thing for a dutch build bike - not something Gazelle would have used themselves.

Type AB hub -I'll need to read up on that. Dated mid-1984. The rear brake seems really soft and lacks power. Is this a dry brake or a greased shoe? Shows how little I know about non-AW hubs. Feels like a dry shoe that got oil/grease in it. The front drum brake is much better but not up to the level it should be IMHO. Those are the first things I need to help her out on.

Yesterday we took off the rear wheel to swap tubes as the one that came with it had a pinch flat from hell that I tried 3 times to patch in a hurry (Never try to patch in a hurry) and failed three times to stop the leak. Getting the wheel back on was tricky with the full chaincase. Getting the chain not to rub on the case after putting it back together took 20 minutes of messing around.

What this bike really needs is a full strip-down, deep-cleaning and waxing the frame and all the components cleaned and/or OA dipped before a careful re-assemble. That includes the hubs as well. After that the bike will look and certainly ride like new.

For an old steel-framed bike with steel rims and drum brakes it's not all that heavy. Maybe 35-40lbs. The alloy cranks and stem really help. Putting alloy rims on , and maybe alloy Northroads, would save a few more pounds and make the bike seem a lot more lively. It's got a LOT of potential and that burgendy/wine paint is beautiful. It's very distinctive with that double-bent loop frame top tube.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-m...2/100_0136.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-9...2/100_0134.JPG

I'll try and get more pictures later.

my mum had one of these in the 80's.... Adult bikes in Engand were all racers with a few mad design's like this one; Then every maker went 90% on the kids market.... Choppers,Grifters(poss the 1st mountain-bike) and BMX's. God knows what happened to the bike???

Looks like this bike was originally sold in Germany.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-q...2/100_0137.JPG

When my friend asked the seller what size it was he said, "18-23." -um that's the type of steel the tubes are made of dude. Remember back in the day when bike makers used to brag that their frames were made of Hi-Ten? LOL

Looks like a ladies' Raleigh Wayfarer to me, but I could be wrong.

That's a German bicycle shop sticker underneath the tubing decal, FYI.

A 1984 hub already negates the American market; Nottingham products were out by 1983. It is U.K. spec., sold in Germany.

-Kurt

-Since 1878 no less.

What in the world is the silver "horseshoe" shaped thing over the fender? Some sort of propane powered rim deicer? Looks like a part off a Coleman Stove burner assembly.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-q...2/100_0137.JPG

Rear wheel lock?

Yes, it's a wheel lock like strok said. It's the standard Dutch type with the key that stays in it whenever it is unlocked. It works well. My friend locked it before I could stop her and I was glad that it didn't get stuck locked! I was going to oil it first. What a nightmare had it been froze up and moved just enough to lock but wouldn't unlock!

I was imagining needing to get the dremel tool out and spending 10-15 little cut-off disks carefully getting it back off without damaging the frame or the paint.

Well that is just two wild! I do see the key on the right of the photo. I would hate to leave a big ring of keys attached to that lock as I bounced over the cobblestones of some medieval village! Lucky the key is still present!

The key WILL NOT come out unless the lock is locked. It's designed to be that way. It's a physical impossibility to remove as long as the lock isn't locked or the cylinder isn't totally wore out. If you have other keys on a ring with it on there -well, that's another issue. the keychain can come apart and lose the other keys -or the lock cylinder will wear out and maybe fall right out or fail to move at all.

I see a lot of cars with this same issue as some people hang 4lbs of keys from their car ignition. It's no wonder they have issues down the road. It's money for the car mechanics! Whatever, it's their equipment to abuse.

If I had a bike with one of these types of locks I'd probably just remove it from the bike as they are a PITA and not very useful IMHO -especially in a city like Chicago. If you don't have a sturdy U-lock through the frame and the tires to a sturdy object you might as well just gift-wrap it for the thieves.

If I decided to keep it I'd be forced to actually USE it every time (or someone could lock it and take your key and you'd be stuck) so I'd put some sort of clip on it so I could clip it to my keyring whenever it was out of the lock so I wouldn't lose it. I actually do this with my motorcycle keys. I hate other keys on a motorcycle ignition for the reasons I outlined above. When I take it out I clip it to my other motorcycle keys (U-lock key, disk-lock key, Fagetaboutit Chain key, and key for the locking pannier trunks.) I lock my motorcycle up with 3 locks/chains inside my own locked garage. This is Chicago...

These kinds of locks are meant for short cafe stops, when you are sat outside watching the bike for example. Or for honest societies. They could also be a surprise second-tier security system and would at least make it more awkward for the scumbag to make off with the bike.

My friend's dad had one on his bike and used to use a carabiner on his keyring to attach the key.

That's why some people have an angle grinder here in the Netherlands, for when your own bike gets stolen and you "borrow" a replacement.

A mini carabiner works well for a keychain. I like to have keychain "babies' that have groups of keys that are used together but not very often. When I need that group I add it to my keychain cluster with the D-ring. When I'm not using them I don't carry around the extra keys. My motorcycle keys are one of those groups. My keys to my parent's house and friends's house up in Wisconsin are another. My wife goes so far as to remove her auto keys from the ring as she almost never drives. With this system one basically only carries their house keys they use every day and the ring of keys never becomes excessive.

Another method is the keychain quick-release system which is handy if you only have two clusters but if you have more groups than that the quick-release bits end up taking up nearly as much room on your keychain as one is saving. I currently use one of these quick-releases to connect the motorcycle ignition key to the rest of the motorcycle cluster -but use the D-ring system to attach that to my main keyring.