My 50's Raleigh Roadster

[biggs682]

Fitted some new schwalbe tyres early this morning to this old girl .

So tonight I decided it was time to go for a test ride so of we went found at least 6 of the 8 gears and I think an adjustment of lever position will find the other 2 .

Nice smooth ride at up to 18 mph on local empty cycle path made a good impression on me. But what surprised me was the weight at just over 15 kg .

Need to try and reposition the guards to loose some of the gap but all in all I am impressed.

 

[Daddybus]

Very smart..

 

[biggs682]

Well I am loving this bike such a great ride .

And loving the little details on some of the components.

View attachment 125538

Especially the rear lamp and mechanism.

The alloy rims help keeping some of the weight down and along with koolstop pads actually allow for semi decent braking to be achieved.

 

[Andrew1971]

That's a very smart bike.

 

[biggs682]

That's a very smart bike.

why thank you @Andrew1971

 

[biggs682]

bit of an update i swapped the bar and stem combo for a slightly longer one and clipped the cables a bit tidier then lost some of the gears in the process and no amount of fiddling got them all back .

so thought i would let the pro's have a go , so sent the old girl in for a rear hub overhaul and some fresh grease on all the bearings . It seems that my left-side ballcup is one of the earlier fingered type and it’s quite common for some of the fingers to break off and rattle around inside . The bike shop found 5 pieces of fingers broken off, these have been removed and all the innards have been cleaned and checked then the whole lot was re assembled and adjusted correctly and hey presto I have 4 hub gears and 2 rear mechanism operated gears again .

so if anybody can advise where i can get a solid left side ball cup rather than a fingered one please let me know .

Anyway i went for a 3 mile test ride and so far so good .

 

[biggs682]

Just got back from doing one of my normal pre work 12 mile circular rides on the old roadster , its first time doing such a ride as all previous rides have avoided hills , must say we never missed a beat ran smoothly and even averaged 15 mph all the way round and that include a good miles into a headwind but strangely never felt a tail wind .

The 100 mile test has been and gone on this one so its a keeper till i find a similar age bike with more originality

 

[shadaboot27]

Just got back from doing one of my normal pre work 12 mile circular rides on the old roadster , its first time doing such a ride as all previous rides have avoided hills , must say we never missed a beat ran smoothly and even averaged 15 mph all the way round and that include a good miles into a headwind but strangely never felt a tail wind .

The 100 mile test has been and gone on this one so its a keeper till i find a similar age bike with more originality

I'm selling my Lenton Sports, along with all my other bikes. I will have it all listed on ebay by the end of the day.

 

[biggs682]

I'm selling my Lenton Sports, along with all my other bikes. I will have it all listed on ebay by the end of the day.

Lenton sports looks nice message me a price please @shadaboot27

 

[shadaboot27]

Lenton sports looks nice message me a price please @shadaboot27

I've listed it now so I think I will let the auction run. If your interested Good luck with the bidding! Id love to see it stay alive on this forum

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/uk-vintag...ame=STRK:MESE:IT&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

 

[biggs682]

I've listed it now so I think I will let the auction run. If your interested Good luck with the bidding! Id love to see it stay alive on this forum

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/uk-vintage-cycles/m.html?item=142009149055&ssPageName=STRK:MESET&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

ok

 

[Spokesmann]

Some fantastic machines in here...

 

[biggs682]

cracking 18 mile ride tonight on this old girl whilst my buddy was on his new Forme road bike roads a bit damp but we managed to maintain a 14+ mph average all without any issues .

Really enjoying the bike almost as much as some of my retro road bikes and in fact more so than some of them

 

[biggs682]

Bit of an update on this one. A couple of weeks I go I lost 4th gear totally and 3rd started to skip .

So I have a 40 hole Campagnolo hub that I thought I would ask my lbs to build in to existing rim in either single or geared mode .

Just been down to collect it and to my surprise they have supplied a 1967 dated aw 3speed hub that they have stripped-down and rebuilt into the existing rim as the hub I supplied wouldn't fit in the rear drop outs without modifications.

So it's now a 6 speed set up and all done for under £30

 

[raleighnut]

Bit of an update on this one. A couple of weeks I go I lost 4th gear totally and 3rd started to skip .

View attachment 146054

So I have a 40 hole Campagnolo hub that I thought I would ask my lbs to build in to existing rim in either single or geared mode .

Just been down to collect it and to my surprise they have supplied a 1967 dated aw 3speed hub that they have stripped-down and rebuilt into the existing rim as the hub I supplied wouldn't fit in the rear drop outs without modifications.

So it's now a 6 speed set up and all done for under £30

View attachment 146055

Cool