Vintage Bike Features

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Liddington

Über Member
Can anybody out there who is into vintage British bikes give me some idea when crank arms attached by cotter pins were phased out on mass production bikes? Also, when did rod operated brakes disappear?

Thanks
 

Gerry Attrick

Lincolnshire Mountain Rescue Consultant
At a rough guess, cotters started to disappear early eighties. I don't know about rod brakes as they disappeared when I was riding things with motors in them.
 

ASC1951

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
Rod brakes on adult bikes were disappearing when I started cycling in the early 60s. They lingered on children's bikes until at least the mid 70s.
 

Davidc

Guru
Location
Somerset UK
I had my first bought new bike when I was 11, in 1963. It was a sit up and beg Raleigh adults bike (I was 5' 8" with about a 28" leg so the bike size would have been to suit that) with straight handlebars, Sturmey 3 speed gears and cable brakes, so even if they were still using rods they were certainly also using cable by then. (Also steel rims so the mechanics were irrelevant in the wet, the brakes might as well have not been there.)

As for cotter pins - I missed out on their demise, as I had one bike from the mid 70s to mid 90s, and during that time they vanished from new bikes.
 

tyred

Squire
Location
Ireland
AFAIK, Raleigh still had the DL1-Tourist in their catalogue as recently as 1985 or 1986 and that had rod brakes. Rod braked roadsters are still manufactured in India and possibly Denmark. They are very low maintenance but they don't actually stop the bike very well. They also make wheel removal a PITA.
 
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Liddington

Über Member
Thanks to everyone who took the trouble to reply. From the variety of suggestions it seems that the answer isn't as straightforward as I had hoped. I will have to do a little more digging.
 
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