Yes, show pictures as you progress, will be fun and educational!
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I'm working on restoring a 1954 Raleigh 3-speed. I just managed to removed the crank, chain, chainguard, and rear fender. I've also disassembled and reassembled the front dynamo-hub. Below are my observations. If anyone is interested, I could provide some pictures.
Chainguard: Might be nice for commuters, but a pain in the a$$ for a mechanic. This one fully encloses the chain, with a pop-off piece over the crank and an oil port. Bolts to the chainstay just behind the bottom bracket and near the dropout. Had to pry the rear sections apart to work the chainguard over the stays and off the frame.
Brake cables: I've never seen anything like this, but both ends of the cables have fixed lugs. The brake just has a slot for the lug to fit into - no fixing bolt, no way to adjust cable length other than the barrel adjuster. The cables must have come preset with the correct length wire and housing. There is no way to regrease these cables or change the housing. Sheldon Brown talks about these cables, and had some available not too long ago. I'll probably replace the brakes so I can use standard cables and housing.
Bottom Bracket: It's a little loose, but feels OK. There is an oil port in the BB shell. I'll pull it apart, replace the balls, and repack. The cups will loosen with a large crescent wrench, like a 1975 Raleigh Grand Prix. There is a lock ring on the left side, but not even a flange on the fixed cup side. I've already got a spare set of cotter pins.
Pedals: I haven't yet been able to get them off the crank arms. My 15 mm pedal wrench doesn't fit, but a 15 mm cone wrench does (poor tolerance on one of those tools). The two pedals are different and both in poor condition.
Rear Hub: A nice Sturmey-Archer in reasonable condition. Should be fun to take apart - I haven't played with one of those in 30 years.
Front Hub: Dynamo generator hub. Pulled it apart and saw the magnet - that thing is heavy, and it adds lots of drag. It generates current, but the bulb still won't light. May need a new lamp circuit (I think it converts AC to DC).
Rims and spokes need to be replaced. I haven't decided if I want to stay authentic or go for lighter weight parts.
The old Brooks saddle is stretched and cracked badly. Wouldn't be fun to ride on, as I'd be sitting on the metal frame.
Sturmey-Archer trigger shifter looks OK. I've got a spare cable I've had for 25 years.
Oil is good, grease is better.
2007 Peter Mooney w/S&S couplers/Terry Butterfly
1993 Bridgestone MB-3/Avocet O2 Air 40W
1980 Columbus Frame with 1970 Campy parts
1954 Raleigh 3-speed/Brooks B72
Yes, show pictures as you progress, will be fun and educational!
Could an old Brooks saddle be recovered???
i doubt it. once the integrity of the leather is gone (think old shoes with holes or old gloves) there isn't much you can do with it.
Hi DebW
It really sounds quite a challenge, be good to see some pics.
Oh yes, came across the following, not sure if it is the same:
Sally
Clock
Orange Clockwork - Limited Edition 1998
‘Enjoy your victories of each day'
The 3-speed coaster brake was the S3C hub. We used to see those in the shop in the 70s. I've got an AW hub, without coaster brake.
Further web investication reveals:
The S3C hub came out in 1970. Your poster looks older than that. There were a number of earlier 3-speed coaster brake hubs, such as the TCW in 1952 and the KC in 1922. The AW wide-range 3-speed that I've got came out in 1936. SA even made some fixed gear (non-freewheeling) multi-speed hubs.
Another oddity of my 3-speed: The trigger shifter is labeled "3 or 4 speed". It has a round window to show the gear setting: H, N, L, B
The double-ended cables on my 3-speed were used until 1966.
The full chaincase on my bike was supposedly discontinued for the US market in 1953. Either that date wasn't a firm change-over, or perhaps my bike was sold in England? The tapped hole on the right chain stay to secure the chaincase was continued for several years after the chaincase itself was no longer installed.
The 3-speed cable pulley is a clamp-on. By Sheldon Brown's table, it should have been a braze-on on my gent's frame, clamp-on for a lady's frame of the same year.
Last edited by DebW; 11-27-2006 at 07:44 AM.
Oil is good, grease is better.
2007 Peter Mooney w/S&S couplers/Terry Butterfly
1993 Bridgestone MB-3/Avocet O2 Air 40W
1980 Columbus Frame with 1970 Campy parts
1954 Raleigh 3-speed/Brooks B72
Lovely, lovely, lovely
Please post pictures and tell us stories
All you need is love...la-dee-da-dee-da...all you need is love!
OK, here are some pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't take a pic before I started dismanteling it. Here's its current state (and the state of my basement workbench):
The steel cottered crank, 44 teeth, and pedals and cotter pins:
The bottom bracket and spindle. You can see the notches for the cotter pins. Sorry for the mat on the floor - it makes the picture harder to decipher. I'll try to redo this one.
The chaincase. Normally the chainstay passes through the wide center opening. That tiny slit at the rear gets it on and off the chainstay. Chaincase attaches to the frame in 2 places. The round panel over the chainring pops off. The oblong opening in the round panel probably had a sliding cover at one time.
The front brake and fork. The center wire is from the generator hub. Note that the brake has no fixing bolt, just a lugged cable end that fits in the curled end of the caliper. Fork crown is a horizontal piece of pipe.
The rear brake after removal of caliper and cable from the bike. The two cable ends are part of one cable, and so is the barrel adjuster.
Last picture is the Brooks saddle. I think it says 72L but it's very hard to read.
That's all for now. I'll probably get some more photos eventually.
Oil is good, grease is better.
2007 Peter Mooney w/S&S couplers/Terry Butterfly
1993 Bridgestone MB-3/Avocet O2 Air 40W
1980 Columbus Frame with 1970 Campy parts
1954 Raleigh 3-speed/Brooks B72
hey did you try putting some leather treatment on that saddle? It looks like the top surface is cracked but maybe not all the way through?
Oil is good, grease is better.
2007 Peter Mooney w/S&S couplers/Terry Butterfly
1993 Bridgestone MB-3/Avocet O2 Air 40W
1980 Columbus Frame with 1970 Campy parts
1954 Raleigh 3-speed/Brooks B72
NEAT bike! Enjoy the rebuild, especially the SA hub. Never been brave enough to tackle one of those, myself....
All vintage, all the time.
Falcon Black Diamond
Gitane Tour de France
Kuwahara Sierra Grande MTB
Bianchi Super Grizzly MTB
The steel rims on this bike are very rusty and the spoke tension rather poor. So it will get rebuilt wheels. Needs 26 x 1 3/8 (590 mm) rims, 40 spoke rear, 32 spoke front. Sheldon Brown, bless his heart, stocks alloy rims in this size with 32, 36, and 40 holes. So I'll be making a pilgrimage to West Newton at some point. Not sure if I want to keep the front dynamo hub as is because it's really heavy and creates drag. I could just remove the magnet (it's like a 3 lb annular rock) or replace it with a non-dynamo hub or maybe look at modern dyanamo hubs.
The BB lock ring came off easily. Not so for the cups. I've sprayed on some Liquid Wrench and will try again later. This project is using lots of Liquid Wrench.
I'm definitely going to follow Popoki_Nui's instructions on rust treating this frame. Portions of the exterior are showing more rust than I'd like.
Last edited by DebW; 11-28-2006 at 09:41 AM.
Oil is good, grease is better.
2007 Peter Mooney w/S&S couplers/Terry Butterfly
1993 Bridgestone MB-3/Avocet O2 Air 40W
1980 Columbus Frame with 1970 Campy parts
1954 Raleigh 3-speed/Brooks B72
Do you have a chroming company near you? Just a thought, but if you wanted to keep the bike close to stock, you could have the rims re-chromed, and rebuild them with new spokes.
Liquid Wrench is a girl's best friend. Hope you can get the cups out with it. I usually try twice with LW; if that doesn't work I head for the torch. A little heat on the cups and a tap with a mallet does wonders.
All vintage, all the time.
Falcon Black Diamond
Gitane Tour de France
Kuwahara Sierra Grande MTB
Bianchi Super Grizzly MTB
I've always considered rims something that will wear out and need to be replaced, so I don't mind losing the originals for something lighter. Though if you ride on steel rims and get them banged up and dented, you can just take a hammer to them and straighten them out again.
Thanks for the advise. Hopefully I won't need the torch, but we'll see...
I may be asking your advise about dealing with the external rust. You do your own frame repainting, right?
Oil is good, grease is better.
2007 Peter Mooney w/S&S couplers/Terry Butterfly
1993 Bridgestone MB-3/Avocet O2 Air 40W
1980 Columbus Frame with 1970 Campy parts
1954 Raleigh 3-speed/Brooks B72
Here's an update. The 3-speed is down to bare frame except for the bottom bracket, which is quite frozen. Removing the stem required visegrips, as the stem bolt was very munged. Hope I can find a replacement stem bolt. This bike looks like it's never been disassembled for maintenance, but oiled regularly. The headset has cupped bearing surfaces to hold oil, so it was obviously intended for oil, but had some very old grease in there as well.
I've posted more pictures here:
http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r...&addtype=local
New pictures include: the funky vertical springs of the Brooks B72 saddle, a pic of the Sturmey Archer AW hub, more pics of the bottom bracket, the fork after removal, the bare frame with bottom bracket.
My best efforts with liquid wrench and a 12 inch crescent have failed to budge the bottom bracket. See picture below of my "through the frame" wrenching technique, which as the only way to get a good purchase on the narrow wrench flats of the cup. Next I'll be trying the torch, after getting some pointers from Popoki_Nui. Wish me luck.
Last edited by DebW; 02-23-2007 at 05:05 AM.
Oil is good, grease is better.
2007 Peter Mooney w/S&S couplers/Terry Butterfly
1993 Bridgestone MB-3/Avocet O2 Air 40W
1980 Columbus Frame with 1970 Campy parts
1954 Raleigh 3-speed/Brooks B72