English Cycles Range rider refurbishment.

I have owned an English Cycles Range rider since 1989 and wish to know what wheel size it was originally built for. The frame number begins with 'RR' followed by three numbers. I had 559 wheels on the bike and have now graduated to 700c which looks right, but was it originally built for 650B?. The paint finish is the original finish in dark grey/almost black and appears to be a cellulose top-coat over a powder-coated base finish for durability. I say original as the head tube and down tube stickers are still intact. There is a Hakkapelita sticker on the top tube but as that company made both 650b and 700c tyres that would be no pointer to wheel size. The bike is currently undergoing a light refurbishment including new chainguards.

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Interested to hear about your English Cycles Range Rider , it would be good to know the bikes full specification when you purchased it .
This would help in dating/placing it in the Geoff Apps/Cleland time line . What does it say on the down tube stickers ?

I have no doubt that GJW will be on your case soon

A photo would be a great help

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Thanks for the reply. I have a picture taken before the refurbishment. The frame number is RR followed by a 3 figure number. The wheels in the picture are 700c.

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Thanks for the fantastic photo !

Its really interesting to see this bike and it would be even more interesting to know its frame number ? so that
it can find its place in the Apps/Cleland/Range Rider/Jeremy Torr timeline

It was almost certainly fitted with 700c wheels from the start , laced to a Leleu hub brake at the front , and
a Sturmey Archer hub brake at the rear . However the rear brake reaction arm looks a bit strange ?

I would have expected the front and rear mechs to have been Shimano Deerheads ? also the TA Cyclotouriste
Chainset to be run as a triple with the outer ring used as a bash guard ( with the teeth removed )

What are you planning to refurbish ? it looks to have a nice original finish in quite good condition for 40+ years

I may have a spare used middle chainring should you be interested ?

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I'm keeping the paint original as the powder coating is in quite good condition apart from where the chain has bashed against the chainstay. Thanks for the offer of the middle chainring. Do you have a price in mind for the chainring or are you up for any swaps?. I will post some updated pictures of the bike as soon as it's finished

The TA Chainset on my Cleland is 26T/43T/52 (plain ring) I will pm you about the midddle ring

Is the chainstay straight or curved near the tyre ?

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This is bloody lovely cheif

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This is bloody lovely cheif

focomat 1c":28pl5s1f said:

The TA Chainset on my Cleland is 26T/43T/52 (plain ring) I will pm you about the midddle ring

Is the chainstay straight or curved near the tyre ?

Click to expand...

The chainstay is curved near the rear tyre.

Hello hedgesteeper, and thanks focomat 1c.for flagging this up to me

It's great to see this bike and in particular the fact that it is still fitted with a Leleu drum-brake at least on the front. The presence of this brake indicates that this is an early model because later models were fitted with Sturmey Archer Elite drums. The SA Elite brakes first appeared for sale in 1985, though I don't know without further research when English Cycles started to use them. My guess would be that this bike dates from somewhere between 1983 and 1986. The width of the front hub flanges or a picture of the brake from the front would help to date the bike more precisely.

If it has Hakka stickers then the original tyres were most probably 650x54b. 26" Hakkapeliittas were never made and I have not heard of an English Cycles Range-Rider being originally fitted with 700c wheels. However, next time I contact Jeremy Torr I will ask him whether if he ever fitted that size.

Originally the 650b bikes used Super Champion rims which were not the strongest of rims and might have been damaged and then replaced by 700c. Alternatively, its owners might have found it difficult to find replacement tyres and so changed to a 700c because that size was commonly used on hybrid bikes from 1985 onwards.

The Leleu brakes though crudely constructed are easy to maintain and have a patented self-centering mechanism that mimics way that hydraulic drum-brakes function. They brake more powerfully than the SA's and are not effected by the build up of dust and uneven shoe wear that can hamper the SA's