My Raleigh is no longer for sale.

barry2017

Old School Grand Master
It's never worked properly, but I've finally got it rideable and today I went out for a few trouble free miles. God, what a machine. Really turns heads, fast and very, very comfy. I could spend all day riding this.

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EXcellent

Hi Chris
That looks really cool! Stylish even. The bars look like they would be good on a long ride.
More info?

Cheers
Jamie
 
They're ordinary North Road bars as fitted to old roadsters, only mounted upside down.
The bike was built in 1949 it would have had Raleigh's own drop bar, but I like these (and the drops are quite rare). I really think your hands should face inwards when you go up hills, and a north road shape is good for that.
Also not stock is the B66 saddle. It ought to have a B5N, which is much narrower and shorter than anything they make anymore. It has the wrong wheels too, 26 x 1 3/8 as opposed to 26 x 1 /4, neither of which are the same size rim as a 26" mountain bikes. It has a 3 speed hub as opposed to the 4 speed it had originally, and it had a dynamo hub and built in dynamo lighting too.
The frame's Reynolds 531, pencil stays and a really weird saddlebag support. A previous owner brush painted it, unfortunately, but it's all solid, and you can still see bits of the original pearlescent green underneath.
The plan is to ride it around this summer, and if I get on with it I will probably do a period restoration. Looks good now, though, and it is great to ride, although the gearing's extremely high.
This is it side on. Love those slack angles:
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Thats an absolute beauty.

I built an elswick hopper up like that with the upside down north road bars once, felt quite good but bike was too small for me. I also had a Raleigh 3spd roadster for over a decade I got when I was 14.

Currently in my shed sits a Rudge Whitworth Roadster frame circa 1950 and a 5spd SA hub plus some drum brakes. Your build might cause a future project of my own ;)
 
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