new addition

mrs just brought this home :roll:



was talking to a guy at work and said his dad had an old bike in a barn , so here it is

hub says its a 1955 . looks good enough condition generally but i dont intend poking at it this late in the day

rod pull brakes , ive had to work on these before and they are a hassle to say the least

superbe model but no key for the forks . rear rim is rusty as hell so might see what condition the SA is in ( no doubt unworn ) and get a rim and rebuild the wheel

dont know where its going to live , dont have enough space for the ones i have already :roll:

expecting you to get it like new :shock: :roll:

perry":1hdpbaru said:

dont know where its going to live , dont have enough space for the ones i have already :roll:

Click to expand...

grand union canal?

only kidding. cant beat a good freebie!

i take it the forks are locked in position then? can the lock be manipulated?

Nice find! 1955 was the best year in terms of the quality of Raleigh's output. All downhill from there!
I have a lot of NOS bits for these if you need anything.

forks arnt locked but would be nice to have had the key in there

im hoping to keep the original paint so itl never be immaculate or worth going for nos parts but ill probably need something or other when i get around to stripping it

just been looking at a pdf of the 1927 catalogue and im quite taken by the north road racer , bet they arnt easy to come by or cheap ive been wanting to get a raleigh of this age and use for some vintage style time trial but she brings home a ladies . oh well she had mentioned she wanted one

i used to work on a lot of these when i had the shop and even the ones in bad condition were in good condition . no doubt when i take the chain case off ill find a chainring with barely any wear and a nice chain

any idea what the tube is on the seat tube , it had wires going to it so i assume its part of the dynamo but ive never seen one before

That would be a Sturmey Archer Dynoluxe Standby battery. It keeps the lights going if you're not moving fast enough for the mighty 2.4w dynohub to light the way ahead. I was amazed first time I saw one of these, I thought Busch & Muller invented that in the 90s with the Dymotech.
If it's got no batteries in it it's worth a lot of money. If it's heavy, it will be full of D cells that have had 54 years to rust solid.
If you want to keep the rear hub and dynamo lighting, you will need a NOS rim, because they haven't been available in 40h drilling for many years. I also have a cheap AW hub in my for sale thread if you want to use a cheap modern rim (Rigida still make a 26x1 3/8 Westrick rim, which isn't quite right, but will at least keep you on the road).
You'll love this bike eventually. They're so nicely made, the attention to detail and quality is amazing. But good luck finding a pre war racing one; they are very rare and change hands for a lot of money when they come up.
My favourite bike is my 1949 Clubman, with my 1948 ladies Superbe only slightly behind it. Every current utility bike out there is a poor copy of it.

just found another catalogue that says what the tube is , i removed the clip at the bottom and tentatively stuck a finger up it and its empty , worth knowing

i have a spare SA hub but thanks for the offer , id like to try and keep the dynamo so i guess ill be trying to paint the rim black . front is stainless so i guess its been replaced at some point

Pleeease don't try to paint the rim black. It will look awful when you brake, and a bike like that deserves to be used.

Whats the date on the rear hub ?