1958 Raleigh Sports

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Hi all - nice to be here. I've just bought this Raleigh Sports. It seems to be in complete, original condition except for a grey rubber cup on top of the battery pack. The Brooks saddle is like an armchair and the little emblem on the front mudguard is a beauty. I'll post more pictures when the bike is at least clean. It's rideable; it feels smooth, slow and heavy. Think yachting.

I'm going to enjoy getting it polished up and doing a bit of research on it. I'd like to make up something of a dossier on it, so if anyone has information on these machines, I'd be delighted to hear from them. I'm also keen to find anyone or anywhere that can supply bearings etc for this.

That looks lovely. I recently bought and cleaned up a Belgian bike of similar age for my girlfriend and it is very pleasing to look at.

Here are some possibly useful links:

http://www.theoldbicycleshowroom.co.uk/

This is handy because, among other things, they sell the brake blocks for the rod operated brakes on your bike (if you don't mind waiting for them to be sent to Australia).

http://sheldonbrown.com/retroraleighs/dating.html

There is a bit of info about old British bikes on Sheldon Brown's site, including this about dating different machines. Although I don't know if this would apply to your bike, depends if it was built in Australia or imported from the UK.

Have fun with the project.

Johnny

Thanks very much Johnny.

I know Sheldon Brown's site, but the other one will be useful.

I want to repack the bike's bearings, and I've found a site which more or less gives the imperial bearing sizes, among other things:

http://genetics.mgh.harvard.edu/hanczyc/engbike.html

I'm pretty sure the bike was imported. I'd like to find out a bit about its history, which I'll try to do through the previous owner. [/url]

double post - sorry, can't delete!

Beautiful bike! Such good lines.

I was just admiring your Yellow Peril on another thread...

Yes, it looks sort of solid and upright, like an old Triumph twin. It's so well made too. Almost everything looks engineered - turned or milled or whatever.

They were built to be an alternative to a car, I suppose, or the original design was. There seems to be very little wear, though the seat, pedals and grips seem to show it's done a few a few miles.

I've just got my 'new' bike home, ready to think what to do with it.



My wife doesn't believe that this strut is to support one's balls.

Wow! More images please. Love the mudguard emblem. I think the use of the term sports is a little optimistic! More a sedate tourer!

Sedate, yes, but think of the momentum you'd get up going downhill! I read on Sheldon Brown that the American models were shipped without the chainguard because there was a tax on bikes weighing over 40lbs (18kgs)!

They say that by the mid 20th century, the steel bicycle had been improved to the highest efficiency attained by a mechanical form of transport. The mid 50's is also supposed to be Raleigh's high point in manufacturing for longevity (certainly not for minimum weight, so excluding their racing bikes), and that this high point is represented by the Superbe and Sports models.

That's why I'm so glad to have found this one, and in the condition it's in. I'm not much of a photographher, but I'm thinking of enlarging a better shot of the crank and BB area (third pic from top in previous post). It's pure machine, an engineer's dream without a superfluous bit of metal.

GThe tyres as mentioned are Dunlop Roadsters, 'made in Malaya', not very worn. I think I'll take them off and put them aside.

I'm going to be very careful about restoring this bike. I certainly won't touch the paintwork. I might dab paint very carefully into the chipped areas, and I'll try cleaning the chrome with aluminium foil and Autosol.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Here are some more pics: