Raleigh Sport 3 Speed
One of my most established hobbies is bicycles with an affinity to repairing and refurbishing them more than riding them. This is one of the Raleigh model made in their Nottingham England factory and the quality surpasses anything I have seen in a long time.
This bike belonged to my father that I remember as a kid in the late 60s and early 70s he and I would go up to the elementary school by our house and he would ride fast laps around the track for exercise and I would try to catch him on my 20" BMX bike. We had a blast.
My dad passed away in 2006 and before he left us he gave my his bicycle after it was pulled from the back of the garage. I cherished it and set out to restore it to the best condition I could. Surprisingly it needed very little work but for nostalgic reasons I tore it down to the frame, rebuilt the headset with all 50 tiny ball bearings, the bottom bracket and the front wheel hub. I just couldn't brave the Sturmey Archer three speed rear hub. I had rebuilt my share while working at University Bicycle Center http://ridingbicycles.com/index.cfm back in the day but remembered them being a real bear so I passed since it turned freely and had that classic click click coasting sound.
I found the original style gumwall tires from Niagara Cycle up in New York, http://www.niagaracycle.com great service and great price. I had to find a bike shop that knew what a crank cotter key was and then have one in stock at 9.5 mm. A few nuts and bolts from Ace hardware and that was about all I needed for new parts.
The finished product is below and it rides finer and smoother than any bike I've ridden and it's such a joy to work on even after almost 40 years I find myself adjusting things that really don't need to be adjusted!
