Ältere Raleigh Fahrräder: Unterschied zwischen den Versionen

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     Older models had a braze-on with a tapped hole on the right chain stay, behind the chainwheel, to secure a full chaincase. For the U.S. market, the chaincase was not fitted after (1953?) to reduce weight, but the braze-on was continued until (?) even though the bikes came with a "hockey-stick" chainguard.

     Some later models had simple braze-ons on the seat tube and down tube to secure a "hockey-stick" chainguard.   

     Older models had forged front fork ends, which are 3-dimensional, and are round where they fit into the end of the fork blade. These fork ends are countersunk on the outer surface, to accommodate the old-style axle nuts which had a shoulder that fit through the washer. The shoulder provided secondary wheel retention.

     Later models had flat, stamped fork ends, fitted into domed and slotted fork blades.   

     Older models had rubber block pedals made in the Raleigh factory in Nottingham. Raleigh was the last bicycle maker to make its own pedals. They were very high quality, and were completely rebuildable. Raleigh used to even offer replacement rubber blocks. They came in two lengths, the longer size coming on gents' bicycles, the shorter on ladys' models.

     In the late 1960s, as a cost-cutting move, Raleigh fitted horrible cheap pedals that had no ball bearings. The version used on 3-speeds had an oval rubber platform. Later models had pedals made by other companies, notably Union. Although these often featured the Raleigh logo, they were not the same quality as the Nottingham models.   

     Older gent's models had a brazed-on fitting for a pulley, for the shift cable, on the underside of the seat lug.

     Latest models did not use pulleys, but ran housing all the way to the right chain stay.   

     Top line Raleighs generally came with Brooks leather saddles. The standard Sports models came with the B-72. Early Sports models, and the deluxe Superbe models, came with the B-66, which is similar, but has two large coil springs at the rear.

     Later models came with mattress saddles.   

     Older British bicycles in general used 32 spokes on the front wheel, 40 on the rear. The front would be laced cross 3, the rear, cross 4. This generally permitted the same length spokes to be used on both wheels.

     Later bicycles adopted the international standard 36/36 spoking, which made the front wheels heavier than necessary, and the rear wheels less strong than previously.   

     Raleigh used Dunlop tyres exclusively until [sometime in the late '60s]. Older models came with all-black tyres with a block tread. Later upper-end models (including the Sports) came with the Dunlop Sprite gum-wall, or, later, with the Nylon White Sprite, a blackwall with double white stripes running along the sidewall. Until the mid-60s, tyres used cotton canvas fabric. These tires were easily damaged by rim cuts if ridden underinflated. If the rubber became damaged so that moisture could get at the cotton carcass, the cotton would rot and the tyre would fail.

     This situation continued for several years, until the Japanese learned to make tyres that were even better than the old Dunlops.   

     Raleighs of the 50's and 60's came with Dunlop Airseal tubes, a premium grade inner tube with a fully-threaded valve stem and a knurled valve-retaining nut. The original valve caps were metal, and included a two prong valve wrench on the exposed end.

     The valve caps often had a short length of rubber tubing covering the valve wrench. This was to protect the inner tube from being punctured by the cap while it was rolled up, before it was installed on a bicycle.  

     Hubs with 2-piece indicator spindles, such as the AM, AC, ASC, FC, FM, FW and SW used a one-piece right nut, but without the viewing holes. These hubs used a special left nut that resembled the conventional right nut, but which lacked the rounded interior lip for the chain. These nuts were designed to protect the left end of the two-piece indicator spindle, and to allow visual adjustment by observing the position of the left end of the spindle against the end of the axle. A common cause of malfunction of these hubs is that people get the left and right nuts reversed, so the indicator chain hangs up on the sharp edge of the nut that belongs on the left.

     Older Raleighs, those with forged front drop outs, used a special axle nut with a narrow rounded section toward the hub. This rounded section fit through the axle washer, and into a recess of the forged drop out, to provide positive front wheel retention.

     Later Raleighs used conventional nuts, and provided a shoulder on the outer face of the cone for wheel retention. The stamped dropouts had a keyhole shaped axle opening, and the shoulder on the cone fit into the round part of the opening. Some years used plain hex nuts with separate flat washers, other years used track nuts, domed and decorated with a red "R" on the end.   

     Older Sturmey-Archer hubs used beautifully made forged serrated washers between the axle nut and the fork end. These older washers are easily identified by the knurled edges. These were used in conjunction with separate, stamped anti-rotation washers, which should go on the inside of the fork end.

     Later (and current) models use rather nice forged combination serrated/anti-rotation washers.   

     Sturmey-Archer's term for the clamp-on cable housing stop usually mounted on the top tube was "fulcrum." The fulcrum clamp held a separate sleeve which served as the socket for the cable. This was a sort of ferrule, with a flange on one end to keep it from sliding through the fulcrum clamp. It was slotted to facilitate cable installation, and had a flat side which rested against the frame tube. Earlier fulcrum sleeves were metal, later versions are plastic. This was one of the first Sturmey-Archer parts where plastic replaced metal.

     The metal ones last forever, but the plastic ones are easily crushed and ruined.

     Until fairly recently, all Sturmey-Archer hubs were designed for oil lubrication. An oil cap, or, in Sturmey-Archer terminology, a "lubricator" was set into the hub shell. The actual cap assembly screwed into a threaded hole in the shell.

     Tip:

     Installing a plastic lubricator into a hub can be quite tricky if you don't have the special tool. The special tool is a dull pencil, poked into the open lubricator. This will let you turn the lubricator to get it started into the threads.

     There have been several different shift controls over the years:

         During the wheelie bike craze in the 1960s, very large top-tube shifters were made, designed to look like the gear shift of a sports car.

     There are three common colors for older Raleighs: