That’s “El-swick”, folks not “El-vis”… there has been some work going on since the previous assessment, piece by little piece. We are now waiting on some cotter pins and white rear brake cable outers to complete the work.
a sneak preview-not finished
This bike was never going to look new without replacing everything, and I’m not doing that for any old practical shopper ! Despite that, I like its quaint and homely look, and think it will be a useful alternative to the Dahon for short trips.
- a city slicker’s sticker
What I want is a fully maintained and preserved rust free bike with character – and everything else is secondary. So far it’s been 6 new spokes, a chain, a fibreglass patch kit (mudguards), some white shoe polish and a lot of rust converter and steel wool, with a can of “Rustguard” epoxy silver paint thrown in. And a lot of fiddling about …
What I call that silver is a “poor person’s re-chrome”. I’ll leave the expensive stuff for the next person, if they wish. I think you’ll agree though that it’s a big improvement, despite much detailing still to go.
I found two N.O.S. wheelchair tyres for $10 each at a local mobility store, co-incidentally the same as fitted. Patched 5 holes in one tube. A salvaged 19T rear cog should give near perfect gearing though the 16T original was still OK. I find that most 3-speeds are a little over-geared as sold, and can benefit from a reduction in final drive.
The dry Sturmey Archer AW rear hub was flooded with machine oil, spun regularly and excess oil allowed to drain for several days without the tyres and tubes – so they weren’t perished. The front hub was reassembled with new 3/16 ” bearings.
gears working, despite the past neglect-note also the dodgy looking weld…
I am thinking too that the 451mm (imperial 20″) wheels look more elegant on this bike than the more common 407mm (decimal 20″) with fatter tyres would have. The rear mudguard had to be patched up and the lower section cut away and replaced with a thick rubber stay, as it was so rusty.
well, it’s cheerful anyhow..
The original bell sounded like a pathetic toy, so I fitted a new “ding-dong”.
I am now looking forward to riding a fully laden shopper past Graceland at Christmas
… I hope it stays together !
That looks an awful lot like a Raleigh 20. I picked one up last year and enjoyed riding it through the summer. I was using 451 wheelchair tires, too!
I guess there were lots of this type of bike around back then. I wonder if Raleigh started the idea ?