Ta-da! It is a 1972 Raleigh-built Phillips 3-speed, bought from the original owner, with all original parts. It looks an awful lot like Mary Poppins, except not a loop-frame and 26-inch wheels. I gave it a quick wipe-down with Simple Green and a little spray wax today, lubed the chain, and took some photos.
Ok, not all original parts. But this is easy to replace.
Headbadge.
Decals on seat tube.
Top tube decal.
Bottom tube decal.
Decal and Fairylites reflector on rear fender.
Chainguard, Raleigh-offlabel-from-Phillips-pattern chainwheel, cottered cranks, chromed solid pedals.
The chainwheel and everything else was ridiculously clean.
I think this was ridden only only Sundays by the baba I bought it from.
Notice the interesting change to the fork design. Pretty! Yes, all the pinstriping is this pristine.
Raleigh stamp on gooseneck.
Sturmey-Archer 3-speed trigger shifter and rubber grips. With bonus cute doggy action.
The Raleigh stamp is the only mark on the front hub.
What? I got tired of cleaning, okay?
Sturmey-Archer wheel rims.
The Raleigh Record tires are most likely original. They're pretty dry.
That's one end of the cloth (cloth!) rim tape you can see poking out,
from when I was investigating the flat front tire.
The rest of the writing on the tire says:
MADE IN HOLLAND
55 LBS/IN^2 - 3.8 ATM
37-590 (26 x 1 3/8)
Pretty chrome fender nose.
I am a bit concerned about this small tear in the rear tire, but it has held air overnight.
Sturdy aluminum kickstand marked REG Italy.
Notice the plastic gasket between the top plate of the kickstand and the frame - smart!
All in all, a great bike in amazing shape. It seems to shift smoothly and the bottom bracket doesn't feel gritty. A few little dings here and there but really in fantastic shape and largely rust-free. She does have some scratches that suggest she once had a rear rack (probably a Pletscher-style rattrap rack). Oddly, no serial number stamped in the frame that I could find. Needs a bell and the front flat fixed then she'll be ready to ride!
Sweet bike! That tire is kind of scary, though. If you don't replace it before anyone rides it, at least boot the tire so the ride doesn't end with a bang.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely replace the tires. The fork pattern was also used on the Dunelt bikes, another bike that was absorbed and sold by Raleigh.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful bike in beautiful shape.
Aaron
What a fabulous find!! And it's in great shape.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen that exact fork crown design before, very interesting!
ReplyDelete@Velouria & @2whls3spds - Yes, the fork crown is really unusual! It seems, when you read the 1960s-early 1970s catalogues, like Raleigh dealers were able to choose from a range of parts with slightly different designs (presumably from different marques that were bought up by TI) for assembling the Raleigh-built offlabels.
ReplyDelete@evillerider & @2whls3spds - Thank you SO MUCH for the tire advice! I have kept it safely in the garage and now have a set of new (white!) tires to put on it. Coreen, see you at EBC on Sunday? And you can explain what "booting" a tire is then (I'm guessing it's some kind of heavy-duty patch?).