Raleigh Green Sport 3 Speed Green Goblin

The Green Goblin

This beautiful Raleigh 3 speed came to me in good shape. It had been in a garage for a long time.

With replacement tires, brake pads, cables and housings this bike was like new. 

It was named The Green Goblin by the owner and it really fits, celebrating not only the classic color but the sense of the ease of movement one experiences when you are lucky enough to have a bike like this, tuned and adjusted just for you.

The power train showcases the best of British engineering. Notice the subtle bird on the crank.

I always look at the pedals to how much a bike has been ridden.

These are rare pedals and are in beautiful shape.   

This is the big shallow market basket from Wald. Notice how it drops straight down from the bars.

I had to cut down the supports and redrill the hole so the basket would be strong enough to hold

 a case of beer.  

This is the first basket. See how the attachments to the bars comes straight out and the supports stick out. The basket is too deep and when it is inevitably overloaded it will shift, hit the fender and interfere with the front tire and brake. Experience taught me that.

Hercules 3 Speed

Another Bike Made by Raleigh

The IKEA Bike

A Schwinn Breeze Transformed

This bike was a fun design exercise. It was the first bike I completely repainted.

Originally it came from the Bike Hut so it was in good mechanical shape, but the paint was in bad shape.

The yellow grips were authentic, purchased new from Ebay. Those grips and the new women's seat truly finished the project. 

I thought I was finished with the project at this point, but I just could not sell it. Notice the original seat and grips are still on the bike.

I believe that the fabric of the bike should be respected and you should use as many orginial and/or authentic parts as possible. Unfortunately the cleaned up grips and seat were ugly.

The bike came to me intact, but the paint was in very bad shape. I was just going to paint it yellow, but my wife suggested making it more interesting. She was also the first person to call it the IKEA bike.

I traded the revamped Blue Schwinn Breeze for this Yellow Schwinn Breeze and the promise of future payment.

Blue Schwinn Breeze

The Second Schwinn Breeze

This Schwinn came from the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition. 

The paint was in pretty bad shape. The fenders were so bad I had to repaint them silver.

Yes, it has two different tires.

It came to me almost intact.

The handlebars are very wide. 

Unfortunately the harsh chemicals I used to restore the paint almost obliterated the graphics.

The last time I saw this bike it was being strapped to the top of a car on the way to Burning Man.

Raleigh Technium

A Different Raleigh

The Raleigh Technium has an aluminum frame made in the USA with Japanese components. The frame geometry and details say it's still a Raleigh, but you can tell it's different.  

The head badge is very red so I added the seat and the fantastic handlebar tape.

With the new brake hoods it is pleasant to ride.  

The Sekae crank needed some parts from Ebay.

It came from Ebay as a frame with most of the power train and the front fork (not pictured).   

Blue Nishiki

Justin's Japanese Raleigh

In college and just after, in the mid seventies I rode a second hand American Eagle that was really made by Nishiki. I beat that bike into the ground, but it never failed me. Finally I sold it to Peter who had badgered me to sell it to him for over a year by telling me how much he regretted selling his American Eagle.

An odd sales pitch, but an honest one.

It is a real street machine, comfortable to ride with a classic rack. 

My friend Justin told me about a Nishiki bike frame abandoned in his apartment building. He and I worked on it for a day. It was easy to come with all the missing pieces because all the Raleigh parts fit.  

Red Phillips 3 Speed

1967 Faded Red Phillips 3 Speed

Raleigh made bikes for many different companies.

This bike had several components with the Raleigh stamp. 

 The Sturmey Archer twist grip shifter is really easy to operate.

The Wald basket was new, but it could have come with the original.

Notice how the basket is connected  to the handlebars.

If the connectors come out at an angle the basket will shift down under a big load and

really mess up the tire. So, the shallower the basket the better.

The power train cleaned up nicely.

The crank is plain with a functional geometry. 

The bike came from Ebay and needed a lot of work.

Raleigh had unusual front fork designs for their bikes.

They did a special one for Phillips.