# 1948 Raleigh Dawn Tourist



## SirMike1983

I am rebuilding a 1948 Raleigh Dawn Tourist. The bicycle combines the Raleigh Sports/Superbe frame, 26 x 1-3/8 wheels, dunlop rims, and rod brakes. It's a hybrid of the 28 inch wheel roadsters and the 26 inch wheel Sports light roadsters. It's a 23 inch 'tall' frame.  I had to replace the fenders, but that was not too hard. I now have everything for this bike except the brake shoes, which I'll have to buy online. Hub is an AW with 1948 date code and the old-style, long arm handle bar shifter.


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## Gasbag

Nice! I don't see too many examples of the Dawn Tourist, they seem much more uncommon than the Superbe. Does your trigger use the crimped sleeve cable or the small barrel end?


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## SirMike1983

It takes a soldered disc end cable, similar to what some brakes now use, but with a smaller disc. The mounting is different from the later click shifters in that the cable slides way up and then is hooked into place so that the disc fits into a small, circular cut in the center of the shifter. Adjustment side is fixed length barrel. I am going to replace the cable  with a modified brake cable.


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## Dale Alan

I like it,that is going to be a real looker when you are done.


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## highship

what exactly are the differences between the superbe and the dawn tourist?


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## bulldog1935

the rod brakes are the biggest difference from the more common Superbe, and makes the bike totally cool.  Also, dyno lighting on the Superbe, and a different color from black.   In 1948, the Dawn Tourist was one step down form the Superbe Tourist - neither model continued for long, though the Superbe Sport continued as long as they were building bikes in Nottingham.
http://www.kurtkaminer.com/TH_raleigh_cat_us48.html


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## SirMike1983

Raleigh used confusingly similar names for all these little variations of bikes. Some people go by the model number, which the above catalog pages give you. We think of a Superbe as a particular model bike in the US, but the truth is that 'Superbe' tended to denote a deluxe version of a particular type of Raleigh model. It's not just one model bike, but a deluxe variation of almost any bike.

The 'Superbe' we see in the US is actually the Superbe Sports: a high-end version of the cable brake Raleigh Sports bike with 26 inch wheels.

The Dawn Tourist has the same frame and wheel size, but rod brakes.It's like if you built a Raleigh Sports but with rod brakes and a chain case.

The "Superbe Tourist" seen above is a high-end version of the DL-1 (sometimes called the Raleigh "Tourist") with 28 inch wheels and bolt-on seat stays. It's like a deluxe DL-1.


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## highship

good info, thanks.


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## SirMike1983

A couple 'primitive' accessories: the 'clunky' type Wald rear axle kickstand, and a 'wingnut' mount rear rack:

http://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/2016/05/primitive-accessories-1948-raleigh-dawn.html


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## Gasbag

I ran into the side stand clearance issue on my DL-1 and came up with a modification to allow using a Greenfield stand. If you are interested, let me know and I'll post details.


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## bulldog1935

I'll say it again, you can buy the original Pletscher kickstand (rather than the Greenfield copy) for about the same price.
http://www.thorusa.com/accessories/pletscher.htm 
They offer great hardware, as well - check the deluxe top plate, which saves your paint


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## SirMike1983

Sticking with the Wald for this one. The German ESGE stands from the 60s and 70s work well on the DL1 type bikes. I have one on my DL1.


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## bulldog1935

Pletscher is that kickstand, and is marked ESGE

I believe they're Swiss. 

The doubles are killer if you have a front-load hauler. 




also really handy for changing a flatted rear


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## SirMike1983

This project is nearly done. I do have the original pedals, which I need to clean up and re-mount. Right now I have some post-war German pedals on it (they're pretty good). 

http://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/2016/06/1948-raleigh-dawn-tourist.html



 

The biggest surprise of the day were the Indonesian Raleigh grips. I was expecting very cheap, thin rubber grips like the Thai ones. I was very surprised at heavy-duty and well-made the Indonesian Raleigh grips are. I also got a set of rubber Doverite-style grips. Those too were very well-made. 



 

These pictures are from my cell phone, so hopefully I can get some better ones later.


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## Dale Alan

Looking good,I really like that one .I have a few with those grips,they really are  good quality grip .I found a big box of them,ended up on all kinds of bikes.


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## SirMike1983

98% done- just a few little cosmetic items left. It's a nice riding bike.

http://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/2016/06/1948-raleigh-dawn-tourist-on-road.html


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## SirMike1983




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## SirMike1983

A little talk about vintage, Miller 'bottle' generators and traditional lights:

http://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/2016/06/miller-generator-set-and-lights.html


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## Awhipple

Very cool bike!


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## neighbor

Here's the ladies model, same year.


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## neighbor

And a '39 Dawn Safety Tourist with roadster frame and Westwood rims


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## SirMike1983

You've done well locating those early bikes. The Northeast, and particularly New England, was a hotbed for the importation of English bikes back in the early days. In fact the importation of Raleighs very early on was virtually a one-man operation run by Hamilton Osgood in his house in Boston. Osgood was educated in England before WW2 and became hooked on the English bikes. He asked Raleigh if they had any interest in sending bikes to America for sale and they replied they had none. He took it upon himself to buy the bikes and import them himself. This started as him assembling bikes in his house and selling them. There indeed was a market in Boston and in the northeast US for the bikes, and he eventually moved into bigger business quarters in Boston. Eventually this developed into a much larger business and the Raleigh company became more involved. This was sort of the start of Raleigh in the USA as we know it, going back to the 1930s.


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## cudak888

bulldog1935 said:


> the rod brakes are the biggest difference from the more common Superbe, and makes the bike totally cool.  Also, dyno lighting on the Superbe, and a different color from black.   In 1948, the Dawn Tourist was one step down form the Superbe Tourist - neither model continued for long, though the Superbe Sport continued as long as they were building bikes in Nottingham.
> http://www.kurtkaminer.com/TH_raleigh_cat_us48.html




Sorry to bump up a thread from 2016, but after running into this result on a Google search, I thought I'd share a bit of clarity regarding the model names for anyone else who might wind up seeing this later on as well.

Until the late-1950s - pretty much just before the TI takeover - there was a rough method to the madness that was Raleigh's naming convention, as follows:

*Dawn* = Rod brakes
*Sports *= Cable brakes (with exception to Raleigh Model 10, _Sports Roadster_)
*Light* = No chaincase
*Safety* = Slack frame geometry (in other words, safety as in no need to dismount for lights - the slack tube allows a rider to put both feet on the ground and still have the saddle at an optimum height).
*Tourist* = Fitted with full chaincase (_*or*_ Raleigh Model 21 _Tourist_)
*Superbe* = Green enamel w/double box lining in gold, dynohub included, (usually in the rear, unlike an add-on to other frames, and usually an AG unless someone sprung for a 4-speed), and stainless rims for a short period of time in the mid-1950's (I've forgotten the range of years off the top of my head).

Of course, this naming convention went out the window by the 1960's, when the lineup basically got broken down into:

*Sports* = Diamond-frame EA3 (26x1-3/8") frameset with conventional geometry
*Sprite* = Originally a Sports with a 5-speed, then a Sports with 5 or 10-speed derailer drivetrains instead of a Sturmey IGH, then a version of the Sports made to fit 27" rims and box section fenders (retaining the derailers), and finally the 27" bike available as either derailer or IGH w/a 3-speed Sturmey AW
*Superbe* = Same as Sports, but with front Dynohub and lighting, 5-speed S5/S5-2 Sturmey IGH some years
*Tourist =* 28" wheels, slack angles, and rod brakes

It makes sense if you've had a chance to see all of these bikes and where they fit per catalog. Otherwise...it's a mess 

Let's not forget that the UK also had variations in the late 1970's and 1980's that played havoc with this convention. There was a Superbe that was basically a 1970's clone of the 1950's Dawn Superbe Tourist - rod brakes, green paint, chaincase - and there was the Royal Roadster as well, another attempt to do a rod-brake machine.

The Dutch and a few other markets also wound up with bikes badged Raleigh Sports with 27" wheels and a few had loop-frame rod brake bikes with 26" rims. If you can imagine some weird variant, chances are it was once made in one market or another.

-Kurt


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