Dunelt 5 Speed

[Goldenrod]

Wow! Did I get taken to school. This is what it must have been like to sit with Plato as a teacher. Down in the dirt with antique art.

 

[juvela]

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Hello Oilit,

Have you done any more with this find?

Clean up? Use? New information?

Is gear block T.D. Cross?

Are wheel rims Dunlop?

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BTW - if you have an fun pictures of your feline overseers you might think about posting them to the "show us your cat" thread at The Lounge.

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[Oilit]

Juvela,
I still have this one, but it's still waiting for attention. The rims are Sturmey-Archer if memory serves, and I think the goop on the fender is pine tar. I haven't seen any Sturmey-Archer rims earlier than the '60's, and I wonder if these were made from the tooling the British Cycle Corp. used for the BCC rims, introduced just before the merger with Raleigh. The chrome isn't as good but the form is very similar. But aside from the timing, I haven't seen any hard evidence one way or the other, so it's just speculation for now.
I'll have to check the gear block and see what I can find out.
And I need to quit picking up projects and spend more time on the ones I already have!

 

[juvela]

And I need to quit picking up projects and spend more time on the ones I already have!

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Now there is a sentiment we all know only too well!

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Thanks very much for the additional information.

Evidently the wheels on these are 26" so I would expect the front spacing to be 89mm rather than the 100mm one usually encounters on a derailleur geared machine.

Would assume headset and bottom bracket thread to be 26TPI. Of course if shell is 71mm there is no need to check further...

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[SirMike1983]

By the time of this bike, the Raleigh/TI conglomerate owned the Sturmey Archer name and applied it to a variety of "house" type products. So it's not uncommon to see rims with the name. They're usually good, basic and utilitarian rims. They're heavy but they do the job. Wet condition braking stinks, but that's the nature of the beast.

The older generation of Raleigh and Dunlop rims from before 1960 were generally a bit better. The Dunlop Special Lightweights in particular were nice. The Raleigh "stainless" types with matte grey center ridge were nice too. Unfortunately the market for higher quality, steel rims gradually eroded as aluminum became the choice for higher performing bikes and steel was basically low-end or utilitarian.

 

[Allrounderco]

Are the wheels on these older 5 speeds 26" originally? My (much newer) Sprite has 27"s.

 

[SirMike1983]

The older ones had 26 x 1 3/8 (ISO 590) wheels. There was a 26" Sprite with S5 Sturmey hub, 26" Sprite with 5 speed derailler, and finally a 27" Sprite with derailler (usually seen as a 10-speed, but sometimes as a 5; sometimes you see "Sprite 27" as the model name). The S5 internal gear hub version is my favorite (especially if it's the 23 inch "tall" frame).

 

[Allrounderco]

The older ones had 26 x 1 3/8 (ISO 590) wheels. There was a 26" Sprite with S5 Sturmey hub, 26" Sprite with 5 speed derailler, and finally a 27" Sprite with derailler (usually seen as a 10-speed, but sometimes as a 5; sometimes you see "Sprite 27" as the model name). The S5 internal gear hub version is my favorite (especially if it's the 23 inch "tall" frame).

Thanks!

 

[Oilit]

There was also an earlier Sprite (late '50's? early '60's?) This example was recently on Facebook Marketplace in Dayton TN for $125.00. Unfortunately I was too slow, so the only pictures I have are the ones from the ad. But somebody got a smoking deal!

 

[juvela]

There was also an earlier Sprite (late '50's? early '60's?) This example was recently on Facebook Marketplace in Dayton TN for $125.00. Unfortunately I was too slow, so the only pictures I have are the ones from the ad. But somebody got a smoking deal!

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Thanks very much for gluing this in Oilit!

That Swallow alone is probably worth the price of the whole cycle.

With all of this renewed activity on the thread maybe we can encourage you to put the Dunelt on the front burner

PS - thanks for posting Bob, is that short for Roberta?

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