Guess What...ANOTHER Rudge...but from 1952

[HARPO]

I seem to be a magnet for these bikes lately! This one comes from the original owners family, where the bike has sat in a shed for decades (hence the petrified tires). It has the locking fork and rear dyno (but missing all the good parts like the headlight) and most importantly...a men's frame!
Check out the way the fender braces are attached to the fenders. I've never seen this before (nor have I seen this burgandy color).

Anyway, I just got it home a little while ago, so tomorrow I'll look more closely at it. More info to come in the coming days!

 

[HARPO]

More photos...and the hub is dated 10 52.....year of my birth, but 4 months later...

 

[Oilit]

I've never seen fender stays attached like that before either, but then I've never seen a Rudge that old. When did Raleigh buy Rudge? Maybe that's a feature from before Raleigh took over. The bike looks straight and almost complete, pretty exceptional for one from the early '50's. It will be a beautiful machine when you get it finished.

 

[SirMike1983]

Those are the old type stays that thread on. The US market bikes eventually had the more familiar bent wire stays. Export models kept the old style stays later. I have an early 1960s bike with the thread on stays, but it is a Euro spec export model.

The full sized roadsters were imported into the US in relatively small numbers prior to the late 1960s compared to Sports models. I. The 1960s-70s, the DL1 bikes got imported more than earlier.

That is the classic Rudge color burgundy metallic but the paint has faded. It should clean up fine. Looks basically original to me to late 1952 or early 1953.

 

[HARPO]

What IS weird are the blackout components. I know that this was done during the War (I have a Columbia Sports with many components like that), but the bike is from 1952. The crank, along with SOME of the brake parts are black...the rest are chrome. Was even Raleigh using parts bin componetry to complete bikes?

And those tires...yikes! I MIGHT be able to peel them off, but if not, a hacksaw I will be using! So far I've been working on the paint and it's doing better than I would have hoped for. It's all been wiped down and then gone over with WD-40. I'm getting the brown paint off of the rear fender that was sprayed years ago and baked on crud on the rest of the bikes paint and chrome. It will a long time to get it all done, but I'm enjoying.

LOVE those screwed on fender braces. I'll probably never have another bike with them. Although that being said, I never thought I'd have found so many Rudge bikes in such a short period of time!

BTW.....I paid a whopping $40 for the bike......

 

[HARPO]

Another BEFORE photo from yesterday...

 

[dnc1]

Nice find.
I suppose that they may have been still using up wartime parts post-war in '52.
My Rudge 'special' has both a Rudge and a Raleigh frame number, probably restamped after Raleighs acquisition.
If you struggle finding a lighting set over there I have a set you may be interested in just gathering dust.
Shipping may be prohibitive though.

 

[Oilit]

What IS weird are the blackout components. I know that this was done during the War (I have a Columbia Sports with many components like that), but the bike is from 1952. The crank, along with SOME of the brake parts are black...the rest are chrome. Was even Raleigh using parts bin componetry to complete bikes?

And those tires...yikes! I MIGHT be able to peel them off, but if not, a hacksaw I will be using! So far I've been working on the paint and it's doing better than I would have hoped for. It's all been wiped down and then gone over with WD-40. I'm getting the brown paint off of the rear fender that was sprayed years ago and baked on crud on the rest of the bikes paint and chrome. It will a long time to get it all done, but I'm enjoying.

LOVE those screwed on fender braces. I'll probably never have another bike with them. Although that being said, I never thought I'd have found so many Rudge bikes in such a short period of time!

BTW.....I paid a whopping $40 for the bike......

$40 is a fair price. You'll be able to get more than that out of it after it's fixed up, but it's going to take some work to get it there, and you deserve something for your effort. A lot of old bikes I see are listed at full retail when there's still a lot of work needed, which the sellers evidently expect you to do for free.

 

[HARPO]

Nice find.
I suppose that they may have been still using up wartime parts post-war in '52.
My Rudge 'special' has both a Rudge and a Raleigh frame number, probably restamped after Raleighs acquisition.
If you struggle finding a lighting set over there I have a set you may be interested in just gathering dust.
Shipping may be prohibitive though.

Thanks for the offer anyway! You're probably right, though, about the shipping. I'm sure I'll find one here.

 

[HARPO]

$40 is a fair price. You'll be able to get more than that out of it after it's fixed up, but it's going to take some work to get it there, and you deserve something for your effort. A lot of old bikes I see are listed at full retail when there's still a lot of work needed, which the sellers evidently expect you to do for free.

This one will remain with me, especially since myself and the bike are the same age. Thankfully I'm in much better shape...