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What’s up with the duck?

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I have a Raleigh I cut up but I am keeping the 3 piece crank setup & the salvageable 3 speed S.Archer hub + levers for project parts. I hate the Raleigh Heron chain ring looks but I'll wall art it or repurpose it as somethin' cool. The pedals have a Geisha looking woman molded/stamped in them which is pretty cool. Some of these type bikes looked so fancy back in the days but most were utility purpose bikes as stated.
 
Raleigh pedals usually have the 'Sir Raleigh' logo on the rubber blocks, its the logo of the old Raleigh Industries.

The same logo was usually embossed in the stem and crank arms as well.

RI Logo.jpg


Raleigh Pedals.jpg
 
Raleigh pedals usually have the 'Sir Raleigh' logo on the rubber blocks, its the logo of the old Raleigh Industries.

The same logo was usually embossed in the stem and crank arms as well.

View attachment 1396265

View attachment 1396266
My bad. I have never looked at it via any magnification or historically in depth. Jus' quickly noticed it & was like that is kinda cool. The bike wasn't valuable nor worth that much effort to save but I bought it for like $25 or less to use for parts, repurposing metal & such. Thanks for the info & education lesson ;)
 
I just sold an Raleigh Sports ladies model here in fair condition for $200, it seems old English three speeds have a real following. There's a few listed on CL here for well over $200, and a few that were over $400 that went up, and came right down after only a few days.
Older the better seems to be the ticket, they made those bikes from the 30's up to the 80's.
The crank you have is earlier, they dropped some of the braces around the chain ring in the later models, and I think reflectors on pedals started in 1969 on those. Somewhere in the 1950's they changed to a 46t chainring too, yours looks like a 48 or 50t version. My guess is that those are 50's cranks. If the chrome is decent and the chain ring is good I'd list them on fleabay at around $40. The bottom bracket in those bikes is also all its own, with 28tpi threads and 72mm wide. The cups and crank axle, if they're still good, are also worth listing. So are early hubs, the Sturmey Archer rear hubs are dated with the month and year.
Early shifters are also hard to find in good shape. Any version without plastic is a decent find.

The general consensus is that the bike built prior to Raleigh being bought out by Tube Industries in 1960 were better bikes. Earlier frames have an oil port on the BB shell and most retain the boss for attaching an enclosed chaincase on the right chainstay just behind the BB shell.
 
Good enough for James Bond and the Beatles good enough for me .
I 've always made money on them and still have a Sprite that my great niece rides she loves it.
 
On the Raleigh Sports, the standard chainring through the late 1960s was 48t Herons with braces type. Other sizes existed, including 46t and 44t, depending on if a custom size was specified.

In 1973 you start to have the 46t without braces. A couple short-lived variations existed in the late 1960s/early 1970s as well. But the 48t braced and 46t unbraced are the most common ones you find today.

More detail available here:

 
I just sold an Raleigh Sports ladies model here in fair condition for $200, it seems old English three speeds have a real following. There's a few listed on CL here for well over $200, and a few that were over $400 that went up, and came right down after only a few days.
Older the better seems to be the ticket, they made those bikes from the 30's up to the 80's.
The crank you have is earlier, they dropped some of the braces around the chain ring in the later models, and I think reflectors on pedals started in 1969 on those. Somewhere in the 1950's they changed to a 46t chainring too, yours looks like a 48 or 50t version. My guess is that those are 50's cranks. If the chrome is decent and the chain ring is good I'd list them on fleabay at around $40. The bottom bracket in those bikes is also all its own, with 28tpi threads and 72mm wide. The cups and crank axle, if they're still good, are also worth listing. So are early hubs, the Sturmey Archer rear hubs are dated with the month and year.
Early shifters are also hard to find in good shape. Any version without plastic is a decent find.

The general consensus is that the bike built prior to Raleigh being bought out by Tube Industries in 1960 were better bikes. Earlier frames have an oil port on the BB shell and most retain the boss for attaching an enclosed chaincase on the right chainstay just behind the BB shell.
And if memory serves, there was a story about Sir Walter laying his (expensive) cloak across a muddy spot so a fair lady (Elizabeth I?) wouldn't have to get mud on her shoes. I think that's what the logo is supposed to show.
 
Here's a fellow local V-CC members 1901 Raleigh, complete with a lovely 'Sir Walter Raleigh' mascot atop the handlebars.....
20210422_210015.jpg


I've posted these images before, but I never tire of poring over the details of this Raleigh.
Not only does it feature 'twist-grip' operated brakes, but the end 6 inches of either side of the handlebars are internally sprung, and rotate, giving an inch of shock-absorbing movement at the handlebars ends.
Crazy, can you see the join where they rotate?
I couldn't.....
20210422_210031.jpg
 
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