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3-speed Update

I have two working 3-speeds: a black, mostly-original 1962 Raleigh Sports, and an updated bike built from an olive-green 1972 Raleigh Sports frame and Sturmey-Archer AW rear hub. In the following sections, "before" shots are of my original 1962, and the "after" shots are of the updated machine.

General Notes

The Raleigh frames are very strong and tough, built with high-quality steel. However, they were not high-performance, precision fabricated machines; they were mass-produced utility bikes designed for long-term, dependible transportation. I'm assuming you'll want that same utility in your own updated 3-speed, and will choose proven, durable components over lightweight, high-performance ones. Luckily, if you're not too concerned about weight (and why would you be in a bike like this?), you can opt for less-expensive parts which will work quite well. (Generally you're paying for lighter weight in the more expensive bike parts.)

At the very least you'll probably want to upgrade the brakes and the rims. Virtually any modern brakes with modern alloy wheel rims will offer much better performance than the old Raleigh brakes with the original steel rims, particularly in the rain. However, deciding whether or not to upgrade the wheels to use modern alloy rims will affect the build-up of virtually the entire bike. If you do decide to upgrade the wheels, you'll have to rethink the front fork, headset, brakes and fenders. This is because modern front wheels have hubs which are wider than the old Raleigh models hubs, so you'll have to use a new fork which can accomodate the new front wheel. A new fork will require a new headset, and on and on.

Bear in mind that an upgraded 3-speed with new components will have a very different feel from the original machine. It will be smoother, lighter, and more stiff. If you swap out the fork, it will have different handling characteristics, too. You can (and may even have to) build the bike up with bigger wheels; these will bring the whole bike slightly higher off the ground, and could affect the fit and feel of the whole bike.

Also bear in mind that Raleigh used special threading throughout their bicycles, so if you want to upgrade your 3-speed with modern components, you need to think through carefully about what and how you will upgrade the parts. Generally, you'll use a mix of road, MTB and BMX parts.

UPDATE (August 2006): A few things have changed in the marketplace since I originally wrote this piece four years ago. The bottom bracket/crank story has gotten a little more grim, now that the Shimano UN72 cartridge bottom bracket has been discontinued. (See below.) This means you should save your original crank and chainring if at all possible. On the other hand, the 650b tire size has seen a resurgence, and as a result you have more options for rims and tires if you can't find viable replacements for the original 26 x 1-3/8" (650a) rims and tires. In addition, the availability of good long-reach caliper brakes (centerpull and sidepull) is improving. And if you can stick with the original frame, fork, headset, bottom bracket and crank, you'll still find huge advances in utility, durability, safety and weight reduction with new rims, tires and brake calipers.

Fork, Front Wheel, and Headset

The original Raleigh headset used loose (not caged or cartridge) ball bearings. If you want to keep the original front wheel and fork, you can easily rebuild the headset using new ball bearings.

If you want to upgrade the front wheel, you should consider replacing the fork with a modern road fork, which will have dropouts wide enough to accomodate the new axle. You can spread the original fork legs apart to accommodate a modern hub, but it's a tight fit with a modern road wheel, and best done by an experienced mechanic with the proper alignment tools. In addition, you'll have to enlarge the original fork's dropouts to accept a larger-diameter front axle. Luckily, replacement forks are readily available. Any quality steel replacement road fork with a 1-inch steerer tube will do; these generally cost around $30 (as of fall 2002).

Raleigh used their own threading for their fork and headset. The new fork doesn't use the same threading as the Raleigh fork, so the old Raleigh top headset bearing cup and locknut won't screw onto the new fork. You'll have to replace the headset along with the fork.

The specific type of headset (brand and model) is dependent on the type of replacement fork available. Though replacement forks use standard steerer tube threading, they come in a few different bottom cone dimensions; the bottom cone dimension will dictate the model of headset you can use. (I used a steel Shimano RSX headset, which comes with cartridge bearings, around $35).

If you do choose to upgrade the fork, you'll need to rethink the front brake. Standard road forks are meant for larger wheels, and the spacing between the wheel rim and the new fork's brake mounting hole will be different. In addition, changing the front fork will affect the geometry of the bike, which will affect its handling, mainly by bringing the bottom bracket up a little bit, bringing the center of gravity up, too.

Wheels

The following table shows the wheel rims used most commonly on today's bikes, arranged from smallest to largest. The Raleigh size is in here, too, for comparison.

If you want to keep the original Raleigh wheel size (26 x 1-3/8, AKA 650a), your choice of rim will be limited. Only one model of alloy rim is readily available in the US, the Sun-Ringle CR-18, and supplies of these in 650a are sporadic and limited. Sometimes they do a run of 36-hole rims (which would be a good replacement for later model Nottingham 3-speeds); sometimes they do a run of 32s and 40s (good for earlier machines).

Another option, now becoming more and more viable, is to use 650b rims. However, you may be limited to using a 36-hole hub with 650b rims. (However, 40-hole 650b rims may become available sometime after August 2006.)

The Raleigh frame will accommodate new 700c wheels, but you'll probably have to remove the old steel fenders, or upgrade to modern road fenders. In addition, the larger-diameter rims will require new brakes. However, you will have a MUCH larger selection of tires.

Most of the older Sturmey-Archer 3-speed hubs (up through the early 1970s) had 40 spoke holes. Your choice of 40-hole rims is limited (most modern wheels use 32 or 36 spokes), but there are some good 40-hole 700c rims available; these tend to be heavy-duty rims intended for tandem bikes. With a modern alloy rim and new stainless steel spokes (which are much stronger than the old nickel-plated spokes used in the original Raleigh wheels), you'll have a bombproof wheel when you're done.

Note that the S-A hub's flange is narrower than that on a modern alloy hub, and will require special washers during the build. (I used a 700c Sun-Ringle CR18 rim, about $35, and DT Swiss swaged spokes and brass washers, about $25 for the set.) I made the mistake of building up the entire bike, only to discover that my hub needed to be rebuilt. Oops. Be sure that your hub is in good working order; if not, consider a hub rebuild.

In addition, you should consider changing the rear cog. Original bikes came with 18- or 19-tooth cogs; a larger cog gives lower overall gearing throughout. I chose a 22-tooth rear cog (with a 46-tooth chainring, same as the original), which is better at the low speeds and on the occasional hills in and around Boston, and allows me to maintain a faster cadence. If I had stayed with the original cog, the end result would have been slightly higher gearing than on the original 26 x 1-3/8" wheel, because of the larger diameter of the new 700c wheel.

You can be more flexible with your choice of front wheel. With a new, standard road fork, you'll be able to use virtually any road wheel you want. You can either buy one off the shelf, use an extra one you may have lying around the basement, or build your own. (I built my own, using a new-old stock 36-hole Shimano 600 hub and a 36-hole, 700c Sun-Ringle CR18 rim.)

Brakes and Brake Levers

The original brakes were long-reach stamped steel calipers. Virtually any updated brakes are going to be better than the original ones, especially when combined with a set of alloy rims. In addition, the original levers are a bit flimsy, and don't offer very much leverage or travel. Mountain bike levers work better.

Brake calipers come in different dimensions to accommodate different rim sizes and brake bridge locations. This dimension (called "reach") is often stamped somewhere on the brake caliper, usually indicating a range between the upper and lower limit of the slot.

If you are keeping the original fork and retaining the 26 x 1-3/8 wheel size, try finding calipers with the same reach as the original calipers. If you're installing larger wheels, you'll need shorter-reach calipers.

Conventional sidepull calipers work well; Broadway Bike uses single-pivot sidepull calipers on their 3-speed conversions. I used center-pull alloy calipers fished out of their Land of Used Parts. I found that a Dia-Compe 630 worked in the back, and a Dia-Compe 750 in the front. (I installed a replacement fork meant for a 27-inch wheel; because the new fork is longer than the original, the caliper reach needed to be longer than would have been needed on an original Raleigh Sports fork.) If you do plan to use center-pull calipers, you'll need some additional hardware, including a pair of cable stops for the cable housings, and a pair of brake triangles for the straddle cables. Use short straddle cables for the calipers; these will require less lever travel than long straddle cables. (Sheldon Brown has a very thorough article on brake straddle cable lengths; though it deals specifically with cantelever brakes, the information applies to center-pull brakes as well.)

NOTE: If you do plan to replace your brake levers, make sure you get levers for caliper or cantilever brakes. V-brake levers pull too much cable to give adequate modulation. The brakes will feel like on/off switches.

UPDATE (December, 2007): Another option, though one I haven't tried, is to use the new Tektro R556 long-reach dual-pivot sidepull calipers. These have a reach of 55-73mm, and are shaped to accept fenders. They're available through Rivendell, as their "Silver" sidepulls. You should be able to special-order the Tektros through your local bike shop, too.

One reader reports that the stock front R556 doesn't fit in the Raleigh fork, due to the recessed brake nut design. (The R556 is designed for recessed mounting with an Allen nut, instead of the "conventional" hex nut on older bikes.) An extended recessed nut may work, but hasn't been tested. This would require drilling out the rear fork brake mounting hole to fit the newer-style Allen bolt. (See Sheldon Brown's piece about this.)

Bottom Bracket

Aaah. Here's where it gets fun.

The original bottom bracket spindle used loose ball bearings. If you needed to rebuild the spindle, you'd have to remove both crank arms and the left-side (adjustable) cup.

All the old Raleigh-style bikes used cottered cranks. The crank was fitted onto the bottom bracket spindle and secured with a cotter pin made from soft steel. These are a pain in the ass to work on, because you need a special cotter pin tool to remove or install a pin. In addition, every time you remove a crank, you need to use a new pin during installation. Getting the old pin out may be a chore in and of itself.

The old cottered crank and steel chainring. The cotter pin goes through the crank along a beveled edge of the bottom bracket spindle, and is secured with a nut on the other side.

You can keep the old assembly, or you can upgrade your bottom bracket to a new tapered-spindle type. Nearly all modern bottom brackets are cartridge-type: the spindle and its bearings are installed as a single unit. This makes installation and maintenence much easier. If the bottom bracket goes bad, you remove the old one and install a new one in its place. These bottom brackets come in different lengths to accommodate different cranks and frame geometries.

Unfortunately, while all the new bottom brackets use standard (also called "English") threading, Raleigh used its own threading. (Standard: 24 theads per inch (tpi); Raleigh: 26 tpi.) So you can't use the cups which came with the new bottom bracket cartridge. Fortunately, Phil Wood makes special cups for the new bottom brackets, threaded for Raleigh frames. These cost around $30, and come in a beautiful little gift box with their own little tube of thread locking compound.

Phil Wood cups, threaded for a Raleigh bottom bracket shell. They're beautifully machined parts, costing as much as the cartridge bottom bracket they secure.

You can't use the old crank arms on a new spindle, so you'll have to upgrade the crank arms and the chainring, too. This is a fairly worthwhile upgrade, though: modern alloy crank arms are generally much lighter and less prone to bending than the old steel cranks. (Unfortunately, you won't be able to use the cool chainring from the old setup.) If you are using a new tapered-spindle bottom bracket, any tapered-spindle cranks will work. However, you need to work out your crank/chainring/bottom bracket spindle combination fairly carefully. Choose the cranks and chainring first, then find a bottom bracket spindle with the correct width to place the chainring in line with the rear cog (this is known as "chain line"), without grinding into the frame's chainstay. (I used a pair of used Specialized cold-forged road cranks ($25 with chainrings) and a Shimano UN72 (Deore XT) mountain bike bottom bracket, about $30.) You'll get the best chain line if you mount the chainring to the inside of the crank spider, where the smaller (or middle) chainring normally goes. Because you won't be using the outside chainring, you'll need a set of short BMX-style chainring bolts to mount it to the crank.

A bottom bracket conversion can be a very involved job best tackled at a bike shop. (My bottom bracket upgrade took over three hours and a number of very special tools at Broadway Bike, and at one point required the combined efforts of two people to remove the original Raleigh fixed cup. Don't try this at home, folks.) Carefully think through your need for a new crank, and remember that you'll lose that cool old stamped chainring in the process. This upgrade alone could cost you a good $100 or more. However, the new crank assembly will be much lighter, smoother, and easier to maintain than the old one.

UPDATE (August 2006): The Shimano UN72 bottom-bracket has been discontinued. The replacement, the UN53 and UN73, have drive-side threads cut directly into a raised flange on the cartridge body, instead of a separate, knockaway cup. You won't be able to use a UNx3 cartridge in your 3-speed. So as of this writing, here are your options:

• Stick with the old crank.
• Install a new-old stock (NOS) UN72 with Phil cups.
• Install a Phil bottom bracket with Phil cups.
• Try an old cotterless crank spindle inside the original Nottingham cups. This will involve a lot of trial and error to get the correct combination of spindle length and bearing race pitch to work with your bottom bracket shell and your choice of crank arm. A copy of Sutherland's helps.
• Cut new 24tpi threads into the old hub shell and install a conventional cartridge bottom bracket. This is the most invasive solution; do this as a last resort.

Also, keep in mind that new cranks are a little longer than the originals. Longer cranks will bring the pedals closer to the ground, and lower your center of gravity, too. But the lower center of gravity with the longer cranks may also be negated by larger wheels and a new fork. In addition, you may experience more toe overlap (interference between your toes and the front wheel when making sharp, low-speed turns) with longer cranks, especially if they're coupled with larger wheels. All this stuff is interrelated.

Finishing Touches

To make it the ultimate city bike, you'll need fenders and a rack or basket. SKS fenders are the best fenders you'll ever find; they installed easily on the Sports frame, though I'm not sure I'd be able to use WTB Allterrainasaurus cyclecross tires (seen in the other photos) with the fenders. (As it is, the rear wheel doesn't fit in the dropout if the tire is already inflated.) Instead, I fitted Contenental Top Touring 2000s. These are great all-around tires.

I also added full reflectors, a water-bottle cage (mainly for my Cygolite) and new pedals with toe-straps, all found in the used parts area at Broadway Bike.

The finished bike in the snow: SKS fenders, Conti TT2000 tires, toe clips, reflecters and a Wahl basket.

How Does It Ride?

It's a very different bike from the original 3-speed. It's much stiffer, most likely due to the hand-built wheels and narrower tires. (My '62 seems to have a much more forgiving ride.) I was originally running it with an old saddle I'd fished out of Broadway's used parts bin, and it was murder. A gel saddle seems to have helped. (I would love to use a Brooks B67 with this bike, but I don't think it would fare well in the rain.) With the addition of SKS cyclecross fenders and a good rechargable light, this bike is a great winter ride.

I did a half-century on this bike, and it was a joy. With the cyclecross tires fitted, I was even able to do some trail riding; this setup is perfect for reasonably flat dirt trails, though obviously it's not well suited for real singletrack trail riding. With the TT2000s, it's the perfect all-around city bike. If the hills aren't too steep and long, the Sturmey and a 22-tooth cog are fine, though you'll spin out on the downhills fairly quickly. Still, if you're not too worried about making time, you can ride this bike all day with confidence.

It has become my preferred commuter bike, and I regularly ride it to work (30 miles round-trip). Once I built up this bike, I found myself riding it much more than my Bianchi road bike.

One thing has changed significantly: the handling and ride. The longer fork and larger wheels have brought the center of gravity up a little bit, making the bike a little less stable than my '62.

Additional Resources

Check out the following:

• English 3-speeds (Sheldon Brown)
• Sturmey-Archer info (Sheldon Brown)
• Transverse (straddle) brake cables (Sheldon Brown)
• Broadway Bicycle School
• The Broadway Bike
• Rivendell Bicycle Works (A good source of hard-to-find parts, including the new Silver long-reach brake calipers.)
• Sutherland's (The definitive bike shop manual.)

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