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New bike for me!

stevec67 said:
16kg? Jesus. It's an hgv!

For grime removal I use a radiator brush, bought cheap, with a long handle, and some petrol or paraffin. With a drop of oil if you wish. Brush it on, the grime dissolves. Done. Polish it with a rag when done.
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Dear Steve,

I have paraffin here, and used a little bit to attempt a first cleaning effort on a tiny patch near the steering tube, where the grim is rather thick!

Underneath is lovely original enamel.

It will clean up very nicely.

I rode it round the block earlier, and it is a charmer in a sort of cruiser way like a Rover P4 [60, 75, 90] from the early fifties! Stable safe-handling bike with no aspiration to exceed 15 mph, which is fine as that is the legal limit for electric assist.

The weight is battleship style, but adding more for electrification will not spoil what is already a heavy-weight. I guess that it will end up on Schwalbe Marathons, as rolling-resistance will hardly be a significant issue.

The damage to the enamel is inevitable on a fifty year old bike, but nothing that spoils the bike, or has deteriorated to any serious degree. It does not need repainting. Apart from the fact that it has subtle light blue pin-strips on the mudguards, and gold ones painted on the chain-guard and frame, it is clear that this is real paint not decals, and done by hand. That would be hard to replicate at any kind of expense I could afford.

Once one spends silly money on a paint-job, one fears to use the bike as a daily, and this one will definitely be a very nice daily.

As a survivor, I intend to keep it as original as possible, and any electrification work will be totally reversible. This rules out a rear motor as the Sturmey Archer three speed hub is intrinsic to the concept of the bike's concept.

But the forks were certainly made by engineers who worked in the tradition that produced "HMS Hood" so there is no doubting that in normal use it will handle 250 Watts of motor without folding!

I am very pleased to rescue this old classic from living outside till it becomes another wreck, ready for landfill.

Best wishes from George
 
slavedata said:
What was wrong with the Swytch? I've just got mine after waiting nearly 6 months and so far it is very good. What happened with yours?
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Lucky you - I ordered a Swytch kit back in February 2021 and still waiting for delivery in mid october ! The ship carrying the container landed in Vancouver back in July. They must be walking the kit across Canada to Toronto.
Hopefully it arrives before the winter snow - I usually change over to the "City Bikes" for winter.
 
Operajulian said:
Lucky you - I ordered a Swytch kit back in February 2021 and still waiting for delivery in mid october ! The ship carrying the container landed in Vancouver back in July. They must be walking the kit across Canada to Toronto.
Hopefully it arrives before the winter snow - I usually change over to the "City Bikes" for winter.
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I had to harangue and pursue Swytch support after my kit had landed to finally get delivery. The report from Swytch logistics would update every day pushing the delivery date back and back. I queried this and they admitted a software glitch and promised to release my package to their courier, 7 days later it finally arrived.
 
Well surprise surprise - the swytch kit was on my neighbours porch when I got back home last night.
It took me about an hour and a half to fit it all onto my hybrid touring bike and that included the brake sensors and thumb throttle.
Luckily I did put it on charge last night - so I am heading out for a test spin.
Fingers crossed.
Julian

Evening update: Well it goes - so I must have done the cadence sensor and all the cables correctly ! I had to change the brake-shifter on the right side a bit to create space for the thumb throttle and not prevent the gear shifter from caching it - but so far so good.
I let an equally sized height neighbour have a go and he thought it was great.
 
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foxwelljsly said:
Nice bike, you will always need another.
Bout
crashed my MTB and broke my arm yesterday. No cycling for me for a while.
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Ha, that’s nothing! I broke number two( hangman’s vertebrae) and was completely paralysed for about thirty seconds. Fortunately it clicked back and I have little residual effect. Ironically, if I’d been wearing a modern helmet my surgeon reluctantly agreed I’d be writing this with a straw or some such in my mouth. Still get flashbacks of the few seconds that would have changed my life profoundly. Use it to cheer myself up :)
 
Operajulian said:
Well surprise surprise - the swytch kit was on my neighbours porch when I got back home last night.
It took me about an hour and a half to fit it all onto my hybrid touring bike and that included the brake sensors and thumb throttle.
Luckily I did put it on charge last night - so I am heading out for a test spin.
Fingers crossed.
Julian

Evening update: Well it goes - so I must have done the cadence sensor and all the cables correctly ! I had to change the brake-shifter on the right side a bit to create space for the thumb throttle and not prevent the gear shifter from caching it - but so far so good.
I let an equally sized height neighbour have a go and he thought it was great.
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Glad you have got it and it's working OK Getting that sensor setup right is key to it working properly although I guess having a thumb throttle gives you belt and braces for that. Enjoy the rides, the bonus for me was not being bothered by headwinds and enjoying prettier hilly routes that I would have avoided previously. There was a post yesterday about someone choosing a ready made electric bike that if he ordered now would arrive about next March so a similar delay to a Swytch kit.
 
slavedata said:
Glad you have got it and it's working OK Getting that sensor setup right is key to it working properly although I guess having a thumb throttle gives you belt and braces for that. Enjoy the rides, the bonus for me was not being bothered by headwinds and enjoying prettier hilly routes that I would have avoided previously. There was a post yesterday about someone choosing a ready made electric bike that if he ordered now would arrive about next March so a similar delay to a Swytch kit.
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I went for a longer ride on Sunday - glad that I put my sensible bike helmet on. It was a windy day and I also deliberately went up some hills. It felt much better to be pedaling even a wee bit rather than use the thumb throttle. Maybe I will get over that with a few more rides and just get used to the "thumb" doing the work. Anyhow - all surprisingly good.

The only complaint was how many drivers and even a jogger came into front of me with no real appreciation of my speed. I kept the limiter to 15kph but even so they just pulled across the bike lane in front of me. One driver was even looking my way - I must have been wearing an invisible cloak as far as he was concerned.
Any and all bike riders out there - enjoy and stay safe.
Julian

Here is a link to one of my other "rides". A cargo bike used for picking urban fruit. Now that is a beast when loaded with 300lbs of apples.
https://notfarfromthetree.org/spokes-person-julians-commitment-to-cycling-for-the-climate/
 
Update on the Raleigh:

I have been gradually cleaning the bike, literally piece by piece, nut by nut, and it is remarkably good.

Of course it will need rust-proofing on the insides of the mudguards, but I intend to keep the outer paint original, touched in and waxed to keep originality. The chrome is actually amazing. Almost no break-through rust and absolutely no lifting of the chrome. A little bit of rust perforation is easily contained. I habitually over-oil and so it will not get worse.

I have to finish really cleaning the frame - eighty per cent done - but the worst bits of crude over painting here and there need dealing with while avoiding damaging the healthy original enamel under pointless over-painting.

It is not as horrendous as that might sound, but I really want to keep what is good as original as possible, and where some remedial anti-rust work needs doing, then really get the wire brush to work, and hand repaint, before waxing ...

I suspect the end result will be about as respectful a re-commission as is possible to make a very practical cycle, and totally reversible electric assist bike for real use to save using a fossil fuel car when such is not required for work or load lugging.

Best wishes from George
 
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