[Uncle ENzo]

So this is my bike from college. Chicks loved it and it was one hell of a work out. I don't know much about it and since I was back home on Ohio this past week I decided to bring it back home. My dad thinks its worth something but I honestly have no idea.

[Vicegrip]

Brooks saddle and rod control brakes are a good start. Need more info on frame and wheels and the like. Is it a Hercules by chance? I happen to be looking for an old school town bike to restore.

[Too Tall]

But of course. That is a Raleigh DL1 aka Raleigh Tourist. It is or was standard issue for British postal service and alot more. I'm trained to work on them, another useless ability, and have the correct British Standard (Wentworth) wrenches you need...it ain't metric. Setting up the brakes is a true joy. First you get everything "sorta in the ballpark" than you start bending parts to get the pads to pull straight to the rim brake surface and than you use a bench grinder to set the toe in.

I've got two. The new one I got for bombing around campus (1977) and the old one I got from a neighbor who tossed it out...that one is a beauty from around war time WWII and wife uses that to go to our local pool. Yours is in good shape. Somebody kept it inside (thank dog).

They are decent bikes but take a bit of getting used to. The gears are excellent, some of the best 3 spd. ever made but the brakes are a joke.

Hell, I even have NOS brake pads they never wear out.

Some nuttr will give you a couple hundred bucks for it but I'd lightly restore that and keep it for nostalgia and grocery runs.

FWIIW She needs new tires, tubes, rimstrip. They are not widely available at the local walmart. I *think this is the correct tire https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0051C8UOA...ter_B0051C8TX2

Hit that saddle with a very light coat of your favorite boot grease and buff after a day.

Hope this was some help.

[Vicegrip]

Spot on. On a computer rather than a phone and can see the name on the down tube. Enzo, when you decide on a price let me know. I am the nutter that might give you the $ as I am looking for just that sort of bike to restore into a Sunday coffee ride bike. Stuff like rod brakes and Sturmey Archer 3 speed IGH is my kind of futzy.

[Vicegrip]

Figured I would update this thread a bit. The DL-1 was almost 100% all there and in reusable condition down to the tires. It has a S# that indicated a build of 1972 per some charts but the 3 speed rear hub has a Sep 1965 date. The chain ring indicates older and the crank pins looked undisturbed. Wheels were often simply swapped out when a rim got bent and Raleigh was know to not be the best at following numbering conventions so who knows for sure. The DL-1 was made from 1911 to 1988 with only slight changes.
It only needed a saddle, a set of used/good pedals, brake pads and a rear axle nut. Took it down to the frame and cleaned everything up in the ultrasonic. Buffed out the chrome and there is lots of chrome on this old guy.
This bike is a workman's bike made in Nottingham England by hairy armed workers for bobbies, postmen and general transportation. Made in an old school, very large, all in one factory that took raw steel in and sent finished bikes out. Raleigh made their own tubing and everything in between. This model bike is largely unchanged in form and format since the late 1800s. It is simply one in a long line of similar working bikes that gave form to almost all the other day to day bikes world wide. As Britannia reached around the globe so did this bike in one name or another.

It came apart with no issues, cleaned up well and after an hour or so of test and tune it rides, shifts and stops just like the day it was made. (As to stopping "like new" is not saying much when compared to modern disk and rim brakes) it is a best described as similar to rolling along in a mid 1970s Cadillac. It has a real slack seat and head tube angle and just wants to roll along. A Rastafarian living in Denver, working in a cannabis dispensary on 4/20 at 4:20 is uptight next to this ride. The saddle is a new Brooks. Brooks and the 3 speed rear hub maker Sturmy Archer are both divisions of Raleigh.

[forklift]

Awesome job - as usual. Sent these pics to my dad and brother.

[trytryagain]

Awesome post VG!

[Chopper Dropper]

Neat Kurt, I inherited an old Raleigh from a Grandfather, I remember him riding it in the late 50s, I rode it a lot in Scotland left it behind nephews rode it for a while and don't know what happened after that, but damn Kurt you clean up good!! ( or the bike does)
Dirk

[Too Tall]

Righteous. This warms my heart. Where on earth did you find new pads?
After a couple ride, remove the pads and use a bench grinder to expand the obvious contact patches.

[JmuRiz]

Great looking!
Wanna help refurbish an old 2-stroke Ducati