1977 Raleigh Tourist and A Mystery Bicycle
Blog subscriber Chris has sent me some photos of a couple of his vintage bicycles.
“Here’s my 1977 Tourist. I’ve had this bike for two years now, and just love riding on those big 28” wheels! I would like it if I had a full chaincase, but you know, its a great looking bike as is. The rod brakes are a bit sketchy, but they sure are cool. Before this, I had a Sprite five speed, that was a great bike. But when this showed up locally for sale, I couldn’t help myself. I still have the Sprite, though it does duty as a Moped now, as I fitted a Chinese engine kit to it.”
I agree that the rod brakes are a little sketchy but hopefully you’re just cruising along on a bike like this..
The second bike below.
“Now here, is the Mystery~Bike! Enjoying as I do my bicycle rides, I figured I’d get my girlfriend a great old bike too. I found this locally, and snatched it up for $75. Around here, a Sprite 5 speed goes for $250. (We have a plethora of Hipsters out here in Victoria) 28” wheels!! Replacement bars I’m sure, and a sloppy flat black paint job. But I have to say, I think it’s just beautiful!
The plan here is to to take the bike apart, clean and polish everything, Paint and stripe it, and then ride the tyres off of it!! The cream 28” tyres and black handgrips are here already, and now that I have taken the photos, I’d better get busy getting the bike ready to ride. I will be making a chain guard for it, or if I get really rippy, perhaps a chain case. “
There is nickle/chrome on the fork, as you can see. And a H.R. Perry front hub, with oil cup.
Mystery chain ring! A mystery to me anyway. The pedals are not marked either.
Anyone have a suggestion?
Three Speed Mania 
I think your mystery bike might be a Hercules. She’s english for sure.
Sent from Samsung tabletThree Speed Mania wrote:
March 31, 2014 at 8:50 pm
Certainly generating some interest here..
April 1, 2014 at 7:14 am
Hard to say really, I had a gentleman this summer offer me a similar looking single speed in payment for putting together a Raleigh Tourists together for him from three Tourist corpses (My daughter was too short for it so I took a Raleigh Twenty instead).
The one that he offered was either German,Hungarian/Eastern Bloc, I’m bad enough at my native tongue (english), so I wasn’t too sure. But it had the same chainring (though that design is pretty common on some of the lower end brands from all countries back then). I did try to look it up manufacturer on-line without even a single hit.
I probably should have taken some pictures of that one or at least some notes, I had it for a couple days while I decided which bike I wanted. But I didn’t, mostly because I knew I already wanted the Twenty. I still got the guys phone number and I might be able to call him and ask to take a second look.
Though really it doesn’t matter too much, it’s a great ride (if it’s anything like the one I had for a few days) but the single speed coaster brake on that heavy of a bike is kind of a deal breaker here in Portland.
(PS—is it the photo or is that seat tube a little bent on that step through?)
April 1, 2014 at 1:33 am
Hercules my first thought but upon seeing rear stays, reminds me of a Vulcan I have by Wearwell out of Wolverhampton…
April 1, 2014 at 6:59 am
HaHa. In full disclosure, I should mention, the mystery bike is not a Three speed! It’s a single speed Perry Two Star coaster brake hub. So, I’ll likely need to stick a three speed in there, to make it a bit more user friendly 🙂
April 2, 2014 at 12:34 am
Still allowed.
April 2, 2014 at 6:47 am