1980 Raleigh Esquire

[hank]

Hi, great pictures, especially the ones in Bavaria! I just picked up an Esquire today for a tenner and hope to get it back to its former glory. I just started tinkering with mountain bikes, so this will be a new kind of challenge for me. Riding it home, it felt so smooth. Can't wait to see whats its like after a bit of TLC and elbow grease. Thanks for the inspiration.

[PhilA]

Was looking at Sturmey-Archer's website the other day at the hubs they have now. tempted to get an old cruiser frame, fit their 2-speed kickback pedal-brake hub on the back and a dynohub up front.

Should be good to putz about on. No cables, no levers, no fuss. All enclosed, packed with grease, including the brakes.

Nice bike though. Colour reminds me of my old man's Raleigh racer- he machined a much larger gear for the front so in top you're pedalling one revolution for about 50 yards.... downhill you can easily bring it to 45+ mph. Crazy. He doesn't like to pedal fast lol

--Phil

[lae]

^ The S2C are really badly made - no beating around the bush here! I've had two - the first one slipped in low gear (which is strange, because low gear is direct drive) so I sent it back and Sturmey Archer's explanation was 'sometimes we have to put an extra shim in'. If the quality control is so poor that some hubs require an extra shim, then why are they selling them? The replacement hub did the same thing, except now the coaster brake completely locked up and the pedals couldn't be turned backwards or forwards - I had to carry the bike over to the side of the road and rotate the rear wheel by hand to get it working again. After this happened I simply stopped using the wheel - far too dangerous to use on the roads. I sent it back and after a lot of letters and legal advice, I finally got a refund.

I've also had mine apart (shh, don't tell them) and the weather seals are awful - they're similar to the old AW 3-speed hubs. This is fine for the AW hubs because they are oil-lubricated and the movement of oil flushes the dirt out of the seals... the S2C is grease lubricated with no oil port either in the shell body or the axle - so dirt just works its way in.

I really, really wouldn't recommend buying one - which is a real shame as when it was working properly, it was really nice to use. In a couple of years I will read some reviews and see if the build quality has got better.

[PhilA]

Useful advice! I'll stick with the traditional 3-speed with brake then. One cable is alright to handle

--Phil

[DarrenW]

I'd forgotten about this thread

I've done close to 3000 miles on it now, but my weekly distance has dropped massively so far this year as the weather hasn't really been up to it. I'll hit it hard again in spring though.

Mind you I've still done 150 or so in 2012...





I found another one exactly the same in the local scrapyard (apart from a buckled front wheel) so I'm stripping that for spares and replacing clips that have better chrome etc on them, I had the local bike shop put new cotter pins in the crank as it was creaking quite loudly, that's all gone now.

They also set the gears up for me, something I've never bothered to do - I did all those miles in second gear! It's quite a revelation having first when it comes to pulling off the line ;D

I love riding it

[lae]

Great to see you still riding it; in the same time I've bought and sold three frames! It's just a perfect practical bike.

[polojoe]

I do love this Darren, and the fact it's used a lot makes it all the better.

I have an old '58 Raleigh Trent Tourist which i started re-commissioning last year alas it now resides in my garage unloved and with some bit's missing. I might have to try and get it back to roadgoing condition for the summer.

On a more positive note i have built a late 90's mountain bike which has been getting ridden fairly often. Hoping to rack up a few hundred miles this year.

[Captain Bb]

This is my first post and I guess I'm digging up an old thread but here goes anyway.

I wanted an old jollopy for riding to the pub - something I can leave outside without worrying about it too much (my other bike being a Cannondale Classic road tourer) - so recently picked up a Raleigh Equire.  She needed some TLC and a little research on the model soon lead me to this forum, so I decided to join up.

Anyway, here's my "Pub-Master Deluxe" after I'd just finished getting her sorted and about to go for an initial trial run.



I have to say, I'm quite impressed how spritely this Ole Girl rolls along and I'm becoming quite attached to her.

[TS]

This is the problem with pub bikes. PPL can't help but make them too nice to lock outside a pub. So you have to get another one to become your pub bike.

[TS]

Nice bike btw.

[Captain Bb]

Nov 10, 2014 23:42:51 GMT TS said:

This is the problem with pub bikes. PPL can't help but make them too nice to lock outside a pub. So you have to get another one to become your pub bike.

Good Point!

[esquirenube]

Found this outside a friends house in London.
It had been dumped outside for two days!
My last bike was a Kona which was stolen and since then I have always fancied a more vintage model.
Finding this one feels like fate, soooo I'll try and get her working.
There's a lot of rust, two flat tyres and I have no idea what i'm doing with this hub setup.
Would you mind me asking a few questions as I try and fix her up?

here they are:
Do these Sturmey Archer hubs free wheel? because this one currently doesn't?
The chain is super rusty. I'm not sure it can be saved. If not.... What sort of chain should I be ordering and any recommendations as to whom I should be ordering from?
The rear wheel appears to be slightly wobbly. I will try and adjust how the hub is set but failing that what would people advize? is it a re-spoke scenario?
Are there any other things I should be checking? I have never used this type if gear set up before, everything has been more modern and rarely serviced by me.

Again, This is my first time ever working on a bike like this so any help would be greatly appreciated, I'd love to get her working very soon.
If anyone lives in West london and wants to help out give me a shout! I'll buy you a pint.

Thank you for your patience.