[72doug2,2S]

The Golden Age of 3 Speeds
From the 1930's through the 1960's, English-made 3-speed bicycles were, in some respects, the ultimate in human-powered transportation. They spawned a vibrantly active club culture that has never been equaled. The bicycle provided unprecedented individual mobility to the British working class.

The bicycle industry, centered in the enormous Raleigh factory in Nottingham, was one of the most important in the country. The workers who built these bicycles rode the same kind of bicycles to work.

Sports or "light roadster" bicycles were the basic transportation of the urban working class. They feature 590 mm (26 x 1 3/8) wheels with Endrick or Raleigh-pattern rims, full steel fenders (or "mudguards" to the British) "North Road" upright handlebars, and cable-operated brakes. Sports bicycles had rather more nimble frame geometry, typically with 72 degree frame angles. These bicycles were faster and lighter than roadsters. The vast majority of English bicycles that made it to the United States fall into this category....

These Are Real Bikes!

Don't sneer at old 3-speeds. They are serious bikes, built for serious use. They are meant for utilitarian cyclists, and they are still extremely appropriate for riders who don't usually go more than a few miles at a time. They are particularly at home in stop-and-go traffic, because they can be shifted even while stopped. Their English heritage: full fenders, oil lubrication, and totally enclosed gear system makes them relatively impervious to wet conditions. They may be heavy, but that is not because they were built to be cheap, but because they were built to endure extremely rough usage and neglect. Properly cared for, they will outlast us all.

The Raleigh Factory
When a modern company sets out to build a bicycle, what they really build is the frame (if that.) They buy sets of tubing from a tubing company, cut and weld them together into a frame, paint it and install parts which they buy different specialized parts companies. Actually, many well-known brands don't even do that; they order bicycle frames to be built to their specifications, with their name painted on, and equipped with parts from a variety of vendors. These companies are actually trading companies, even though their image is that of a manufacturer.
Raleigh, in its glory years (up into the 1960's) was the absolute opposite. In their enormous Nottingham factory covered 40 acres and employed nearly 7000 workers. A Raleigh bicycle of this era would have a Raleigh frame, made of Raleigh Tubing conected with Raleigh lugs, with a Raleigh bottom bracket, Raleigh cranks, Raleigh pedals, Raleigh headset, Raleigh handlebars, Raleigh stem, Raleigh seatpost, Raleigh hubs (Sturmey-Archer was a Raleigh subsidiary) and even Raleigh spokes. All of these parts would have been made in the same factory.

The saddles would be from Brooks, another Raleigh division, and the rims and tyres would be from Dunlop, a company closely related to Raleigh.

This level of integration has never been surpassed in the bicycle industry, though Schwinn came close in the same era.

Servicing English Three Speeds

I just found a 1972 Raleigh 3 speed "sport" Made in Nottingham England and assembled in Malaysia. The tires (tyres) are the only locally sourced item on this bike, everything else is made in England.

I paid $10 for it and it is a beaut. I filled the dry rot tires oiled the chain and took it for a spin. It is obvious this is not a cheaply made bike. Wow!

Looks just like this one in the film.