Flyaway

[Ulu]

It’s a big disadvantage not having any history to speak of with this type of bicycle.

For instance, I noticed that the drive side crank arm is rather swoopy, whereas the offside crank arm is rather square-ish . . . as if it had come from a completely different bicycle.

Also, I can’t believe that this made in England bike has a made in the USA coaster brake. It’s entirely possible that it had a different rear wheel from the factory, because the front wheel is 32H but the back is 36H.

Maybe this is common, or one of those things that only happened on bikes that Huffy imported to America from Raleigh in England?

Will I find that an Australian wayfarer has 34 hole wheels? (I can’t believe that they didn’t send these bikes to Australia as well…) It’s the little mysteries like these that keep me wondering.

 

[ingola]

Raleigh often had 32 inbthe front and usually 40 in the back I'm actually wondering if the rear wheel is original. Usually the British touring bikes had Sturmey archer three speed.

 

[ingola]

Check the cranks for the stamp that's on the crank

 

[Ulu]

OK, I took a good look at the wheels, and when I cleaned them up, I realized that the front wheel is an English Dunlop but the rear wheel is an Araya (which I assume is Japanese.)

 

[Ulu]

Check the cranks for the stamp that's on the crank

The drive side has Sir Walter Raleigh proudly emblazoned on the arm, but the offside has no obvious markings.

 

[ingola]

The offside has been changed I bet

 

[Ulu]

By the way, I’m calling that the “offside” arm, because in I have worked on British cars.

I had an MG back in the days when the knockoff wingnuts on the wheel were engraved “offside” and “nearside”. (That did not change when you went from a right-hand-drive to a left-hand-drive MG.)

In Britain, “offside” would be the side away from the curb as you parked the bike (car) on the left curb; where the “near” side would be the non-drive side, the side nearest the curb.

(Edited because I forgot which side of the bicycle the chain is on.)

 

[GeePig]

Ha ha, being British and a former car mechanic, I like your choice of words, but I no longer use them myself.

Actually your bike is beginning to remind me of one of my last year's entries, which now lives here in my garage and has baskets attached.

 

[Ulu]

That looks nice and traditional, GeePig. I doubt Flyaway will get so many accessories.

I built Flyaway so my grandkids would have something to ride when they come over on holidays. They will likely toss it about and scratch it carelessly, so I probably won’t re-paint it either.

It was my wife’s idea that we should have some extra bicycles for this, but we have about 16 kids, grandkids and in-law-kids here on Thanksgiving and Christmas

I have 4 complete now, working on #5: the Sting Gray, which needs better forks, and the potential for #6 quickly if I don’t do much customizing.

I don't know how far this idea can go. I am horrible about collecting things. I still have 24 skateboards, but they are small.

Where will I put 12 more bikes?

 

[SwissGuy]

Where will I put 12 more bikes?

There is always room for one more... Believe me!

 

[Captain Awesome]

There is always room for one more... Believe me!

Can you talk to my wife?

 

[Ulu]

One is no problem.
One dozen would be a problem.

I don’t really like the bars that I bought for this bike, and I’d like to find a nice one like this.

I might have to use it but it has a lot of scars on the underside.

 

[Ulu]

So I haven’t made this known yet, but my plan is to put the Flyaway fork away, (Since it’s an irreplaceable antique) and build a rigid girder for this bike.

I’m planning to use the upper and lower stays from the Chromo Tange Centurion frame. I also have some other bits I will sacrifice to this.

This may be my first silicon bronze TIG brazing project.

The key is that it needs to be very skinny, and I may actually shave the nuts on my front wheel, to get it ~1/2” skinnier between the dropouts.

 

[GeePig]

View attachment 213490
I might have to use it but it has a lot of scars on the underside.

Yep, still making similar choices...


I like the way that you are making the whole bike slim, when I considered it I only thought about the tires.

 

[One-eyed Sailor]

Love this thread.

 

[Ulu]

Yep, still making similar choices...


I like the way that you are making the whole bike slim, when I considered it I only thought about the tires.

To me the seat is way too fat, but for BBO purposes I might put on a really skinny seat. This just happens to be the nicest & newest traditional saddle in my shed.

I will probably put the skinnier tourist-style bars back on it as well. There’s a chance I might be able to get some clean newish reproduction bars locally.

 

[Ulu]

The Accordo is no moredo.

 

[GeePig]

Nice set of hammers you have there

 

[Ulu]

Nice set of hammers you have there

Back in the lengthy insanity thread I posted a picture of my 10 pounder!

I am lucky to have a set of tools I’ve been collecting since I was a child in 1960. I inherited a lot of tools from my father too.

The best thing is easy access to tools. There are 5k mechanics in this county of 1.5 million souls.

 

[GeePig]

Ah, I had to abandon many of mine when I moved to Poland, and I had a lot because I was once a mechanic. Ah well!