Sunbeam Rat Roadster

[johnp.smith]

Yeah, it's a mess but I see some rat potential to get it back on the road. I have fenders, a seat, a chain, and some other parts all looking for a home. I think all I will need to buy is tires and tubes. It will be a lot of work ressurrecting an old beater like this pulled out of the weeds from my neighbors yard. I love old English Roadsters and it bothers me seeing them or any bike neglected like this. They thought I was crazy when I asked to buy it. It was free and they were happy to have it hauled off.

 

[johnp.smith]

Had time to polish the paint a bit but its still a bit rusty in spots. Going to stay with the stock wheels after all, I found some Raleigh brakes and other hardware in my parts stash to make it all work. I also repacked the headset and bottom bracket and then bought new tires and tubes. She will be on the road again, I just need more time to work on it. Thats been a rare commodity lately.

 

[FatBoy]

Im curious to see what you do with this one.. 8)

 

[johnp.smith]

Im trying to keep it original as possible. The chaingaurd is toast, I have a pair of fenders almost exatly like these but not rusty, an old black Brooks seat, new tires and tubes, a used chain and black grips big enough for my hands. Im going to try to clean the chrome on the bars because the stem is unique that it has one bolt to adjust both the bar height and the bar angle. I also have Raleigh brakes, levers and a Sturmey Archer shifter from a wrecked Raleigh Sports. Im just hoping the shifter cable will be long enough. Rear hub is dated 1969 and it had a 1973 license plate but it was too far rusted to clean up.

 

[OUTLAW]

luv that bike. you can send it to me. I know what to do with it.lol.

Outlaw 8)

 

[johnp.smith]

Today I got the stock bars, stem, and pedals cleaned up and put back on. Im going to leave the stock grips on. They are a little small but I want it as orginal as possible. The brakes are the exact same as those on a Raleigh Sports so the levers I have should be correct too. Off to work another trip. Someday this will roll again. I took a few pics, I'll post them when I get back from this trip.

 

[johnp.smith]

Im off today and was working on it for a while, The brakes are longer than Raleigh brakes. I put the nice clean Raliegh brakes on there and they wont reach the wheels. Looks like I have more sos padding to do. Also one of the white grips torn like paper when I was trying to get it off. It kinda helped me make my decision to put the bigger black grips on it too.

 

[johnp.smith]

I got the brakes cleaned up and rigged with some Raleigh levers and then hit my next problem. The 3 Speed Sturmey Archer hub is gummed up and wont shift. Ive tried pouring oil in it and let it soak for a week with no change. Im not about to open up a 3 speed hub, I did that once and it had too many small parts in there to keep track of. I have another set of wheels that Im goin to have to use. They are in about the same condition. Im trying my best to keep it original but I can only do so much. Guess I cant complain since it was a freebie pulled from the weeds.