My "new" Robin Hood, aka Raleigh, make in Nottingham, England
Riding to work last week I found this by the curb near a home with a for sale sign in front of it. The sign on the bike said "free" so I called Cathy to bring the van to pick this beauty up. I didn't know anything about the bike at the time, but the decals did say Nottingham, England. Come to find out that Robin Hood was a lesser-priced line that Raleigh marketed. The Sturmey Archer hub has "70" on it, which, according to Sheldon Brown's very
good web page on Raleigh bikes, would date the bike at 1970, a 36 year old bike. Another
good Raleigh web page is Tony Hadland's, from which I quote: "During the Second World War (1939-45), Raleigh concentrated on munitions work. The name of its budget range, launched in 1938 as Gazelle, was changed to Robin Hood, and Raleigh acquired Rudge-Whitworth."
One thing I want to do is to try to save the original decals while repainting to combat the bit of rust on the fenders and elsewhere. I'm thinking that I can give the original decals a protective coat of acrylic, and then paint the rest. I'll have to research this a bit. It looks like all I need to do are cosmetic fixes and then to add tubes and tires and replace the missing control cable for the Sturmey Archer 3-speed hub. The crank and rims all seem in pretty good shape. As Sheldon Brown says, Raleigh Sport, and apparently the lesser priced Robin Hoods, were all built to last and serve as a daily commuter tool for the Brits.
best
Robert
