1951 New Hudson Silver Arrow

Here are a few shots of a recent project - a 1951 New Hudson Silver Arrow. This bike came in last year having been gone over and ridden by another collector recently. Much of the dirty work had already been done. This was from the era where New Hudson was a BSA brand.

This bike came as a drop bar single speed with a flip-flop freewheel and fixed gear hub. I built up a second set of wheels for it: a three speed wheel set using Dunlop club style rims (26 x 1-1/4 597mm). I swapped the drop bars to north road bars and replaced the road saddle with a Brooks 66. The brake levers are from a 1950s era Phillips.

 

 The original celluloid fenders were broken in shipping, so I replaced with a comparable set of Bluemels white plastic fenders. I added a New Hudson decal from H.Lloyd decals in England.

 

The result is a sporty light roadster: laid back frame angles, Reynolds 531 main tubes, and an upright ride. This is the third of three bikes following that concept. I now have a 1953 Raleigh Lenton, 1949 Raleigh Clubman, and 1951 New Hudson Silver Arrow, all set up with upright bars and outfitted similar to utility bikes.

 

I still have a few loose ends to tie up: clean up the paint a bit, final truing of the wheels, and fine tuning of the brakes and headset. I also am considering a newer Brooks 67 saddle with an aged brown finish, but that remains an open question. 

I like how the laid back frame angles combine with the lightened frame and sporty components.

 

New Hudson Silver Arrow (tourist configuration specs):

• 23 inch, laid back frame, Reynolds 531 main tubes
• 26 x 1-1/4 Dunlop rims, 40 holes front and 32 rear
  
• Sturmey Archer AW alloy shell rear hub, Raleigh branded steel front hub
• Sapim stainless steel spokes
• Steel quill stem and north road bars
• 1950s Phillips pattern brake levers
  
• Brooks 66 saddle (at least for now)
  
• Bluemels fenders with H.Lloyd New Hudson decal
• New Hudson brakes with new pads (they use John Bull pattern pads in unusual pad holders)
• Kiley front LED retro headlight
• Generic LED small tail light (uses two flat watch type batteries)
• MKS Sylvan pedals (9/16 axle)
• Banjo Brothers barrel canvas saddle bag
  
• Kenda 597mm tires

 

 

A Three Speed Bike Parts Finds So Far This Spring

 

I've had pretty good luck so far this spring locating the kinds of parts one usually needs to rebuild a derelict, old three speed.

Some parts, such as 1930s-50s Schwinn parts, or pre-war Raleigh parts, are harder to find. So I was happy to locate some good parts at reasonable prices this spring. 

 

 

These include a pre-war Raleigh fender reflector, a set of very nice "Schwinn Built" brake calipers from a late 1940s Schwinn three speed, Scwhinn frame cable clamps from the same 1940s era bike, and a bundle of very nice Sturmey Archer quadrant shifters from the 1930s-40s.

 

Now... if only the weather will cooperate with ride season. We shall see...

Handlebar Swap for 1959 Schwinn Traveler

 

When I first rebuilt and tested this 1959 Schwinn (it arrived here as a bike core and I built it up), I used a set of Schwinn New World tourist style bars from the late 1940s or early 1950s. I recently acquired a couple nice sets of Schwinn "north road style" bars, which are more appropriate for a 1950s or early 60s era Traveler. One of these sets came off a scrapped 1962 Traveler, a closer match for this 1959 bike.

Handlebars for Schwinn three speeds are trickier to get right than those for a Raleigh. The reason is that Raleigh handlebar stems generally have more range of adjustment than the smaller, forged stems used on many American bikes of the period. The American stems tend to be rather short. The result is that your handlebar drop and reach becomes a primary means of setting up the bike to fit on the Schwinn. 

 

In this case, the north road-style Schwinn bars work nicely. The short-lived 1959-60 forged stem is kind of short, but Schwinn's north road bars from this period have a little more rise and pull back compared to Raleigh bars, so it works out to a good fit.