Found this weird 3 speed “Jaemes wilkens” bicycle! It’s weirdly like an early raleigh bicycle. Anybody ever seen one? It’s complete but a little dirty. The sturmey archer hub was made in ’59. The only clue to it’s origin is a michigan parking stamp from 1984
by theurbanm3chanic
7 Comments
Those handlebars are so wrong
“Sports” on the decal is kind of funny. Makes me think of people that ironically say, “Yay Sports!” when conversations at parties drift onto the local sports team.
I wonder if the bars are original, they look period correct!
I own a 67 Raleigh Sports: it’s a 3-speed, upright-ish bike for city and country riding. It’s sporty compared to my Dutch city bikes: lower posture; faster ride. This looks similar, frame-wise.
But the handle bars and saddle here are both wrong, in different directions, for a Raleigh Sports.
One of many small English manufacturers that were eventually either driven out of business or swallowed up by Raleigh. They were all rather similar in construction. It’s a quality bike, but nothing special other than the genuinely obscure brand, conceivably just a marketing device for the US market.
OP you gotta show us the important side of the bike.
But yeah this looks like a Raleigh clone – made by Raleigh, with the same quality, for a different market or price point. Would be a fun bike once restored.
Those brake blocks look like they’re recent replacements for alloy wheels and not the steel rims you have. The rear rack is a 1970’s aluminium Pletscher item, made in Switzerland.
The rear reflector is a modern plastic addition, as are the foam grips and mirror. The front light bracket is upside down too.
Those drop bars may or may not be original, as the brake levers are the same as fitted to semi flat bars of the same period, and cheaper bikes fitted them to both variants. I’d suspect the stand is a later addition too, likely the same time as the rack.
The rest looks standard fair for an English bike from the early 60’s from a lesser known maker. The rear hub is usually a good indicator of age. Is it a three or four speed hub? There should be a 3 or a 4 stamped close to the date code. Fours are a little rarer to find.
Looks like a nice light resto project for you that should clean up well.