The 25€ City Bike

My GF was wishing for a city bike the other day and perused the ‘for sale’ listings when she came across one that fit our criteria: rideable, charming, cheap.

We came across this 1977 Triumph TrafficMaster made by Raleigh with Sturmey-Archer 3 Speed hub and a flashy electric-blue paint scheme. The tires were flat, the cable to the internal geared hub was broken and all the guy could say about when my girlfriend asked about the age of the bike is “It’s older than you”. Thankfully the original bike shop sticker was still affixed to trace it’s origins (Stows Slough Bike Shop outside of London) and all Sturmey-Archer hubs are stamped with the manufacture date. This one said “10/77”.

Triumph TrafficMaster

The tire size was a bit rare and hard to find but I actually stumbled on the exact same tire that came on the bike, and more importantly, with white sidewalls! You can find them online here: Raleigh Record 37-590 Tires. They ship worldwide so delivering to France was not a problem and after ordering on Monday they arrived on Friday.

I’m no retro bike connoisseur as this is my first attempt working with a bike older than 1995. But I was excited.. because my GF was excited… and I thought it had some potential if it got fixed up and she would look pretty damn cute on it. The project only took only 1 day to mount, lube, and polish. I think it came out pretty good for a first attempt at this sort of thing. We sure are going to have fun getting baguettes with this blue beauty! Here are the restoration photos of the Traffic Master.

Rims Before and After

Tires Before and After

Sturmey Archer Shifter Before and After

Drivetrain Before and After

Front Wheel Before and After

Traffic Master Chainguard

Sturmey Archer Shifter

Triumph Traffic Master by Raleigh

Still need to purchase a new cable to the internal geared hub. That’s all for now, my fingers hurt too much to type any further.

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