I had a ride of a friends upright Pashley. Good god, awful. Like trying to steer a barge. Give me a road bike or MTB any day.
There's roadsters and there's roadsters. They come in a lot of variants of geometry, wheelbase, and weight. I have ridden ones that feel like a tank and don't want to change direction, but I have also ridden others that are quite nippy, relatively speaking. My 26" rod-braked Raleigh falls into the latter category.It looks like it shouldn't be, but it's pretty manoeuvrable
Do they sell rod brake kits anymore or do you have to cobble them together from finds ? could do with a set on an old Raleigh awaiting referb
You'd probably have to source rod brake parts from one of those countries where those bikes are still made and ridden in large numbers. I doubt it would prove economic, TBH. If you've got a rod brake machine with missing parts, it's probably better to try to source a compatible donor bike or consider converting it to cable brakes. For example my Raleigh is based around the Raleigh Sports roadster frame, and Raleigh turned out different model variants, some with cable brakes, some with rods, some with fully enclosed chaincases, and some without. The common factor was the frame and the 26" wheels. If you have a 28" wheel roadster, it might be a rod-only design, but it also might be a simple conversion to cable.
I will say though that for some reason motorists do tend to give a bit more room when on the 3-speed, especially when approaching from the opposite direction and the road is narrowed by parked vehicles. Sometimes they'll hold back and wait for me to pass by whereas if I was riding my Raleigh Royal, they'd often keep coming and squeeze past. I suppose they do have a certain road presence and they look "solid", so the premium German automobile drivers are worried about their shiny paintwork.
