I intended to share these thoughts with the group earlier, but I’m home caregiver for my wife who is an Alzheimer patient, and keeps me hopping!
Last rewarding fix I did on a bike was to salvage a 1952 Rudge Aero Special. Identical to the Lenton Sport for 1952, same assembly line, parts list, and parts bins. Nottingham plant sound them globally in four different branding, depending on where sold. Brands are Raleigh, Rudge and two others not well-known to me. I think Humber was one of them.
I damaged the original cotter spindle pulling the arms off for overhaul. I ended up able to replace the whole cottered Raleigh Industries steel chainset with a TA 5-vis set of arms and TA BB parts including BB cups. I had to search for a 44 or 46 tooth track-width chainring as now used for track. I found the TA chainset, a 48 tooth Al ring, and a few TA cotterless spindles and some TA bearing cups.
The TA cups threaded into the BB perfectly, with the bearing balls and the TA spindle matching perfectly. A test fit of the and If the bearing cups thread the frame, place the bearings in the same place as did the original Raleigh Industries parts from 1952, then there is a real good chance the TA set of parts will be a good fit. So my chain line is 45mm front ring and rear sprocket, my rear dropouts are aligned and their offsets are balanced. The right pedal offset is 50 mm and the left is 55 for a very small Q factor of 102 mm!
The alignment also depends on dropout alignment and if the chain stays are aligned nd offset the same. There may also be spindles which match the TA crank arms but have different length drive side and non-drive side stubs. This is something to watch out for in a nice old vintage frame like mine.
Ken Freeman
Ann Arbor, MI USA