This bike will make a nice mate, and contrast, to my 1973 Schwinn Continental that I picked up last year.  The 1973 is noticeably heavier - more so than you would expect from the slightly larger frame - and has typcial 1970s gearing with dual stem shifters.  The '73 Continental has nice flared, randonneur style drop bars.  Here is the 1973 Continental:

I guess you can say that one has reached the full depths of bicycle-induced dementia when the idea of one of these clunky, heavy-looking, fendered, upright, and usually black painted bikes looks cool.  I mean, these things don't even have gears, right?   Well, actually they do, they just use internal gearing in the rear hub.  And, while the Robin Hood is certainly painted black, it's not nearly as heavy as it looks like it would be.  And, besides, fenders are kinda handy if you're trying to stay clean when you're riding.  So, rationalizations aside, one of the most recent additions to the museum is this 1965 Robin Hood.  Robin Hood was apparently a company bought and owned by Raleigh in the early 1960s and this bicycle is basically the classic English 3-Speed, featuring the well-revered Sturmey-Archer 3 speed freewheel hub.   The bike has been with it's mate, a step-over framed model of the same bike in the same color, but with a hub that indicates it is a 1966 model.  Both are as-found and in remarkably good, functional condition.  The only thing that does not work are the generator headlights, but I'm hopeful that some tinkering will get those 6 volt beauties to come to life. 

These have been interesting to learn about.  They use 26" x 1-3/8" wheels, so there's nothing exotic about that. The 3 speed hub is fairly indestructible and not terribly difficult to adjust.  At best the gearing on the bike (combined with the very upright riding position) is not ideal for east Tennessee, but I have read that changing the gearing is a very do-able prospect if desired.  This bike, like most British machinery produced up through the late 1960s uses Whitworth hardware, so there will be a few new wrenches added to my toolbox to keep these bikes healthy.   Here are some more pictures.

Several months after these test fit pictures, I made the decision to cannibalize a perfectly good Giant mountain bike for this project.  (Actually, the Giant will survive, rebuilt with the throw-aways from this project and it will remain in its place as a perfectly good guest spare.)  with the addition of a sturdy wheelset, V-brakes, and the fork with all of its threadless headset simplicty, the project came together nicely.   The apparently color-coordination was not planned, but I guess it's a nice bonus.   So, here it is in November 2009:

I used an old road bike rear derailleur as a tensioner.     The first test ride seemed promising.  It was stable, felt firm and seemed ready to start loading it up.  I didn't try any wheelies!

Here's a close-up of the driveline:

Here are some shots showing how the two frame sections are connected:
 

 

and, a couple more perspective shots...