Old Raliegh Racer question

[Trigger02]

Just wondering if this old beast i picked up is anygood? Everything is original except seat and bar, has dicome/raliegh branded breaks.

 

[Elbo]

Any old Raleigh is good in my eyes, nice find!

From the looks of it I'd hazard a guess that its probably a late 70's early 80's model. If the cranks are original, the outer chainring will sport Raleigh logo's cut into it. From that angle those cranks don't look like they have the Raleigh logo's. They also look like square taper, not cotter pin, which leads me to think early 80's again (I could be wrong though.)

Check the serial number and see if you can find more info on it.*This info on Sheldon Brown's website might help you identify it:*http://sheldonbrown.com/retroraleighs/dating.html

Overall I think you've found a nice bike that will come up nicely with a bit of TLC.

 

[floody]

Cotterless cranks suggest late 70s to early 80s, appears to be cheap low-end commuter type model, would be hi-ten frame, steel rims etc. Not in bad nick, nothing special or worth spending significant bucks on either.

 

[Trigger02]

Thanks Guys, Yeah i just love the little badge on the fram and diacome branded breaks, everything else looks very low end so will just make it a single speed pub bike and leave the frame original. Any sugestions on getting surface rust off? And would brasso get all the bits shinny?

Thanks again for the feedback

 

[Trigger02]

Wow, what a hassle fitting a tyre, i had a standard road tyre and was way too small, whats the go with this? the more you know, the more confusing it gets

 

[Customjimmy]

Wow, what a hassle fitting a tyre, i had a standard road tyre and was way too small, whats the go with this? the more you know, the more confusing it gets

Firstly - Bead Seat Diameter (BSD) is the only standard measurement in tyre sizing so always use this as a reference.

With that in mind, you have just tried to put a standard road tyre (700C or 622mm BSD) onto the old Raleigh rim which takes a 27 x 1 1/4 tyre (27" or 630mm BSD) and as you have found out this won't work. These tyres are still widely available. Bike shops will know exactly what you need if you tell them otherwise make sure you have the right BSD number.

Google 'Sheldon Brown tire sizing' for the complete rundown.

 

[Trigger02]

Awsome, thanks a lot mate

Almost died thinking breaks would work in the wet like my discs 29er brakes would :distrust: Is there a type pad i need for the crap old steele wheel or i need alloy wheelset to have efficient breaking using pads in the wet? or are pads are always going to be shit in the wet?

Elbo, It is the crap early 80s bike, spewing!!

 

[Elbo]

Awsome, thanks a lot mate

Almost died thinking breaks would work in the wet like my discs 29er brakes would :distrust: Is there a type pad i need for the crap old steele wheel or i need alloy wheelset to have efficient breaking using pads in the wet? or are pads are always going to be shit in the wet?

Elbo, It is the crap early 80s bike, spewing!!

Pads on steel are always going to be shit in the wet. Alloy will help a bit, and also reduce some weight. Otherwise just keep them adjusted well and rub the pad surface with sandpaper every now and then to stop them glazing over and they should work sufficiently. I have an old Raleigh Lady Sports I'm doing up and you want to start braking on that thing a good 50 metres before you actually need to stop.

Still worth doing up I reckon. The beauty of an old bike is you can get it running as mechanically sound as a newer bike, but it doesn't attract unwanted attention when locked up! Perfect commuter.

 

[Trigger02]

I am wanting to keep the nice old clicking freewheel noise it makes, i would really like to keep that. Is sounds more like a ball bearing type of tapping noise rather than the ratchet sound found on the newer hubs, Is this a noise limited to the older Araya Japanese wheels or is this just the how the wheels were in the old days?

The headset is Sieko and the cranks are Sugino. Replace or refurbish via the electro method?

 

[Pebble]

I am wanting to keep the nice old clicking freewheel noise it makes, i would really like to keep that. Is sounds more like a ball bearing type of tapping noise rather than the ratchet sound found on the newer hubs, Is this a noise limited to the older Araya Japanese wheels or is this just the how the wheels were in the old days?

The headset is Sieko and the cranks are Sugino. Replace or refurbish via the electro method?

Good find, I think it looks nice!

The clicking freewheel noise is because it is a freewheel (similar to bmx freewheels for example) as opposed to a cassette type mechanism.

I recently did up an oldie, had Sugino cranks like yours, they're actually really solid (and heavy) compared to higher end or more modern ones.
Once I stripped mine I found there was rust under the paint as well and took some effort to clean up properly...namely lots of sanding! (you can buy stuff from the hardware to get rid of rust, comes in similar tins to paint stripper, but I've never tried it).

If you only have very minor surface rust you could try really fine wool (eg Sifa brand from the hardware store), I don't think brasso would do much for rust, could be wrong though.

Mine ended up like this, thanks to some parts of a nicer but still old Repco. It originally had the 27" steel rims like yours (which weren't much good), on it now are the 700c ones off the Repco. They fit fine but the brake pads only just manage to reach, sitting at the lowest spot in the caliper thingys.
One thing to watch with these old road bikes is the hub spacing if you're planning on replacing the wheels at any time...they're obviously different spacing to mtb's but they're also different to modern road bikes. Sheldon has some info about "cold setting" on his website though.



The before shot

 

[Trigger02]

Good find, I think it looks nice!

The clicking freewheel noise is because it is a freewheel (similar to bmx freewheels for example) as opposed to a cassette type mechanism.

I recently did up an oldie, had Sugino cranks like yours, they're actually really solid (and heavy) compared to higher end or more modern ones.
Once I stripped mine I found there was rust under the paint as well and took some effort to clean up properly...namely lots of sanding! (you can buy stuff from the hardware to get rid of rust, comes in similar tins to paint stripper, but I've never tried it).

If you only have very minor surface rust you could try really fine wool (eg Sifa brand from the hardware store), I don't think brasso would do much for rust, could be wrong though.

Mine ended up like this, thanks to some parts of a nicer but still old Repco. It originally had the 27" steel rims like yours (which weren't much good), on it now are the 700c ones off the Repco. They fit fine but the brake pads only just manage to reach, sitting at the lowest spot in the caliper thingys.
One thing to watch with these old road bikes is the hub spacing if you're planning on replacing the wheels at any time...they're obviously different spacing to mtb's but they're also different to modern road bikes. Sheldon has some info about "cold setting" on his website though.

View attachment 240985

Thank you pebble, I will restore this one to it's original if i can somehow get the rust out of the rim using the following method http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/rust.htm

 

[Pebble]

Thank you pebble, I will restore this one to it's original if i can somehow get the rust out of the rim using the following method http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/rust.htm

Very cool, I've bookmarked that page to have a proper read another time, it looks like a very interesting method to try out on something one day!

Rims...yes that is a painful area to get rid of rust....likewise with the hub if you're not taking the spokes off etc!

 

[Trigger02]

Would anyone like to buy this machine, Runs very nice


I would keep it if i had room
Sugino cranks, Not sure what model?