1970's Raleigh Olympus

[Kingsley]

I'm about to embark on restoring a Raleigh Olympus, a bike from my youth. It's actually not too bad and very original still has an original Raleigh Racing front tyre and Lycett L'Avenir seat! At some point in its life the very rare red Blumels All Rounder rear mudguard lost it's reflector as well as the actual part of the mudguard it attached to. The handlebar stem is bent and quite strangely for a bike that hasn't really been mucked about with the fifth gear cog is missing! If retrobike member Ironbike is reading this I gratefully accept any words of wisdom read his fantastic restoration here and any other people out there with knowledge of these old 70's Raleighs.

 

[Midlife]

Remember them from my youth too , step up from the Hustler is size iirc.

 

[The History Man]

My first road bike in 76. Watching with interest.

 

[Kingsley]

I've stripped down most of the bike and it came apart fairly easily except for the dreaded stuck cotter pin! Going to leave it to soak for a few days and then have another go...



Someone decided four speeds were better...

The frame number 567969 - not sure on the year...anybody know?

 

[Spokesmann]

Great stuff, I had the red framed/blue mudguard version. New in 1976.

 

[Kingsley]

Great stuff, I had the red framed/blue mudguard version. New in 1976.

My first proper racing bike - a turquoise blue one - I remember getting it for my birthday and the smile on my face riding it for the first time...it was fantastic! Although in time I rode it until it just about fell to bits

 

[Kingsley]

These Altenburger Brillant brakes were on the bike... they are a lighter weight than the standard Raleigh brakes no doubt? I don't think they're an original fitting, I could be wrong? They certainly weren't the type on my new bike in 1976

Although neither were the red jockey wheels - mine had black toothed wheels - maybe the reason was it was near the end of the production run for the MK 1 Olympus again I'm sure someone with better knowledge than me knows.

 

[Kingsley]

Stuck cotter pin is finally out..
.
bottom crank is out, I'm going to replace the bearings some of them look a bit rusty as there was literally no grease left.

 

[The History Man]

How hard did you hit it?

 

[Kingsley]

In the end not that hard, I soaked it in PlusGas, gave it a bit of twist with some mole grips to get the PlusGas to penetrate and then hit it with a punch. It came out after about 3-4 hits.