Hi All,
I'm new to this hobby. I recently did some light restoration/recommissioning work to a Raleigh Equipe that I picked up very cheap as a bike that I could leave at the station without worrying about it getting stolen. I enjoyed tinkering with the Equipe so much that I've been on the lookout for another project.
I would really appreciate any advice you an give me regarding products, methods, tools and as well as replacement parts. I'm going to need to buy some proper bike tools. I have no experience removing bottom brackets or dismantling hubs etc. I dismantled the Sach-Huret derailers on my Equipe, cleaned up, greaced and reassembled, ditto for the brakes and replaced the cables, but that's about the limit of my experience.
It's a 1979 Carlton Professional Mk.5. They only sold this a frame rather than a complete bicycle. Reynold 531 forks, stays and butted tube frames. I bought it from a gent who owned it from new and raced competitively. He's modified it over the years and it has a mix of components from Italy, France, Spain and Japan from every decade 70s to 2000s! I'm going to keep the 70s/80s parts and replace the rest with period parts.
Bits I think I'll be keeping:
Campagnolo Record headset, pedals and toe clips.
Ofmega Competizion crank.
Zeus brakes (apparently made half decent Campagnolo style brakes).
Cinelli stem (not currently fitted).
The front wheel is Mavic with a Campagnolo hub.
I think the seat post is also Campagnolo.
The derailleurs and freewheel (or cassette?) are 90s Campagnolo and Shimano so they are going. I haven't decided what to replace them with yet, but I will probably keep it European to match the period parts. The handlebars and brakes are modern unbranded. I'll replace with a period drop down Cinelli bar to match the stem.
First thing I need to do is find out how best to clean the frame without damaging the decals.
The paint is pretty solid so I want to enhance and preserve where possible. On the Equipe I was happy to use a car paint touch up brush, but I want to do a better job with this, without going so far as a respray.
Thanks for reading.
Alex