'86 Raleigh Competition - advice welcome!

[Tel]

That could be very nice with just some elbow grease and quite a bargain to boot. Nice one.

The Raleigh would have been the better bike with its 501sl (sl=super light) frame and 105 components from the factory. However the Pug is not far behind it looks like it has 501 forks too which is a bonus as often 501 frames just have hi-ten forks.

I'm sorry for my tardiness with the stem. Pretty sure it is I'm a box in the shed, not 100% sure on bars though. I will look tomorrow for sure!

 

[Tel]

Finally checked! The stem I have is an SR Custom in 80mm flavour, however the wedge is missing....

I'm proving to be not much help to you aren't I

 

[Tel]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Peugeot-Triat ... 4175f841af

 

[DrewSavage]

Well, things progress... I've got a Shimano 105 groupset on the way from Spain for the Raleigh, purchased from Caneco on here.

And I collected the Peugeot from North Yorkshire yesterday. Lovely drive to get there. It seems to be pretty sound with a few rust spots on the frame - which are fairly visible close up, due to it being white.

The most urgent things it needs are to fix a puncture on the back wheel - presumably a new inner tube is the best way to go there? - and new brake blocks.

Does anyone have any advice about new brake blocks? With an obviously ruthless approach to cost/benefit...

And then the handlebars will need re-taping and need new plugs to put in the end. Here is where I start to admit what a novice I am. Is this easy to do? I genuinely have no idea.

 

[DrewSavage]

Re:

Well it turns out I got the Peugeot on the road first... the front derailleur was stuck in one gear and when I tried to fix that it turned out it had been bodged. So I acquired an array of parts back in January and it's sat unused while I avoided having to learn how to do things that made me nervous about getting wrong, like tape handlebars.

So last month I thought, I can spend the summer failing to get round to fixing this bike, or actually riding it. So I got Popup Bikes near Manchester Victoria station to fix the bits I'd required and christened the bike on a 71-mile Audax circuit around the Peak District last week.

It now has white Cinelli bar tape and orange Jagwire brake cables (figured I could get away with that due to the orange frame decal) and I'd got a decent mini-groupset cheap off eBay so that brakes and front derailleur are Shimano 600, the front rim is Mavic MA-190 and the back is Rigida Chrina - everything else is original spec, the seatpost (and I think the cranks and chainset) is Stronglight, the stem and handlebars are Atax, the hubs are Maillard, and the back derailleur is an indexed Rival Aris 6-speed, which is made by Sachs Huret.

I did have a Shimano 600 rear mech as well and had asked them to fit that, but it turns out I needed a compatible gear lever, and the indexed one for the Sachs gears wasn't right.

Anyway, here are some photos. I've got a white Selle Italia saddle to replace the old one just as soon as I can un-seize the nut holding the old one on to the seat post.





Most crucially, for a bloke used to a heavy old Peugeot 3-speed or an equally heavy B'Twin Hybrid, it is incredibly light and incredibly fast. Now I just need to get used to riding with drop handlebars...

 

[DrewSavage]

(the handlebars were adjusted like that as a temporary fix as the stem was too low but we were already out on the road and couldn't get that to shift at that point...)

 

[Jamiedyer]

This thread is nice reading and its good to see another one bitten by the retro bug.
You sound like you've 'started' off with a couple of nice rides. keep updating and let us know how it keeps going.
Welcome to the darkside, looks like you'll need a bigger shed

Jamie

 

[DrewSavage]

Cheers! Oddly enough I have a slightly annoyed friend who, several months ago, offered me the use of her garage for one or two of my bikes. She ended up with five in there for quite a while - I've only just reduced that to four...