Convert 1968 Raleigh Pro to indexed brifter shifting

[john ferguson]

I bought this bike new out of the window display at Turin in Chicago at 1:00AM on a Sunday morning in 1968 - $200!!. I ran it on the sew-ups quite successfully for 5 years before moving to a less-bike friendly neighborhood. With divorce in 1980 and move to Wheeling, Ill, I suddenly had more time and was doing 20 mile runs before work every day - out to Mundelein and back. I replaced the rims with aero clinchers, the brakes and stem with Dura Ace and sometime later a suntour 6 13-28 speed freewheel and Campi triple chain ring crank and the campi bottom bracket I needed to make this work. I still have the original Nuovo Record rear dereailleur which asonishingly shifts the 28T.

That's where it is now, but.....

I'm 81, I haven't ridden this bike in 20 years and am no longer comfortable with down-tube shifters - my balance is a bit twitchy. I want indexed brifters.

I bought a SunTour Ultra 6 13-28 Freewheel which hasn't come yet.

I think I'd like to have Campi brifters. Used will be fine. I could go with Shimano with one of their derailleurs if that is likely to work.

I'm assuming a long cage rear derailleur will be needed, and a 3x8 shifter set. Will a Campi 3x8 set work, and if so what should I get for an indexable rear derailleur?

And feel free to tell me if you see something stupid here.

 

[pigman]

Reading this should get you thinking
What I'm not sure is what spacing your suntour block will have. I assume it's going to be identical to modern(ish) 7 speed, but I'm not definite

https://www.cyclinguk.org/cyclists-library/components/transmission-gears/derailleur-gears/shimergo

 

[Midlife]

Trying to remember but didn't the Suntour Ultra range have a special thinner chain so the cogs could be closer together?

 

[john ferguson]

Hi guys,
the sproecket spacing on the Ultra 6 is supposed to be 5mm. It requred a thinner chain, but it sounds like most of the modern chains available today are thinner because the ten speed cogs require them.

Apparently sprocket spacing before the Ultra was 5.5mm. I'm guessing a '90s 7 or 8 speed setup will work, but it would be nice to know for sure.

 

[pigman]

Well, if it's 5mm, then I'm correct, that's today's 7 speed.

 

[pigman]

Trying to remember but didn't the Suntour Ultra range have a special thinner chain so the cogs could be closer together?

Yeh that would be right. When everything was 5.5mm pitch, we just used standard 3/32 chains. Then the development of suntour ultra and maillard compact meant we needed the Sedisport chain which had flush rivets. The descendants of this chain is today's standard 7 or 8 speed chain

 

[john ferguson]

I assume that the indexing is done in the shifters and the only requirement of the rear d is to convert whatever the shifter does to the sprocket spacing. This suggests that rear derailleur choice needs to be correct

 

[Nabeaquam]

I’m 78. Here is what I did to make my old road bike more geriatric friendly. Cyclocross top brake levers and brake lever shifters. Also, loads of bar padding.

 

[john ferguson]

Hi Nabeaquam,The padding reminds me that I used to have problems with my hands going to sleep on long rides and even the gel gloves didn't help. Last time I rode regularly was in Arlington VA on an ex-urban transit bicycle trail which went out to Dulles. I was 60 then and tried for most distance in an hour before going to office. Best I could do was 14 miles, but it was hillhy. I had, I a folding montague which was a little heavy. 5 days a week, I can't remember about hand problmes but I think I had well padded handlebar sort of like what you've done.

 

[chambo34]

I use Shimano RX 100 7x3 brifters from early 90s and they work well on 6 speed? You can get them cheap enough as frequently sold as not working but 9 times out of 10 they just need cleaning through with WD40 spray or similar.