Hi,
Please forgive me if I am telling you some things you already know but I’ll presume your knowledge of bikes is quite basic.
There is a lot of debate with regards to if to re-spray classic bikes. Some argue that a re-sprayed bike loses it’s originality.
I think there is a lot of BS around and bike snobs who think they know what’s best and who state their opinion as fact. I think at the end of the day you have to go for what is right for you and your budget.
If I was in your shoes however I would have the frame re sprayed, clean and polish the components, regrease the bearings and bottom bracket, replace the cables (Inner and outers) new chain, block, new rims, new tires, new saddle, Jockey wheels and Chain Rings.
With regards to your rims and tires they look like tubulars (tubs). Tubs are quite specialist as the inner tubes is sown inside the tire and they have to be glued or taped on to a tubular (sprint) rims. They are popular with competitive cyclists due to a slight weight advantage and also less prone to impact punctures. However they are a bit of a pain to fit and maintain so I would be inclined if replacing your rims to go for clinchers. Clincher rims to for that period would be anodized rims like Mavic MA40’s.
I think you could budget for about £500-£600 for the parts and a re-spray above using genuine period parts as per above suggestion. You might have to be patient and shop around to get the right parts. All of the parts I have suggested replacing are ones that wear out so I would be very cautious about buying used. With the right tools and a bit of mechanical dexterity you could do most the jobs yourself however if your mechanical dexterity or tools are not up to the job I would suggest getting a professional mechanic to and unless your are an expert I would defiantly leave the wheel building and re-spray (If you were to go down this root) to the professionals.
It might seem a lot of money and work but I think your bike would be worth considerable more. C record group sets in their own right are very valuable and sort after and coupled to a genuine 753-banana frame this would be a very rare beast.
My bike as undergone a full restoration (respray rebuild NOS parts) and is the bike in the link posted above. My thinking is that a professional paint job will preserve your bike as well as making it look great.
You may want to try and talk to Nick 1968 on this web sight (my Bike’s previous owner and who restored my bike) about whom he used for the re-spray because they did a great job. All the decals are available on line however you might have some trouble finding the correct ones because the cheaper bikes had different decals and I think most ones on line are for the cheaper bikes. You are correct about the black and blue transfers, that is all they are, I think the bikes were sprayed yellow and black and the transfers then put on.
Please see photos of the decals on my bike. Yours be the same as mine apart from Campagnolo sticker replacing the Shimano ones. You can also get replacement metal Raleigh (Heron) badges but again you need to ensure you have the correct one for the period.
My bike as mostly NOS Shimano Dura Ace this route would very very expensive with C record components. New old stock C Record components are seriously expensive you would be looking at silly money and you would get little change fro 2 grand.
Hope this is of some help. Good Luck and let me know what you decide to do.
Kind Regards
Tim
