New project - 1986 BSA/Raleigh racer

[benseddon]

This is my first project bike.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/113949688@N06/12121044986/

It's a BSA/Raleigh racer from 1986. It was my dad's bike but when it was replaced by a British Eagle Shadow it was relegated to the garage where it has remained for the last 20 odd years until i spied it last week.

I've taken on this project as it will give me a chance to learn a bit more about bikes, how they are put together anyhow the components work, a subject I'm blissfully ignorant on.

Ive set aside a few hours on sunday afternoon to strip the bike down to just the frame. It will also be a good opportunity to take some better quality photographs as my girlfriends camera phone is pants

 

[BobToo]

It's a good way to learn and you should be able to bring it back to life quite easily. It can mostly be done without any special tools but one thing you will need, if you haven't got one already, is a crank puller. (unless you have cottered cranks, which I don't think you will).

They can be found on eBay for well under £5, make sure you get one located in the UK if you want it reasonably quickly.

 

[benseddon]

Thanks. I realised after starting this thread that the project would grind to a halt when it came to removing the crank and BB.

Will i also need a special tool to remove the BB as well?

Learning about bikes is one of the reasons i wanted to take this project on.

I was supposed to go round this afternoon to my dads to start stripping the bike but he's made other plans. Gives me the opportunity to purchase a crank puller so i can strip it in one go.

 

[Johnsqual]

The bike probably has an adjustable cup and cone type bottom bracket. The following is a decent article on how to adjust and service them:

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-hel ... et-service

If you're lucky and the cups and spindles are all ok, you'll just need the right spanners for the lockring on the adjustable side.

If you need to remove the whole lot, you'll probably need a bench vise to get the fixed cup out, they are almost always screwed in incredibly tight so a normal spanner won't work.

Unless you are particularly attached to the adjustable type BB, you could replace it with a modern cartridge one.

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-hel ... ervice-bbt

 

[benseddon]

Wow. Jan 27.....feels like a long time ago.

Well, I'm rather ashamed to say that bike is still sat as is. Not long after starting this thread, the unthinkable happened......I lost my job. Bike restoration was suddenly put on the back burner as we also had to move house as well.

Still, life moves on. New house, new job.......same project but with a new twist.

My beloved Falcon Majorca is still going strong but with a 53/44 chain set and a 13-24 cassette it's a bit of a bugger to get up steep long climbs such as Greenhow Hill and the mentally absurd Lofthouse climb. So, with that in mind I'm going to rob the 14-28 7 speed cassette , rear mech and triple chainring off my diamondback ascent as I never use it and transplant it onto the BSA/Raleigh. Should give me a nice bike for the sole purpose of rides involving plenty of hills.

Any forseeable problems with this conversion or is it fairly straightforward??

 

[twosheds]

"with a 53/44 chain set and a 13-24 cassette it's a bit of a bugger to get up steep long climbs such as Greenhow Hill and the mentally absurd Lofthouse climb."

+1

Err yes, twice I've run out of gears climbing out of Lofthouse. At least there is a great view to enjoy while you rest between pushing!


Don't think you will be able to fit a triple chainring onto the Raleigh BB as it has a double on it now doesn't it?
I would look out for a compact double such as a Stronglight 80 or 100 with 48/36


-----
Bruce

 

[benseddon]

Re:

I've only tried the climb out of Lofthouse once so far and it didn't go very well at all.

Green how Hill has proven a bigger task. Three times I've tried it and three times I've failed.

Shame the triple idea won't work. I'll investigate a Stronglight.

 

[twosheds]

Re:

I suggested the Stronglight because I think it is period correct with the retro look, for a time when compacts were not very common. Others are available but they are usually modern affairs.

This is a Stronglight 80 with 48/36t chainrings

 

[BobToo]

I've got a 32/26/21/17/15/13 freewheel on my Dawes Fox, which gives me a range of 34" to 108" with its standard 40/52 double up front. That was a fairly easy conversion to do, it occupied the same space as the original freewheel so I avoided messing about with spacers and dishing the wheel. I just kept browsing eBay until the bits I wanted came up.

Are you aware that a cassette and freewheel aren't the same thing? Your BSA will have a freewheel and I think the Diamondback is likely to have a cassette.

 

[alecw35]

I built up a road bike in the late 80s with a Stronglight chainset with 52/36 chainrings. First time I dropped onto the little ring I thought I had broken the chain. such a big drop. It wasn't so long before that, I had a Viking that had 52/48. Could hardly notice gear changes on that. The bike with the Stronglight chainset was used for touring. Quickly got used to it, was good in the hilly parts of Scotland I took it too