Raleigh Equipe Drive chain Recommendations?

[jamman1125]

Hi all.

I'm hoping to get some advice on my planned drive chain upgrade on my 80s Equipe. I currently have a 14-24T rear freewheel and i'm planning to change this to a 13-32T SACHS Maillard to help on my longer tours across the hills of England.

As with most upgrades its a bit of a chain reaction, so to accommodate the larger freewheel I'm in need of a new rear derailleur.
I'm very keen to keep the vintage theme going with the bike, so i'm looking into mechs which are from the 80s/ early 90s.

I've come across the lush Suntour Cyclone which looks killer (although slightly pushing budget), or the Suntour VX, the Shimano 600 EX also fits the bill for largest tooth capacity.

Rear derailleurs with a capacity for a 32T freewheel seem to be a bit more difficult to come across on ebay, most of them are long cage varients which im not against, just would prefer regular sized cage. I'm wondering if any folk have some recommendations as to what they would reccomend for great shifting performance whilst keeping retro?

 

[Nob]

You could always try one of these if you want to stick with a normal rear mech

 

[pigman]

With a 32 you will need a long cage, esp if you have more than one chainwheel. Otherwise your chain will be slack like a cow's udder when you are in the smaller ring/cogs

You can always look on the MTB section of the site for period mountain bike mechs eg. Deore, stx etc that would work

 

[vcballbat]

I'm running a Suntour arx mid cage with a 6 speed 14-28 and 49-28 upfront. This is a great touring setup giving a 28-95 inch range

 

[Nob]

I'm running a Suntour arx mid cage with a 6 speed 14-28 and 49-28 upfront. This is a great touring setup giving a 28-95 inch range
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My rings are similar…….

 

[Jonny69]

Rear derailleurs with a capacity for a 32T freewheel seem to be a bit more difficult to come across on ebay, most of them are long cage varients which im not against, just would prefer regular sized cage. I'm wondering if any folk have some recommendations as to what they would reccomend for great shifting performance whilst keeping retro?

Another option might be smaller chainrings. Yours are probably 52 and 42. If it’s the typical 130bcd, you can go down to a 38 tooth inner ring. With a 12-28 block on the back you’ll then have about the same range as just swapping to a 32. You can go more extreme with the chainrings on Stronglight cranks like @vcballbat , but it’s quite an expensive way of doing it.

If it’s 6 or 7 speed, I’d definitely recommend Shimano indexed shifters if it’s already got a Shimano SIS rear derailleur.

 

[jamman1125]

Thanks for your input. 28 ring for the crankset seems drastic! I can imagine the shift from 49 isn't exactly smooth?
I was toying with the idea of going for a 3 ring crankset but i've just today pulled the trigger on a 13/32T SACHS Maillard freewheel, so im quite excited to get that on.

On the hunt for a rear derailleur now, hoping to get my hands on a Cyclone GT or a V GT Luxe. If anyone has anything of the sort for sale, i'd be very interested.