Raleigh Quasar

[Red spanner]

Hello all,

My first post and first retro bike! - a Raleigh Quasar, complete with a dodgy paint job. The intention is to use it as a winter bike, but I would also like to get it looking good again.

However, it does have a couple of problems:

1) The paint job - the original light blue metallic has been over-painted and black and then in red. My first thoughts are to get it powder coated for durability and cost. Not sure I can run to a full re-enamel or indeed whether it is actually worth spending that sort of money on this bike. What do you think?

2) It rides well other than a pronounced pull to the right - I suspect that this is a bent fork blade - look at the pics. It doesn't seem to be bent backward. Looks more like that it was bent to the side, maybe to accommodate a wider wheel. So, what are my options here? Bend it back myself, find someone to do it for me or just replace the forks with some new ones? There are plenty of chrome forks on ebay etc which might loom OK.

Any advice gratefully received.

Cheers

Steve





You can see some of the original colour...


Bent forks...


Original front mech, I think


But think this isn't original

 

[MrW]

Welcome!

Was this from eBay? I've seen it somewhere recently, and can only think that was where it was!

Rear mech must have been changed at some point, as the 105 Golden Arrow wasn't OE, I think it was a Suntour

Shame it's been painted, as Quasar's seem somewhat rare

and that fork blade... knackered IMO, but sourcing a replacement shouldn't be too difficult

 

[Red spanner]

Re:

Yes, it's from ebay. Got it with a speculative bid for £26.

On the subject of new forks, I need to take some measurements of the existing ones, but assuming OK, I was thinking of something like this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/27-or-700c-RA ... 0913531744

Steve

 

[Bats]

It will fit, but those ones are a bit long. They're for 27" wheels with mudguards, the sort of bike that has bigger clearances than yours.

It'll raise the front, and tilt the frame back a bit. You'll also probably need a longer reach front brake.

 

[MrW]

What you really need is someone selling a 'scrap' Raleigh frame with forks suitable for a 23.5" frame.

The ones you have are 18-23 Raleigh tubing, and therefore came on most Raleigh's built between 1984 and about 1987 (with the Tange sloping crown anyway)

There are no doubt loads of bikes on eBay that are suitable, or you could post up a wanted ad in the wanted section on here.

 

[Red spanner]

Re:

@ Bats - thanks, hand't quite realised that - thanks for pointing it out.

@ Mr W - thanks, will have a quick shifty on ebay and see what I can find.

Cheers


Steve

 

[frugalracer]

It's one of those nothing special (especially as it's not original) bikes that will nevertheless make for a nice ride assuming the fork issue can be sorted east and cheap.

I'd keep it frugal. Work with the parts you have as much as possible. Strip, clean, overhaul.

I'd chemically strip the paint and spray it with rattlecans - halfords primer, paint, lacquer. Choose a cool colour. Perfectly good results if patient.