Me and my brother have rapides, they are very cool bikes and last for ever!
I use the Sakae SA chainsets on two similar era raleighs, they are only 600g and cheap/plentiful on ebay, polish up shinier than 80's shimano chainsets, and pretty bulletproof.
Nearly there.... no less than THREE brake caliper purchases have fallen through :evil:
A reminder of the plan...
1. Keep it retro looking (from 5 metres away )
2. Use parts to hand.
3. No unnecessary spend.
keep this in mind when I get the photos up
I've had some problems:
- Rear mech fouled the spokes when in the largest cog - replaced with 105 item
- Front mech not suitable for compact gearing - replaced with 400LX mtb item
- BB (sealed unit) fouled the rive holding the BB cable guide on - replaced with bolt
- planned crankset fouled chainstay (read dug into) with appropriate chain line. This was due to it being a triple MTB item. I have since replaced with another set of cranks I had.
I hate miss-matched parts, but in light of 'The Plan' I've had to hold back and simply get it together as cheaply as possible. I really fancy a total period re-build, but I'll wait until I've put some miles on it before committing.
Yeah, a total lash-up, a crazy mish-mash of parts. BUT, it does ride, stop and change gear really well and it cost very little to build. Ultimately, that is what I set out for and in that respect it excels. It is butt-ugly though
I bought: 105 brakes & levers (for safety), chainrings, handlebars (the old ones were bent). The rest was from the tip, spares box or karma (rear mech from widowmaker) which means the whole lot came in significantly under £100.
Any mods now are purely to make it look better.... if I start doing this it'll be a slippery slope! I am however slowly overhauling the original bits to eventually re-fit when I find some orignal cranks and bars.