Raleigh Royal in need of love

[LightInsomnia]

I have dreams of touring on a bike but neither have time (due to work, young family, etc) or the money to do so. After a fair amount of research I'm of the impression an old steelie frame will be more than upto the task. Recently, I visited a very disorganised LBS and asked if he had anything I could commute to work on. The guy pointed to Carreras and other similarly shaped tin bikes and I was about to go elsewhere. It was then when I noticed, behind a pile of bikes, covered in old inner tubes this Raleigh Royal. After a short exchange he accepted £30 and told me to come back later when the puncture was fixed and the brakes checked. I rode her home

I need to do the following:
- replace brake cables
- gear cables
- service the hubs (as they sound rough) and generally tidy her up with new bar tape and probably a Brooks saddle
- new tires already ordered
- convert the downtube shifters to bar shifters (no idea how at this point)

Then it's onto a rack and guards

How do I know what brake and gear cables to buy?
Also, I've never serviced hubs. I've been told it isn't a hard job and have been pointed to many a youtube video

Also, the rust on the forks...is that a chrome covering? I've already gone round with WD40, a wire brush and cloth

 

[RetroDavy]

Very nice. I have a similar Royal frame waiting to build up. Same colour, chroming etc.

Brake and gear cables: brake cables with road ends (pear shaped as opposed to barrel shaped). Gear cables, should be universal. They'll be longer using bar end shifters (which I really like by the way). If you need inners and outers, Chain Reaction do brake and gear kits with the cables outers, cable ends etc. This is the link to the road one: https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/lifeline-essential-road-brake-cable-kit/rp-prod155212. You can buy the cables separately, of course, and SJS cycles sells all sorts - mentioning them because of links below. I've no link to the shop other than as a customer.

Bar end shifters will need cable outer stops on the down tube. I can't see whether your shifters are mounted on braze ons or a clamp. Either way, adapters - like these from SJS (and widely available on ebay) - would work: https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/down-tube-stops-fittings/. THough I'm sure you can get more period correct clamp on stops elsewhere.

The bar end shifters themselves would probably need to be ones with a friction mode to run with 5 speeds. I can't recall seeing bar end shifters indexed for 5 speed though they must exist. Shimano ones for most if not all speeds have a friction setting.

Hub servicing: a cone spanner of the right dimensions for the thin flats on the inner nut and a standard spanner for the outer nut is what you'll need: https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tools-cone-spanners/. A set of x2 double ended spanners will probably do both front and rear hubs but wise to measure first!

Chrome - some people rub down with aluminium foil - there's probably a thread on the forum about that

Lastly, I found this webpage useful for dating Raleigh frames: https://raleigh-sb4059.com/2018/08/...t-sbdu-and-raleigh-special-products-division/

Good luck

 

[LightInsomnia]

Very nice. I have a similar Royal frame waiting to build up. Same colour, chroming etc.

Brake and gear cables: brake cables with road ends (pear shaped as opposed to barrel shaped). Gear cables, should be universal. They'll be longer using bar end shifters (which I really like by the way). If you need inners and outers, Chain Reaction do brake and gear kits with the cables outers, cable ends etc. This is the link to the road one: https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/lifeline-essential-road-brake-cable-kit/rp-prod155212. You can buy the cables separately, of course, and SJS cycles sells all sorts - mentioning them because of links below. I've no link to the shop other than as a customer.

Bar end shifters will need cable outer stops on the down tube. I can't see whether your shifters are mounted on braze ons or a clamp. Either way, adapters - like these from SJS (and widely available on ebay) - would work: https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/down-tube-stops-fittings/. THough I'm sure you can get more period correct clamp on stops elsewhere.

The bar end shifters themselves would probably need to be ones with a friction mode to run with 5 speeds. I can't recall seeing bar end shifters indexed for 5 speed though they must exist. Shimano ones for most if not all speeds have a friction setting.

Hub servicing: a cone spanner of the right dimensions for the thin flats on the inner nut and a standard spanner for the outer nut is what you'll need: https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tools-cone-spanners/. A set of x2 double ended spanners will probably do both front and rear hubs but wise to measure first!

Chrome - some people rub down with aluminium foil - there's probably a thread on the forum about that

Lastly, I found this webpage useful for dating Raleigh frames: https://raleigh-sb4059.com/2018/08/...t-sbdu-and-raleigh-special-products-division/

Good luck

Amazing. Thank you. I used to love internet forums but they aren't used much anymore.

This one seems active so I'll keep you guys updated

 

[RetroDavy]

Great stuff. I think you got an absolute bargain for £30. Really nice, well made bikes.
I've not done much thinking about mine yet but expect I'll change the brake blocks for new replacements as well.
In case useful (especially if yours is a 1983 model), here's another link that I found: https://www.bikeituk.club/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Raleigh-UK-1983-1-1.pdf. It has a good specifications table.
Look forward to hearing about progress.

 

[jim haseltine]

What do you mean by 'bar shifters'? If you mean bar end shifters I wouldn't go that way unless you've ridden with them previously as for the unskilled the pressure used to move the levers along with the distance they are from the steering centre can cause unsteady riding at best or a crash at worst. Can't see properly but the levers on the bike appear to be Suntour power levers (probably badged as Raleigh), they were available with a stem fit band clip. <edit> if I'd bothered to open the link in the previous post before writing that I'd have seen that yes, they are 'power' (ratchet) levers and they're on a clip.

 

[RetroDavy]

Good point on the shifters - I'd assumed bar end shifters. That is a big assumption! Combined shifter and brake levers ('brifters') or thumb shifters would be a whole other ball game. I've never found bar end shifters harder to use or less stable than down tube shifters myself, but they do need more thinking / planning to use than thumbshifters or brifters on the bars.

 

[oldave]

Nice. I have used bar cons on only a couple of bikes but have never found them "tricky".
As for new brake blocks, in the days when I played with old road stuff I always improved centre pulls by using modern v-brake pads.

 

[Henne]

Nice buy and for a great price. I have a Royal from 1984 which needs restoring. Indeed the old tin foil trick for rusty chrome works well and you just need to dip the foil in water first, scrunch it a little and then rub the rust away. This isn’t abrasive to the chrome and it should sparkle again.