A few bits of progress tonight - starting with the fork. Headset nut was on tighter than anything I'd seen in ages, and I had to put a pair of dropout alignment tools in the fork just to get enough leverage with it.
The crown race wasn't seating as tight as I'd like, so I ran it through the J.A. Stein knurling tool. Much better.
Got the fork in the Park alignment tool, and will take care of spreading it to 100mm (from ~85mm) during the week. Will also have to open the dropout slots a tad.
I've decided to go radical anyway - rear brake is going to be the
black Tektro 900A (which fits quite nicely), and I have a black 800A on order from Japan (one of the Arai-branded ones off eBay). Apparently, I can't get a rear 800A in black anyway.
I decided to do this when I couldn't convince myself that a silver front dynamo hub would look good with that huge, black G9 hub in the back - so I also ordered a nutted, black, Shimano DH-3N31-NT for the front:
The way I see it, the 1980 Raleigh Sports is so far removed from it's heritage that building it up with some decidedly modern touches might suit it. That, and it needs
something to break up all the monotony of silver - even though there's a certain monochromatic theme going on here. 50 Shades of Ralgrey?
In continuing with that theme, I'm planning on getting a pair of these too, which came up in the 1954 Raleigh Sports discussion. They're not period accurate or even accurate to the mid-logo grey grips of the 1950's, but they look right and play into the black theme:
Incidentally - this ought to give more than a few of you the willies - I'm considering drilling a small hole in the steerer tube to route the dynamo wiring for the back. Straight up the bottom of the crown, through the steerer, and out through the downtube and BB shell.
The steerer tube on this bike feels
ridiculously thick and heavy, so I'm not convinced a 4mm hole that's nowhere near the stem wedge is going to be the end of the world. Nevertheless, I'm considering having the (proposed) hole reinforced with a suitably-sized washer soldered/brazed to it. Should be more than enough to ensure that things will remain safe.
-Kurt