Originally Posted by
Ged117
Thanks guys. I was thinking 46t based on my other reading so that is good to confirm that it works for others. My FW is an alloy '53, and I am going to recondition it. It has never been opened and I am not sure of the wear on internal parts. We'll see. I want it ready for year round operation (I'm going to use synthetic 5W30 for winter riding after I pack new bearings in marine grease) so I imagine I'll be replacing pawl springs and perhaps other parts depending on wear. Have you had to do that?
For the chain wheel, I figured that I match the bolt count and a new one should work, right? I might replace the bottom bracket with the velo orange unit since it is 40 years old. I imagine I must then determine the spindle length.
This should be fun. I'm excited to ride the bike when completed. Lighter wheels, FW hub, and B&M light set powered by the dynohub.
With the crankset, one thing to keep in mind is that the Lentons (I have a 1952 Rudge Aero Special, a Rudge badging of the 1952 Super Lenton and built on the same production lines, along with a Humber clone) use the old pre-BSA BB threading. Aside from being a challenge to remove, you may have trouble finding a way to install a more-modern BB/chainset such as a TA Cyclotourist, Stronglight 49D, or many others.
On mine I intend to put on a TA or Stronglight. First installation will be most likely a 46T alloy front chainring with the original AW hub, then later an alloy-shell FM that I scored, then eventually a front granny to be added. Gotta sort how to do chain slack adjustment.
My first try at this death-defying feat will be to keep the original Raleigh-threaded BB cups and try to install a TA BB spindle with a TA chainset. If that works, I can build the bike and do a little "old-bike happy dance!"