jackbombay

I tried to color match the green on my SC and got sort of close, but the color I ended up with is somewhat lighter than my SC, I did not repaint my SC, but really liked the color and wanted it for another bike, the color/make up of the metallic flake seems to affect the finished color, I think.

noglider 

I'll be content with close enough. How did you do it? I'm not very competent with color matching or painting. Can you give me tips on touching up the worst part of my frame?

Unca_Sam

I know you're not talking to me, but with a knowledge of roughly how it was mixed you should be able to work with a body shop or aftermarket/repair paint shop to dial in a close match. The question would be "what shade of green looks like this when mixed with a gold metallic flake?"

daka

Your bike is lovely! Can I ask you about that triangular plate that is attached to the crankset?
And was that photo taken at the Vista Pt. on the North end of the Golden Gate Bridge?

noglider 

I really was talking to you and everyone, asking for tips. So thank you. That helps.

jackbombay

I went to an automotive paint shop and picked form their big book of color chips, the color chips all had holes in the middle of them so you could place the little sample right on the frame to compare, I knew the color wasn't exact, but me, and the employee that worked there we pretty happy that we had the closest color of the ones available.

Buying a pint (the smallest amount they sell) of automotive paint just for touch up is probably overkill, by the time you by the activator and reducer to get the paint ready to use it costs about $100, that is of course enough for many frames and forks, but you then also need a place to spray, and the overspray when using catalysed paint is much more likely to stick to things its not supposed to than rattle can paint, for touch up you wouldn't be spraying though.

For touch up I would probably look into mixing testors paints to get "close enough", easy to apply, and much cheaper.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions :-)

Unca_Sam

The place I use is happy to sell me $10 2 oz bottles of touch up paint in a selected shade. Buying the wet/dry 1000 and 1500 grit for wet sanding brush marks is an investment, though.

jackbombay

Thats good to know for future touch up needs!

In the color I wanted, from the shop I went to, the smallest amount I could get was a pint which wasn't the end of the world, but a half pint would have been plenty.

ascherer 

noglider, Joe at 718 Cycles has been blogging and Instagramming experiments using Spray.Bike products. You might be inspired...

jackbombay

That is the north end of the GG bridge.

The triangular plate is a "tripilizer" that I made out of aluminum that replaces the spacers between the 2 stock chain rings and allows me to mount a MTB granny ring, so up front I have 52,39 and 28, and the rear is a 14-28 5 speed freewheel. Shifting in and out of the granny ring is not fantastic, but it is decent, having one to one gearing on this bike for long steep climbs is fantastic, I'd love to get an 11 tooth cog on the back for more top end on steep descents, but to do so I would have to get a new rear wheel and the bike is quite original/period correct and I want to keep it that way, so 52/14 is my high gear, which I can spin up to a bit over 40 MPH. I do generally like to take all my bikes over 50 MPH, I suppose I just need to find a very steep hill to make that reality on this bike...

Here are some pics of my tripilizer, I did polish the aluminum to compliment the chrome crank, I did have to fiddle around with various spacers to get the granny ring spacing correct, and I did have to get a slightly longer BB spindle to move the granny ring away from the chains stay a bit to eliminate interference, Fun cheap project all in all that made the bike much more useful for the steep hill I seek out.



3 bolt 116 BCD pattern plus 5 bolt 76mm BCD pattern,

Unca_Sam

You don't have nearly enough likes for your clever triple crank hack. It even looks nice!

jackbombay

Thanks!

It was a neat project that was pretty cheap too, ordering the longer cottered BB spindle from England so that slowed the project down, but it came together well.

Teej1

The Raleigh base for virtually all of their colors was gold...

JacobLee 

So what’s the blue under the Super Course green? Primer?

Teej1

That is what I was told when I worked in a Bike shop in the sixties. I probably should have stated that to qualify my original reply. The blueish color is most likely primer.

jamesj

So I've always wanted a 531 frame and haven't really found one. So a couple of weeks back I came across a Raleigh Gran Sport turned into a gravel bike i was trying to talk the seller into switching back to original parts and he was willing to do it for 180. I was saving some cash to buy it but that fell through. Then a day later I came across this Super Course MKII in my area for 250, asked the seller to go to 150 and he said sure. I know it needs some parts to get it going again since his daughter turned it into a single speed bike.



Has the GB stem but needs new drop bars. Not sure what kind to look for.




Has the original rear brake but will need to find a matching front brake. Or if i want to upgrade what do you all recommend?



Has the original Stronglight crankset but is missing the large ring. would the crankset have been the one with a crazy huge chainguard? its missing the dust cap on the non drive side crank.



I haven't looked at it but i think she used the original Normady hub and added spacers to turn it into a single speed. Has front and read Normandy hubs.



And Weinmann 700c rims. They seem to just need a truing. wouldn't the originals be 27"? either way I don't mind 700c.

daka

Good find! I love the Super Course Mk II and that one has paint and decals that are in much better than average condition. Great starting point for a delightful build or restoration.

noglider 

Here is the latest picture of my 1971 Super Course. It now has a Technomic stem and a bell on the stem. I finished hooking up both dynamo lights and battery lights for extra safety on country roads. I'm not taking chances on not being seen. Traffic is light in the country, so I want people to see me from far away. When they see me, they behave considerately.

The bike is heavier than in its previous incantation. The tires, dynamo wheel, brifters, and crankset with steel chainrings have added weight. It feels pretty heavy, but I haven't weighed it yet.

rustystrings61 

First, since Weinmann 999 Vainquer centerpulls are widely available and cheap I would recommend finding a front to match your rear. Good cables with Teflon-lined housing and modern salmon-colored pads combined with these calipers works as well or better than anything else out there. I run them with period-correct levers on a couple of bikes and with Tektro aero levers on another and they work great!

The Stronglight crank is NOT standard for the Super Course. The huge chainring guard was used on these cranks on the Gran Sport c.1972-76, along with a longer than normal 123mm spindle rather than the usual 118mm Stronglight. Stock for the Mk IIlike this would have been a steel Nervar Sport crank with alloy rings. You will want access to the Stronglight specific crank puller with its distinctive 23.35 mm threaded extractor. The T.A. side on the old Park tool is risky as it’s 23.0 and runs the risk of stripping the crank threads. The conventional 22.0 puller like everyone else uses is even riskier.

The rims are not stock. Normandy Sport hubs, yes, and you may have a wheelset from the Super Course Mk II TT where someone replaced the tubulars with these Weinmann concaves.

Very cool bike!

elcraft

Actually, my 75 Super Course Mk II came w/ Stronglight 93 crankset (including the large polished chain guard). As noted so many times before, Carlton made Raleighs were often equipped with components other than those listed in the catalog specifications. The Super Course model, in particular, had a range of drive train parts. The rear derailer could have been Simplex Prestige or Huret Challenger or Jubilee. The cranksets could be steel/ alloy Nervar models, or an all alloy Nervar Star, or Stronglight 93. Most Super Courses had stamped drop outs, but a few had forged drop outs, particularly if the were equipped with the better Huret mechs.
Always a risk to make categorical statements about components on Bike Boom era Raleighs......

daka

I had a part-time job at a Raleigh dealer in the 70s and assembled a fair number of Super Course Mk IIs. I would stop short of saying that the Stronglight crankset was not original as those bikes came initially with a mixture of components and weren't consistent with Nervar Sport and Huret Challenger until 1975. Early bikes often had Huret Jubilee rear derailleurs and levers with a Huret 700 front changer and I recall often seeing Nervar Star alloy cranksets instead of the Sport. And I think I remember seeing one or two with Stronglight as well.

My personal suspicion is that the bike boom demand exceeded the supplier's production capacity and they were at times forced to substitute higher-priced items they may have had in stock to meet their contractual commitments. Generally, from a sales perspective, the upgrades made the bikes easier to sell with the possible exception of the Jubilee equipped bikes which were restricted to a 24 tooth rear cog and couldn't meet the catalog spec. of a 14-28 rear cluster. Since we were in a hilly area I always felt compelled to mention that to a potential customer. No matter how they were equipped, the Super Courses did not linger in the shop - customers fell in love with the colors and the white panelling, plus they were at a rational price point for a bike that was quite light compared to its competitors.

I agree that the Weinmann concaves in 700C are likely not original. I don't think I saw Concaves on a Super Course until after the MkII and we were on to the ones with Raleigh branded Japanese components and, even then, I think they were still using 27" wheels.

jamesj

Thanks for the info on the cranks, I will need to get a crank puller now. I see that I can get the JA Stein one to use. I would like to use this crankset but would like to get a large ring, is there a place to get one or do I need to search the bay? I was wondering if the brakes were any good, glad I can reuse the rear and search for a front. As for the wheel set I figured someone changed out the original rims when I saw the 700c. Ill probably just clean the hubs, track down a 5 speed cassette and use the current wheel set. I will also need to track down a front and rear derailluer as well as shifters as well as drop bars. Any recommendations would help and thanx everyone for the input!

daka

I actually like the Weinmann Centerpull brakes when they are set-up with the Kool-Stop "4-dot" salmon pads and modern cables/housing. I think they work as well as anything else. What may not be clear now, since you have 700C wheels, is whether you need a short-reach (model 610) or a long-reach (model 750) on the front. The Super Course MkII came originally with a 750 in the rear and a 610 on the front but you may need a little more reach given the smaller diameter wheels.

Here is a picture of the front brake (610) on my MkII with 27" wheels. You would need an additional 4mm of drop to align with the 700C wheels - maybe yes, maybe no?

rustystrings61 

The ‘bay is probably your best bet for a larger 122 mm bcd Stronglight chainring, as it is considered obsolete. Pity, ‘cause the model 93 is a wonderful crankset! They are out there so good luck in your search! As far as derailleurs go you could go period correct with Huret Challengers or even the (pricey!) Jubilee, but if it was my bike I’d get some SunTour VX setup with the power ratchet downtube shifters or even a set of SunTour barcons and get the smooth, reliable performance they offer. The earlier V-GT Luxe and VT Luxe are also excellent.

Re: the Stronglight 93 on this bike - when you pull the crank to service the BB, you’ll have the opportunity to see which spindle is in there. Hopefully it’s the 118, and all you’ll need to do is remove spacers from the left side of the axle and re-dish the rear wheel and thread on a new freewheel.

elcraft

The Stronglight 93 is an unusual size of 122 mm BCD. I know of only two sources for chain rings in this size. The first is a French site,
https://www.xxcycle.com/stronglight-...sition,,en.php
The other site is by a BF member, Jon Vara;
122 BCD Conventional Chainring, 37 Teeth.
finding a non worn chain ring on eBay is possible, but takes a long time, plus, they are usually in odd teeth counts. If you are looking to find an 1/8” chain ring size for a single speed, there was an Australian site that was famous for non communication and disinterest in commerce (allegedly). They purportedly CNC’d various designs in 1/8” widths. Otherwise, good luck on finding one.