mkeller234

I do use vinegar for rusty chrome bits, it's simple and works. First I clean the part with soap and water to remove the grease. Then it's just a matter of submerging the chrome in white vinegar and waiting. I remove the part from time to time and use an old toothbrush over the rusted areas.

ukny, have a look at ftwelder's golden arrow before making up your mind. I saw the before pictures and thought the original paint and decals were doomed. The results he got floored me and make for a beautiful and interesting result.

I agree with the other, Panaracers are a nice option. I have the 27x1 paselas on my Raleigh and despite being thinner they are still plenty comfortable. I keep them inflated around 80-90psi on non hooked weinmann rims.

sonatageek

I think another good tire choice would be the Michelin World Tour. I have not used that size, but picked up 3 sets for some bikes with 26 x 1 3/8 tires and found that they road pretty darn nicely and looked good to boot.

Here is a link -- $18 a tire.
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/produ...r-tire-27-inch

ukny

How do I find the link to ftwelder's golden arrow.

Someone said the Michelins where a bit on the heavy side. But I agree they really look the part. I want a tire that rides the best as I am all about riding this baby. I guess there must be a tire comparison thread somewhere on here.. I will have to nose around a bit.

Thanks for the tip with Vinegar I will try that today with some small parts..

mkeller234

Here is a link to ftwelder's Golden Arrow: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...h-Golden-arrow.

One main difference between the Michelins and the Panaracers is the side wall. The Michelins have a gum colored rubber sidewall where the Pasela is a skinwall, meaning the fabric casing is barely covered with rubber and is visible. That supposedly makes the tires more flexible and contributes to a better ride. The Panaracers have an ugly-ish logo but are great tires if you can get past that. Nashbar.com has them for $18.00 each right now.

I have neve ridden on the world tours but I do have the original roadster tires on my DL-1. The roadster tires I have are 1.5 inches wide and only pump up to 50 psi. They are slow tires on a slow bike... but they are ultra plush.

Here are pictures of rusty parts that I cleaned with white vinegar:

ukny

Holy Moly Batman... that is pretty impressive. I just got back from the store with a bottle of Vinegar.. or as we now know it "Chrome Dip"

I don't think that pasela logo is so horrible and its going to be pretty hard to ride when it's wizzing round on the rim. Someone suggested thinner tires as these run large. My rims are 1 1/4 and the tires that were on it were 1 1/8.. Later this week i will try and check em out at one of the LBS's in the hood... we have 7 now...

Now if I was going to polish the frame what do you suggest. Many of the patches very much resemble the black areas on your Golden Arrow.

ukny

So my Bars arrived today.. and they were measured wrong by the peson who sent them drag.. now I am still in the hunt for a set of drops for the Clubman.. seems these smaller diameter bars are really hard to find. I may have to swap out the stem while i am waiting for the correct ones to show up. Any suggestions.

mickey85

With the frame, I'd suggest a good soap and water wash, then a very nice auto polish - Meguiars always works well for me.

mkeller234

Auto-polish is the usual recommendation and I use it a lot. Start with the least aggressive treatment first. I would suggest car soap instead of dish-soap. ftwelder's golden arrow took a bit more care and creativity since it was completely covered in rust. Be very careful around the old decals, they can get fragile with age. Test a small area on a decal that is less prevalent.

I have 3 different sizes of Paselas, 32mm (1 1/4), 28mm (1 1/8) and 1in. I can't really tell much of a difference between any of them. I can get away with a little less pressure in the wider tires I suppose. I've never felt that one size was superior to the other.

auchencrow

What size are the bars supposed to be? 15/16" ? (clamp) - If so, I'd imagine it could be a bit of a wait.

ukny

Yep thats the size 15/16.. looks like i may have to go with a different stem and bar setup to start

ftwelder

I started with car polish, then metal polish, 0000 polishing wool, 000 steel wool then the scotchbrite pad where there was metal. Just work each material a bit and when you get surface consistency you are looking for, work your way back down to the car polish. I finished with bowling alley wax and then pledge.

Let me try to do better with my explanation, If you start with finer abrasive material and work your way up, you pick a point where you have finally flattened the surface enough for it to feel smooth, then try to not remove any more material, only make it shine. I had to do a lot of rinsing in some places because the surface was clogging with dust. I guess someone who knew paint better than I would pick the right media at a glance.

ukny

I just scored a pressed metal rear rack for my 1960 Rudge Sport on Ebay. . So I took the spring thingy apart and bathed it in white vinegar for half an hour and then hit it with a toothbrush and bundled up aluminum foil and for the hard bits a little brass wool. And WOW the chrome looks spiffy.

rhm

Forgive me if I am dense, but I fail to follow the handlebar problem. Drop bars are usually 15/16" bars with a center bulge or sleeve to fit a 1" stem clamp. Upright bars, and some older drop bars (not to mention very cheap ones fairly recently) are usually 7/8" with a bulge to fit a 1" stem clamp. The bar-to-stem fit is often imperfect, but unless you have a French stem or something, I can't see why the bar wouldn't fit the stem.

No doubt you will have problems mounting your brake levers and Sturmey Archer trigger, which are sized for the 7/8" bar, to the thicker one; but these problems can be remedied. You are very lucky, by the way, that your bike still has the GB brake levers. Hard item to replace!

Andrew F

[QUOTE][What size are the bars supposed to be? 15/16" ? (clamp) - If so, I'd imagine it could be a bit of a wait. /QUOTE]

Keep you eyes open, they show up regularly; more frequently attached to 60's era Hercules but I've seen a few Raleigh branded bars recently. I picked these up a month or so ago off ebay.....only one other bidder

ukny

On the sizing.. The bars dont appear in any pictures I have seen to hava center bulge.. see here.. https://www.flickr.com/photos/7441811...n/photostream/

My stem does not fit a 1" center.. BTW the ones I have seen on the Hercules etc are Steel.. the originals were Maes Alloy.. I will settle for steel if I have to. But I think my buddy at the LBS has a pair of skinny Maes Alloy bars.. he is bringing them back from his folks after T Day.. so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

ftwelder

I am fairly sure all drop bars have bulges in the center. The stem must be bigger diameter to be able to slide the bends though (they still rarely go through without issue)

I have the Maes aluminum bars on my Rudge deluxe, I will measure them and the 'arrow bars and see whats up.

ukny

Interested to know what number you come up with

rhm

Well, in my ebay searches for Lauterwasser bars I have learned that there are indeed 7/8" handlebars with a 15/16" center bulge, or with no center bulge at all. Given that these things are quite rare now, I wonder if they suffered a relatively high failure rate. There is a reason modern handlebars have some reinforcement in the center.

UKNY, where do you stand on stem/handlebar now? Are you waiting for the correct stem to turn up? Do you have something usable for the nonce?

Andrew F

The bars are out there, you either have to belly up to the bar or wait for the perfect deal. A set of Maes type without the bulge and with celleniod covers and stem just went for $75 on Sunday. It would have been a good match for your Clubman.



There's this GB bar on ebay it's from the 50's, alloy but 24.5, Maybe grab a GB alloy stem of the same vintage? https://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-50s-GB-Ventoux-alloy-drop-handlebars-VGC_W0QQitemZ120647517027QQcategoryZ56197QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp5197.m7QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DLVI%26it u%3DUCI%26otn%3D4%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D4995660662482202862

ukny

Thanks for your help guys. I do have the original stem, But I have been considering switching out to an alloy GB stem, which would give me a wide range of bars to look at. The originals were Alloy but it seems only steel ones are showing up in that size. Also the original stem is held in place by a pinch bolt on the head set. But a long enough stem should work.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that the fellow at my LBS is going to return from Thanksgiving with a pair he thinks he has in storage.

I am also trolling Ebay and will jump on whatever I find... The chrome is looking so good I am itching to put it back together, So I think I am going to go for the Panracer Pasellas I have read a ton o reviews and everyone raves about them. But still deciding on width. The rims I have are Dunlop Special Lightweight Steel 27 x 1 1/4 any advise on suitable width ??

Mr IGH

Sure there's a point, Chevy SB is a much better motor than any Old's junker. Crappy heads, crappy oiling, what's the point if you want to go fast? 99% of the world would never know or care.

Same thing for OP's bike, the comments are silly, 99.999% of the world will never know. If you guys are so concerned, take up a collection and buy it from him.

A fellow Vette owner, upon finding out my Vette is not factory original and I take it to the drag strip, commented, "I would never buy your Vette!" I reply, "You're in luck, I'd never sell it to you...."

ukny

Just by the by I have found this guy in england Freeman Cycles.. they have been around since 1890... They have cotterless BB spindles that fit in the Raleigh Bracket with original cups.. I am thinking about mothballing the original cottered cranks and using some alloy cotterless ones ... remember i am a rider.. anyone have any recommendations on cranks.. and please this is not invitation for you guys to fry my arse because its not original.. I am keeping the old stuff just think for riding it might be that much tighter with a vintage alloy cotterless crankset.. opinions recommendations ??

rhm

Aw, just as I was about to get warmed up, too!*

Well, I guess the only current crank that would look appropriate, that I can think of, would be the Velo Orange one:

Of course an old Stronglight, TA, Williams, &c. of the same pattern would look a little better to my eyes!

I don't think you have to go to England to find the BB spindle. There are many that would fit the cups; the trick will be to get the chainline perfect, for which you need to pick the crank first.

*I don't think you'll notice any difference between a new crank and an old one while riding. When carrying the bike up the stairs, perhaps (though I doubt that too). A lot of modern cranks have beefy arms that are almost as heavy as the thin steel ones you'd be replacing.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

+1 I got a replacement spindle from Amazon.com for my formerly cottered Raleigh Super Course. You'll want a MTB width spindle (73mm) and then whatever length your crankset of choice needs. Works fine with the original Raleigh Cups.

also +1 to Rudi's comment about the differences between cranksets. A Vintage TA or Stronglight will perform the same as a New Velo Orange crankset. IMHO though switching from Cottered to Square Taper is an improvement from a reliability standpoint.

ukny

Woah there Rudi.. I just checked the Velo Orange site and that crank set is almost as much as I paid for the whole bike...

I was thinking more on the lines of a vintage Stronglight. It's not really a weight issue it's more about the reliability and even ness of the cotterless cranks.