ColonelJLloyd 

I can't take credit for that one. I've seen it on many other bikes and it's a good use for partial rolls of tape. It's yellow Tressotar with two coats of amber shellac. As you can see, it's about as close to Brooks honey as you can get with cloth tape.

1987cp

Well, I seem to have figured out why my chain has been constantly jamming when I tried to shift, and sometimes even when I tried to backpedal. I tried a new Nashbar/Microshift rear derailer I'd bought for another bike that shifted splendidly with an APII cassette and chain, and it shifted very well with this combination as well. That ruled out the bushed chain and pre-HG freewheel as major headache producers - logically enough. Since there's nothing really all that special about the Microshift derailer that makes it hugely better than an '80s model, I had another look at the original one. Turned out I'd reassembled it wrong when I'd had it apart to try to figure out why there was no tension on the lower jockey pulley, and the chain had actually worn a groove into the shaft of the tee-nut thing that holds the cage on, because I had installed it backwards. D'oh! I fixed that and reinstalled it, and it seems to be working much better now.

Bikedued

Don't feel bad, I think we've all done similar things from time to time. My usual is getting the brakes all setup perfectly centered, good cable length, etc... After I'm all done, I find the caliper quick release was open the whole time D'oh!,,,,BD

ColonelJLloyd 

If I had a nickel.......

Chris_in_Miami

Here's a little sister of the Alyeska, the Wyoming. A friend picked this up at the flea market a few months ago:

ColonelJLloyd 

^^^^ Cool bike. I guess this was the "sport touring" model?

Chris_in_Miami

It was the entry-level touring model, but it's a nice ride and lighter than I expected it to be. I suppose it would be described as a sport tourer if it were marketed today, but Raleigh didn't advertise it as such in the catalog.

wahoonc

Hard to tell according to the 1985 Raleigh Catalog there were 4 touring models with the Wyoming being the entry level, Alyeska and the Kodiak being the middle of the line with the Portage being the fully loaded ready to roll one. Unfortunately no geometry specifications are given.

Aaron

noglider 

That's a good description. I've toured on bikes with sidepull (single pivot) brakes, and they are less than ideal for that purpose. But if you wanted to tour on that model, you'd do fine.

1987cp

Neat pic of the Wyoming! I noticed from the catalog that that bike came geared pretty tall, that means that even hills would probably be a bear unless the rider was really strong.

Don't know if this helps for comparison, but this frame is a 1984 "Record", a straight-gauge chromo sport-tourer that came with base features like stem Powershifters, safety levers, separate seat clamp, nondetachable chainrings, and steel rims. Oh, and those awful steel rattrap pedals that like to self-destruct. The wheels in the pic are a set of old 700c racing rims with 25mm tires. You'll notice on the next page of the catalog that they listed no less than six sport-touring models!

Doohickie

This was Huffy's attempt to enter the higher-end market. Maybe not "all that special" but no slouch either. I have a Raleigh Marathon from that era and it is a great light tourer/backup commuter. I was going to get rid of it and hadn't ridden it for a couple months, then took it on a ride on Memorial Day and realized what a comfy bike it is for me. It's a keeper.

1987cp

Today I noticed something funny about the brakes on this Alyeska. The holes for the cantilever return springs are on the outboard side of the cantilever stud! I cross-checked with my '91 Paramount MOS, and its spring holes are on the inboard side of the stud. Yet I've seen pictures of an Alyeska equipped with Suntour XC-Pro brakes, which appear nearly identical to the XC-LTD cantilevers that came on my Paramount. Do folks performing such a brake swap have a special trick for making the springs work out?

Chris_in_Miami

I don't have a direct answer to dealing with the springs, but I know that there are some cantilever brakes that don't rely on the hole in the stud base. They have a rotating collar at the base that you can adjust with a cone wrench to set the tension, seems to work pretty well. I believe the Dia Compe and Tektro made such brakes.

Alternately, you could always drill a new hole in the base of the stud.

** Edit - now that I think about it, there isn't any room for a hole on the opposite side of the stud...

cudak888 

That's how the Alyeska was designed. It's stupid and outrageous.

This is how I went about mounting a set of Pro-Star cantilevers made to mimic the old Mafacs. I believe I wound up putting the right springs on the left side, the left on the right, and inverting all of them; or something to that extent:





At any rate, this works only on the Pro-Stars. Mafac cantilevers will not work without designing a completely new spring.

-Kurt

1987cp

Interesting stuff. On inspection, my XC-LTD cantilevers look like they could be made to work (spring-wise, anyway) by just drilling another hole in each brake part for the spring to anchor in. I also discovered that a set of Shimano Nexave V brakes could have their spring backing plate assemblies swapped side to side, so that the stud that actually engages the spring hole is in Alyeska orientation. Nice to know that there can be flexibility in brake configuration despite the weirdness.


Curiously, testing the V brake led to another discovery - I got the wrong brake levers! Work good with V brakes, work awful with cantilevers. Funny that the eBay seller didn't tell me that. Still, this isn't entirely bad, as I have another set of newer levers that will solve the problem, and then I can stick these levers with the V brakes on another bike.

1987cp

FedEx driver dropped off a package this morning .....

Chris_in_Miami

Cool, what bars are those?

Camilo

Does anyone know if the frame and fork on the various models (Wyoming through Portage) are the same? The catalog linked seems to indicate so.

What is the rear spacing on your Alyeska?

Chris_in_Miami

No, I don't think they're the same. For starters, the Wyoming (bottom of the touring line) has caliper brakes and no mid-fork lowrider mounts. The Alyeska has high-ten stays vs the full chromoly frames of the Kodiak and Portage.

I believe the latter two frames only differ in the wheel sizes they were designed for, but I'm just going on what I've read about those two, I've never had either in my hands.

TugaDude

They appear to be Gary bars. I have a set. They are very wide in comparison with most vintage Rando bars, but I like them. They won't fit the existing stem on the Alyeska, as the center of the bar is 31.8. Of course, they might be some other version, but that's what they look like to me.

Chris_in_Miami

Thanks TugaDude, I thought they might be something new. The photo looks like they've got a bit of a randonneur-esque lift on the top, and I thought the Gary's had more splay. I love rando bars, but they're usually narrower than I'd like (though that doesn't stop me from using them.)

I understand that Velo-Orange is making them in various widths now, I'll definitely be investing in some of those...

realestvin7

Anybody want another Alyeska? I just found this one on "the Bay". Sweet looking bikes.

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...STRK:MEBIDX:IT

wahoonc

Nice...but about 10-12cm's to small

Aaron

noglider 

That one on ebay looks really nice. Good thing it's even too small for me!

1987cp

Bikewagon on Amazon had the 25.4mm version in silver for a good price, and I'd been interested in Garys for a while (even saw one or two photo albums where folks used them to replace Nitto Noodles!), so I bought one. Fits my cheap chromo stem fine, and seems to fit me even better (test rides have been short and slow due to snow and ice on the road).

The MKS Lambda pedals strike me as a little funky. They're smaller than I'd expected, and the narrowness will take some getting used to, but I'm hopeful, and I'm looking forward to not always striking pedals in turns and not feeling like my other pedals are trying to cut my shoes in half.

I saw that! Though minus little details like the nice Araya wheels, I'd imagine it might be a harder sell, making the Bleriot frame I saw for $200 (was at $360 last I checked) a lot more tempting in its way. And it looked to still be about as rough as mine is, at least cosmetically. Still, neat to see.