I too was surprised at it's having plastic cages, so either the BB has been rebuilt before, or they came that way from the factory? FWIW, I don't think the plastic cages will hurt anything, as they only keep the bearings in place, and don't support any weight?

Caged bearings were a way to save money.
Fewer bearings, 7 vs 11 (even thought bearings cost nothing),
and quicker assembly time.

I'll buy the quicker assembly time. About the plastic cages though, it would seem they substituted a small cost for the larger one of having the cages?

Raleigh made some, let's just say poorly though out cost saving changes over the years. Plastic bearing cages in the BB was one of them. There's a lot of stress on the BB. I think it's important to use the original 22 loose in there. One thing I do is replace them all with fresh grade 25 bearings. I know it's nothing you would ever notice while riding, but when I rebuild a BB, I like the silky smooth feel I get when I spin the crank after I'm done. Using the old bearings, even though they look perfect sometimes leaves a slight grittyness.

Hey BC!
Haven't heard from you in a while...
Good advice.

Sure they did. They even used caged balls in their front Dynohub.

If I had thought about it I might have sorted that out. But the older school indicator nut has more threads so I have to assume its a lot harder to strip!

I've been on the road. Back home finally and catching up here. The Herc is looking very good!

Hi everyone,

I've been taking apart this '79 Sports to harvest it for parts. I've got the fenders (in surprisingly excellent shape, though not as nicely made as my '50 Superbe ones) a number of clips, the brake components, and I plan on taking the AW out of the rear wheel. Is there anything else I should take? The headset maybe and handlebars? What do you think?

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...103a2fba7b.jpg

Those stems are nice for a scorcher build.
You can move the bars forward a couple of inches.
Remember, everything on a Raleigh is proprietary and may be
useful in the future.
I would even keep the brake cable housings.
The cranks/chainring look good as well
The spindle and cups etc.

Hercules Chain Ring
For the sake of moving forward on this project
I'm going to substitute an newer generic crank set.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0d42e9a390.jpg
The originals, although they clean up well are still pretty rough.
The non drive crank also appears to be a replacement as the finish is different.
My pedal wrench is not thin enough to get the pedals off either.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b935e4529a.jpg

So for the time being I'll install this one.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a56402a6e9.jpg

I would save everything, except tires, and take the frame to a coop.

Funny thing about this bike. This later Sports should have a second rear fender stay. It doesn't. That's good since it could be used on a much older Sports project. And the chainguard. I can't tell for sure, but it looks like it may be the older style 2 point type. That would be very handy to have around since it's in such good shape. Wonder why this 70s Sports would have older parts.

It seems there's so many discrepancies with these later bikes to accurately date them This might be a Canadian model, judging by the alloy stem; 80's models even had alloy cranks. Terrible chrome of course. I thought 2 point chainguards were ubiquitous in this timeframe.
2 cents worth of opinion.
I've got a half dozen older chainguards in the stash if anyone needs one for the cost of shipping.

The bike has worked out well for me and it was a free derelict I found downtown. I can confirm its Canadian as the frame stamp starts with R. I plan to service the AW and keep it for future endeavours, but also as a learning experience before I service my 1953 FW and install it on my Peugeot AO8 commuter.
I think I will keep everything but the frame and take it to Yellow Bike, a bike coop here. I agree that the bottom bracket could come in handy someday so I'll use my soon to arrive cotter press to get at it properly. It was a timely arrival for sure, now I can finish up the '50.

I wish I could flip the bars on my Rudge because that looks so cool, but then they'd be too low (small frame). I could get a longer stem but that seems like idiocy. Anyway yours looks real good.

Big Chief if I could have put the BB together without looking I would have averted my eyes at what I was doing. I'll make it right eventually with new ball bearings and good spindle, and somewhere I'll find a good fixed cup, too.

Yeah, a proper scorcher should have flipped bars. My scorcher would look so much better that way, but it's still a mean machine. These days I have ride sit up and beg style if I want to last any longer then a half hour. Darn arthritis. But, I'm grateful that I can still enjoy riding.

BTW what are those tires?

Thanks. Thinking about shoes for the project bike I've just gotten back on the road. It's not quite finished, but at least I'm riding it. Might as well show a picture. It's on-topic here because AW hub. Was a street-find derelict Peugeot UE18 ('73? thereabouts). Someone parked it next to a wall that was being repointed so it and all its parts were covered with splashes of hardened mortar. The nice amenities like the fenders and original rack are horrible even though the fenders are stainless steel. A rear-tire generator was on it, too but I don't know if it's factory. Factory rear wheel, freewheel, derailleur long gone. Cranks/chainring also terrible. The front Normandy hub was there. I wanted a lighter bike anyway so after failing to find the right cotterless spindle I installed a VO cartridge BB. Got some inexpensive vintage-look cranks off eBay. CR18 rims, an AW hub ('73), a new Sunlite steel stem and alloy handlebars and crusty shifter I took off another derelict. Cleaned up the Mafac Racers. Sort of a mongrel but it's been a pleasure the short rides I've taken. I'm happy happy happy.https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2bbbe0d000.jpg

That looks like a fun bike. Nice job. Those Sunlite stems are great aren't they? Long legs...short frame...no problem :thumb: