Which old road bikes/brands are great for customizing?
 

I'm wondering what older brands and makes are great for tinkering, fiddling, swapping parts, and have a large selection of compatible peices. I hear French brands may have part sizes which can be hard to find?

I'm surfing around craigslist looking for a fun project bike for a beginner bike mechanic.

A vintage mountain bike with a rigid fork.

A japanese vintage road bike preferably with long reach sidepulls or center pulls.

There are too many to list, but my favorite might be the Raleigh International of the 1970's. Lots of Raleighs are nice.

It's true that French bikes can pose problems because of threadings and dimensions. I feel it's a shame the metric system lost in the bike world, but that's what happened.

The most predictably standardized bikes might be the Japanese bikes of the 1980's. They were also very well made.

I have customize upgrade one steel road bianchi strada lx. is had the old freewheel i put cassete on that bike i have wheels. From 12 speeds i make that bike 18 speeds now is have crank 53/39 and cassete 9 speeds 12-27. And fulcrum racing 7 wheels. But i have problems with the rim tape is move on the side and the innertube go in the spoke holes and do hole in the innertube. Is 16mm rim tape. Does anyone know what size rim tape that wheels take? Also mountain bikes steel is good to upgrade. I have one steel mountain bike with rigid fork. is trek 830 antelope. 18" frame.Is had triple crank 48/38/28. I put on that bike crank 52/40 and i want try put crank 53/39 and 9 speeds cassete 12-25. Now the cassete is 7 speeds 13-30 i feel is too wide. My height is 5`7" and my inseam is 32". The 18" frame size is okay for me or i need bigger frame?

You should make a new thread on this, bobbyl1966. You'll get more people seeing it.

Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for those raleighs.

The OP has to be careful of Raleighs from the mid-70's and prior, particularly the UK built ones. They have proprietary threading for the bottom brackets and steerers and compatible components are getting hard to find. I believe the "Raleigh Internationals" have English threading but be sure of what you buy.

As to Japanese bikes from the 80's and 90's, I certainly agree they make a very good basis for restoring, modernizing or customizing. They are generally well made and take conventional and readily available parts. Many are quite cheap but some have gotten pricey (Bridgestones in particular) as they have collectors value. Older Trek frames are also a good start.

Higher end Raleighs like the International, Professional and the Competition used standard English threading, it was only the lower end bikes that used proprietary Raleigh threading and those frames would be much less interesting for someone wanting to update

Right, but the OP may not know the difference unless it is pointed out. To the newcomer, an old Raleigh is an old Raleigh.

Very true, however, the specific suggestion of looking for an International is a good one

good advice from everyone, I start the tinkering bug about 15 yrs ago and also started with a bunch of japanese, english and american bikes. my first "good" bike as a kid was a lower end Peugeot, but haven't worked on a French bike since. Italian bikes aren't the best value either and most use their threading, ironically I started with a early 80's Ciocc 15 years ago with this craze as it was the bike I wanted but couldn't afford as a kid, hence the low end Peugeot. If you are looking to strip the bikes completely and swap parts, I would suggest mid 80s to early 90s steel bikes using 700c or 26" wheels. A few early bikes with aluminum head tubes bit the dust when I started hammering on them with home made tools you'll learn to make along the way. Happy hunting...

+1 on 80's Japanese 10 speeds. They are very good donor bikes for a project (Nishiki, Panasonic, Bridgestone, Miyata, ...are some of the common ones)

+1 on early no-suspension mtb bikes (Specialized, Trek, Gary Fisher, etc). They make excellent commuter frames.

I generally don't go back farther than 80's because of threadings and sizes (French, Italian, etc) and I avoid cottered cranks.

But the best advice I would give you (if you haven't already discovered the reference) is to go read all the stuff from Sheldon Brown. He was pretty amazing.

I guess I would have to say almost any brand of the pre-'85 brazed lugged frame bike in good condition would be fine

+1

Mid-'80's Japanese brand bikes seem to have fairly standard components. My first ever "tinker" & learn on bike was a '70's Motobecane Grand Jubile. I knew it would likely have different threading, etc., but was still frustrating for a beginner.

Remember to have fun.

These are some amazing suggestions. Thank you all, this has been a HUGE help.

Yea for a while France wanted to be all Metric, so they rounded off the fractional equivalencies every one else used . frame tube and stems and so forth

so things that were 7/8" 22.2mm were 22.0mm, 1"/25.4mm to 25.0mm , and so forth ...

Is there a way to visually tell if it's an International, Professional or Competition? Some listings and pictures don't have that information. Any visual queues to help me out?

Read back thru the many pages here ? : Classic & Vintage

Smartazz.

They were different in various years, so I could tell you some visual cues, but they would apply to some years and not others, which would be confusing.

I will say that if the serial number begins with W, then it is one of the higher quality bikes made at the Worksop Carlton factory, but even that only applies to bikes after the early 70's.

There are scans of catalogs available on the 'net which will help you tell models apart. Also, google images helps a great deal.

You mentioned the Raleigh International (which looks amazing and I'll be keeping my eye out for it), but what about the Raleigh Grand Prix? I've fallen in love with this green model:
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=410770

If you look at old catalogs, you will see that the Grand Prix was an entry level bike, very much at the lower end of the line. I wouldn't look at any old Raleigh lower down the line than the Super Course

Interesting. I guess i'm digging into some old Raleigh Catalogs tonight :) Thanks for info.

I like the mid to late 80's Panasonic-built Schwinns with the Tenax tubing. All standard parts and generally sweet geometry, low weight and inexpensive. Can't go wrong.