auchencrow

Thank you Carl
- I looked and found the option for white steel fenders on the Golden Arrow called out on the catalog page that Neal originally posted (below).
My steel fenders are not white however - the finish on them and the faded gold pin striping is such a good match for the frame that I thought they were original, but nowhere have I seen a catalog reference (or a picture of another surviving example) with black fenders.

Singlespeed92

LMBO!!! BeLIEVE me,this I know,I've had (and still have at least 5) old bike projects

cazoo

I had a question about installing a front headlight on my Raleigh Sports. My bike didn't come with the standard Raleigh light bracket.


Do these vintage brackets work with modern headlights like the Soma Bullet?

auchencrow

What do you do for brakes on the old Raleigh 3-speeds?

I got the rust off my side-pull Raleigh steel calipers, reassembled them, and was re-cabling the bike today: I overcame the first hurdle, and got the knarp and cable to stay centered on the guide loop on the caliper arm.

Centering the caliper arms was another story entirely: The rear especially, was impossible, because every time I so much as snugged the nut at the brake bridge, the caliper arms bound up hard on each other.

auchencrow

The old lights had a c-shaped bracket to slip over the herons' head.
The Soma lamp is purported to mount on the fork or bars as shown.

sykerocker 

And the marshals wouldn't pass it on the field. And if they did, I'm sure the heralds would have some kind of kitten-snit problem.

JohnDThompson 

Only if you fit the specific mounting hardware onto the lamp:

nlerner

Three words: hammer and punch.

Neal

cobrabyte

1973/74 Raleigh Sports by (cobrabyte), on Flickr


1973/74 Raleigh Sports by (cobrabyte), on Flickr


1973/74 Raleigh Sports by (cobrabyte), on Flickr

sort of a frankenbike really, but all parts are from '72,'73,'74 Sports models, so it's mostly correct.

more here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cobraby...th/5804826135/

cazoo

I see. Looks like I'll just use whatever bracket the light comes with.

noglider 

cazoo, welcome.

folderfan550

What type of threading did Raleigh use for the handlebar, stem and seatpost bolts on Sports, etc.? The brown Raleigh Twenty was missing its seatpost clamp bolt and handle. I found the proper handle but the bolt I got with it is too short so I need to find a longer bolt. When I obtained the bolt and handle, I did not know that Raleigh had used a couple of different style clamps. The blue bike takes the shorter bolt.

ftwelder

Awesome Sports! And tree!

cazoo

That vintage flashlight is pretty cool looking!

noglider 

Looks like a banyan tree. I've seen a couple in Florida. They're amazing.

gna

Just like the Raleigh Factory.

rhm

The front of the brake should have a nut and a locknut, which have to be tightened against each other at exactly the right level of tightness, kinda like cones on a hub or something. Typically you have to tighten them both down, then loosen the locknut so it tightens up against the acorn nut, and then lock the two against each other. Once you have that adjustment right, loosen the nut on the back, and center the brake as well as you can, and tighten it up enough so it's not going anywhere. Now test the brake. If it's gone off center, now's the time to take Neal's advice. Put the punch on the very top of the spring, so you're not hammering on the spring but really on the side of the piece that holds the spring. Now, if you hit the punch with a hammer, you'll be turning the whole brake bolt a little bit. Once you have it right, tighten up that nut on the back.

auchencrow

Thanks RHM, but I think I have a slightly different situation...

- Here's a (pre-clean-up) picture: It does not have the usual hex nut arrangement common on most side pull calipers as described - rather just a large slot head screw - but even that is not the issue. The difficulty comes in because the spring is not sufficiently robust to overcome the friction between the caliper arms at the single pivot, despite that they are now rust free and lubed.

(I'm thinking of stopping it at the hardware store tomorrow, to see if they have any thin Teflon washers to insert between the pivots.)

auchencrow

When you see those trees you know you're not in Kansas anymore.

Sixty Fiver

There should be little to no friction between the arms and the action should be rather light on these brakes... put a spanner on the nut and back the screw out just a little to see if that helps.

wahoonc

AFAIK the Sports used the Raleigh proprietary 26tpi. The Twenty is different on some of the lever release stuff. I would have to check. I know that the lever and bolt for the frame release is 3/8" coarse thread (16tpi IIRC).

Aaron

nlerner

My usual approach is to use a large screwdriver for that exterior slot in the brake bolt and a wrench to hold the fixing nut. I tighten with the screwdriver and hold the nut until it's a bit too tight--I squeeze the calipers and they don't bounce back. Then, I back off with the screwdriver until the brakes spring back freely. Then, I use the hammer and punch method to center.

Neal

cobrabyte

@ ftwelder: thanks!

@ noglider: very good guess , but it is actually a moreton bay fig tree, these trees have huge roots that grow in a wavy formation above the ground. A banyon tree has roots that grow down from the branches until they reach the ground and dig in...more like the pic below: (and yes, they are amazing, they can grow to be HUGE, enough to where you can walk through one tree and it feels like a forest.)


Banyan Tree in Hawaii by BillyCrafton, on Flickr

@ cazoo: thanks! but it is actually a modern led flashlight I picked up at the local flea market, but I do have a small collection of vintage flashlights...this one is just brighter

@ gna: cool! did not know that

cobrabyte

[QUOTE=auchencrow;12742677]



very, very cool project

Mike Mills

These kinds of brake adjustment difficulties are what separate a great brakeset from the run of the mill.