nlerner

Stick some upright bars and a B.66 on an early 70s Competition, and you'll essentially have the same bike (though in black, of course)!

cudak888 

Yep, but without the pizzazz of that lime green and the Stronglight crankset...

-Kurt

stevel610 

With the new wheels: Quanta sealed bearing cartridge hubs to 36 hole Sun CR18 rims. The hubs are amazingly smooth when new and the (machine built) wheels only took a few minutes to tension. Removing the front and rear reflector provide enough room for the 1 1/4 inch tires.

Also added the Brooks Conquest for now. The seat post is a little short so the Conquest adds an inch or so to the saddle height.

As things move along I will be cleaning it up a bit.

kkraoj

Wow there are some really nice bikes in here and I thought Raleigh's were rare.

Pcampeau

I’ve got to find a jersey like yours. That is nice!

Pcampeau

This is a beautiful example. Is it missing some paint on the stays where a rack was attached or is that tape residue? Either way the rest of the paint is great shape.

OldBike876

It seems that my "1 project at a time" rule bends a bit. The '80 (in brown) is on the block, but the '49 (in green) was too good to pass up. At least in have the winter project all settled early this year.

sheddle

Well, it's no longer in great shape.


Took the bike to a local shop to get the seatpost greased, and a new set of clinchers, and it came back like this. Both crimps are symmetrical (two identical dents with a "ridge" between them), and almost have to be from a work stand.

The shop is adament that the bike was like this when I dropped it off, but I can't think of anything I would have done that could have caused this. I don't have a workstand in my apartment, and unless I'm going crazy, the picture from yesterday doesn't show any sign of crimping.

I did transport the bike at some point, but it was laid down in the car, not put in a rack.

I believe these crimps can be fixed with frame blocks, and the middle of the seatpost is a low risk area, but god damn. I'd suspect the shop more, but it's maybe the Seattle shop with the best reputation, and one I've worked with well many times over the last few years. Is there anything other than a workstand which could have caused this symmetrical seat tube crimping?

​​​​​

cudak888 

Given that there's no paint loss, definitely some kind of a stand clamp that was padded enough not to mar the paint when crimping it. This would have required a hell of a lot of force. You would know if you did this.

At any rate, oust the name of the shop please - start a new thread, preferably. You already have before-and-after proof.

It's possible with a long enough seatpost to rectify some of that by inserting the seatpost in the hole and banging the hell out of it from the inside out. Both the mechanic and the frame.

-Kurt

sheddle

I don't want to out the name of the shop, because it's a shop I've dealt with for years for vintage bikes, enough to know that they would not be outright dishonest. I suspect someone made a mistake and didn't realize it. I've made enough mistakes in my life to know that your memory can sometimes just be outright wrong. (tbh, anyone in Seattle could probably guess the shop just by my description)

I have a statement and photographs from the seller that the seat tube was not damaged when the bike was sold two days ago (the last possibility I was keeping in mind was that I somehow missed the frame damage and my prior photo was somehow perfectly lit to hid the crimping). I'm going to go to a frame shop tomorrow and get a quote for repairs, and hopefully get a statement that this was very likely caused by a repair clamp. Ideally I'd like to get the repair costs covered, but it's not like I have a video of someone in the shop wrenching down on the seat tube or anything.


E) just a quick question: would clamping the frame without the seat tube in place potentially make it much easier to crimp? Just wondering because the main reason I took the bike in was to get the post greased.

steelbikeguy

It's a neat jersey, if only for the front pockets and embroidered logo.
For me, I like that it is the jersey shown in the 1976(?) Raleigh catalog (here in the USA) on the page for the Raleigh International....



The only thing I don't like about my jersey is that the bands at the end of the sleeve are tiny. Perhaps it was washed incorrectly in the past? In any case, they fit tightly around my arms, but the rest of the jersey is probably a bit too large for me.
For reference, here are the dimensions when I lay the jersey flat on the floor:
19" across the chest
29.5" from top of collar to bottom of the jersey
3.5" across the band at the end of the sleeve (7" circumference)
weight 425 grams (quite heavy even compared to my other vintage wool or wool blend jerseys). Not a jersey to be worn on a warm day!

Steve in Peoria

Pcampeau

Thanks steelbikeguy, I’ll be looking for one. It looks like the perfect thing for a Minnesota fall season.

the sci guy 

I replaced the crappy original Weimann brake calipers as well because they had almost zero stopping power. Replaced them with Tektro R539s and they look good.
Mine is a '74 as well, and it also has Maillard 700 hubs. I saved them for a new wheel build later, but because the original rims/spokes not usable I had to replace they entire wheel with modern english threaded hubs on a pre-built wheel. When I have money later I'll have someone build wheels around those Maillards.
It also had the mattress saddle, but that was the first thing I tossed in the garbage.

Holy crap dude. I would be unreservedly livid. I hope you can get that sorted.

PilotFishBob 

Out with the '70 Competition this morning. The only lady I happened upon wasn't particularly chatty and had poor taste in bikes.

tpadul 

Didn't you just post about this bike getting damaged at the LBS the other day? These photos don't show any damage at all and you posted these on 9/18/2020 so have you shown them these photos as proof that the bike was not damaged when you brought it in for service??

noglider 

They are not rare. Raleigh was the world's biggest bike maker for many decades. The company exported bikes all around the planet.

BFisher

Right on.
Raleighs are about as rare as pennies, although plenty of sellers seem to believe otherwise.

Fun recent observation - every time I take my Raleigh out for a spin, I see a great blue heron. Wish I had a better compact camera.

DQRider 

1949 Clubman - "Patina Preservation Project", 3-speed 700c conversion:





Super-Course custom built 5-speed IGH/700c conversion:



DL-1 Restoration:





And in the queue for this winter is a 1986 Raleigh Portage touring project.

.

Murray Missile 

I know some don't consider these proper Raleighs but I just snagged this '85 Competition a few days ago. For once I wasn't a day late and a dollar short. Now I need to get busy on my '85 Prestige and then get this one back in shape.

autostrada048

I think my frame is a Raleigh but who knows. Can someone help me figure out what my bike is?

THIS is a link to my thread and a photo of the frame below. I was told Gugie might know, Is he still on here?

noglider 

My retro-modded 1971 Raleigh Super Course, now with a 2x8 drivetrain and dynamo lights.

ascherer 

Jolly good! It looks great, Tom. Is it fully together now? Are you loving it up?

noglider 

Yes it rides great though it's quite heavy with all the accessories and the steel cranks. The tires are not ideal for gravel riding, but that won't stop me, since my slick 28mm tires don't stop me. The 2x8 drivetrain is better than I expected. And now I have two headlights and maybe two taillights, so I'll be ready for night riding on country roads.

JacobLee 

That thing is business time! Seems like it would be more difficult to find a steel crank than an aluminum one! Are you going for bullet-proof?

noglider 

I misspoke. The arms are aluminum but the rings are steel. Still heavy. I got them cheap and they work great.