vonfilm 

My wife has always been a runner. The doctor says no more of that because of a knee problem. I have suggested that she cycle for exercise and for non-impact therapy for her knees. Toward that end I have overhauled and modified the 20" framed 1976 Raleigh Super Course MK II that I purchased a few years ago for my wife and son to ride. My son rode it until he outgrew it but my wife never did.

The idea was to make it as easy as possible to ride. It now has North Road handlebars and thumb shifters , a Sugino 46/36/26 triple and a 6 speed Shimano 14-34 freewheel. The FD is an older Shimano XT and the RD a SunTour Vx-GT. The grips are real cork from Rivendell. Tektro FL-750 levers control the stock Weinman centerpulls. The tires are the Kenda gumwalls that were on it when I bought it. If my wife gets into riding this, I may replace the saddle with a Brooks B66 or B67.

Untitled by vonfilm, on Flickr

Untitled by vonfilm, on Flickr

Untitled by vonfilm, on Flickr

Untitled by vonfilm, on Flickr

Untitled by vonfilm, on Flickr

Untitled by vonfilm, on Flickr

Untitled by vonfilm, on Flickr

Untitled by vonfilm, on Flickr

non-fixie 

Good approach. I speak from experience.

nlerner

Nifty, but that's some tight clearance under the fork crown!

Bianchigirll 

That is just the angle, look at the pic just above.


Great looking package!!! I hope she really enjoys it.




PS what is the multiple rocket launcher for? A dispute with the neighbors?

SteveSGP

Love it! I'm just finishing the green version of the same bike.

auchencrow

It seems most runners pay a dear price with their knees down the road. - But kudos to you for putting your sweetie on a Super Course!
BTW - I think the B66/7 would be a great choice. I'd opt for a brown one in this case.

JBC353

Very nice and +1 on the B66/7. Nothing discourages a new rider faster than an uncomfortable seat. I made sure my wife knew she had lots of options on seats. After a number of discouraging trials with wide/soft ones she asked to try my B67. A quick swap, a few adjustments and tweaks and she was won over. This time I had to good sense not to say "I told you so".

Grand Bois

I think she might like the Brooks B18. My wife loves hers.

non-fixie 

Just mounted this on my wife's bike. She really likes it:

The Golden Boy 

You have to love a girl who knows her MLRS!

John E

Nice work. The Super Course is a cool and versatile frameset, the SunTour V-GT is one of the best wide-range derailleurs ever devised, and of course I am partial to red bikes with white head tubes. The only change I would make would be salmon KoolStop brake pads.

vonfilm 

It is actually the lighter Vx-GT rear derailleur.

Velocivixen

That's a gorgeous bike! Well thought out too. I hope she really likes it and has fun & adventure with it.

Bianchigirll 

I have handled and load almost all this stuff.

Wildwood 

What a Gal!

vonfilm 

Early this morning Mrs. Vonfilm and I took the Super Course and my 86 Peloton out to a huge empty parking lot near our home to try out the Super Course. After a little rundown on shifting we started our ride. The fit appears to be perfect and she was soon pedaling smoothly. I urged her to try out the shifting and she worked her way through the gears. It was a little hard for her to work the shifters against the springs into the big ring and the bigger cogs. The height of the North Road bars suited her well. She said the saddle was comfortable, though after about 30 minutes of. riding her bottom was starting to get sore. I told her that was normal and that her bottom would break in after awhile.

I am thinking about converting this to indexing with something like some Rapidfire shifters. I know that I would have to replace the rear derailleur. Would the XT FD index the Sugino triple?

What would be a good index group that would play well with the Sugino triple and the Shimano 7 speed 14-34 Megarange freewheel?

Mrs. Vonfilm says that she also needs a mountain bike for the hike and bike trail around Ladybird Lake.

Bianchigirll 

If she doesn't mind the thumb shifts but is just having trouble finding the gear I would go for some sun race or cheap shimno thumb shifters Then all you need a decent long cage RD like a STX to match the shimano FW you already have.

non-fixie 

I like these. Shimano ST-EF50. They're available in 3x7 and 3x8 versions, in silver or black, brake pull can be adjusted for calipers or v-brakes and they're cheap and reliable. I have them on several 2x7 and 3x7 bikes.

vonfilm 

I was thinking that she could keep her hands on the grips with a rapidfire shifter. Has anyone tried the M310 shifters and derailleurs? Grant Peterson speaks well about the M310 rear derailleur.

vonfilm 

That looks good, but I think I would like to retain the Tektro FL750 brake levers.

Bianchigirll 

Hey how many speeds is that? I got some lowend 6spd grip shifters off a old Roadmaster my neighbor was pitching. You can have them for postage if you think they will work. The front shifter seemed to be retrofriction rather than indexed.

vonfilm 

The Sunrace thumb shifters on there now are ratcheting friction shifters. I went with friction to use the SunTour Vx-GT RD that I had on hand. I made some adjustments this afternoon and changed the shifter's position a little.

BG, thanks for the offer, but I don't think I want to go the grip shifter route.

Hopefully Mrs. VF will be able to join me on my early morning rides this week. We will see if she can become acclimated to friction shifting. The only bike that she ever had(a Schwinn Breeze in storage at her sister's house) had a SA 3 speed igh. I want her cycling experience to be as easy as possible so she will want. to get out and ride. She is really missing her running and has been resistant to a different exercise.

vonfilm 

Coming soon: photos of Mrs. Vonfilm’s Super Course after being prepared for sale locally.
As it turned out, my wife rode the Super Course very little and now that I know she can ride the 93 Trek 930 and the 200x Jamis Coda Sport with a simple seatpost repositioning, we will be letting the 20” 76 Super Course go.

I have installed drop bars and replaced the Sugino Triple with a Suntour Sprint 52/42 double. A Suntour AR will now take care of the Megarange 6 speed 14-34 freewheel with an unknown Suntour front derailleur. Suntour non aero levers will work the original Weinman center pulls. It will retain the MKS Sylvan touring pedals. Huret clamp on down tube shifters will pull the shifter cables.

A new pair of Panaracer Pasella 27x1 1/8 gum walls are on the way. I believe the rims to be original.

I like this Raleigh quite a lot, but it is too small for me to ride at all. It will make a nice vintage ride for someone under 5’ 5”.

John E

I put a megarange freewheel on my wife's bike before they were fashionable. We were on a "staring newlywed grad students" budget in 1973, and I was working weekends and holidays at a Peugeot/Nishiki dealership to supplement my teaching assistantship and her high school substitute teacher pay. I bought a bare Peugeot UO-8 frame, got a used TA Professional crankset with 52-42 rings, and assembled a 16-18-21-24-32 SunTour freewheel. With a Shimano Titlist front derailleur, the SunTour V-GT rear derailleur from my Nishiki, a set of OEM Peugeot UO-18 mixte straight handlebars, Schwinn TwinStik stem shifters, and the original wheels and 27 x 1-1/4" tires from my Nishiki, she was good to go. About 20 years later, after she discovered trail riding and mountain bikes and grew increasingly intimidated by traffic, I did essentially what you did, repurposing the UO-8 for my own use, with a narrower saddle, tighter gear ratios, drop bars, and barcons. Our advantage over you and your wife is that both of us can ride a 21" frame.

My UO-8 with barcon cables routed between the rack and the cylindrical Bellwether front bag.

tkamd73 

Love the bike, very thoughtful build. Those Shimano freewheels are ugly, but they way improve shifting performance. I’ve put them on just about all my vintage bikes.
Tim