gomango

Agreed.

Quite distinctive and looks like it is ready for many miles.

Lamplight

Thanks guys!

SingleTrack86

Thought I would drop in and give a quick update. Added Selle San Marco saddle, brooks leather bar tape, and was finally able to track down some brake hoods that actually fit. Tossed in a ride by the old paper factory from the other day too.

ChicagoGOBLUE

That's sexy. Love the black and white color scheme.

Rocket-Sauce 

Looks nice, but we need a drive side shot please!

SingleTrack86

Can do

Rocket-Sauce 

Tyodaman

73 Raleigh GP Gazelle. Not prepped yet.

77 Nishiki Olympic. Rides great. Not restored yet either.

cb400bill

Those are two very different size bikes.

Tyodaman

Yes they are!! I will ride them both though. For leisure fun. I ride a 2012 Specialized Secteur for sport/fitness. Couldn't pass these up. The Raleigh was being thrown in the city dump when I found it. Free.
The Nishiki I bought, $70. Just liked it.

bearpark

i'm not sure that this qualifies, but it was once a 1975 Woodrup Star Trophy, 53x53cm. I bought the frame in 2012 to ride at L'Eroica and outfitted it with an Arabesque groupset. Since returning from Italy I started used it for commuting and general recreational riding, and hope to get into the Audax scene later this year with it. I have changed the group for 9-speed Sora, with Dura Ace downtube shifters, modern brakes and 700C wheels. A retro-modern bike, if you will.

I still have a few upgrades planned including a small Nitto rack, better calipers and lower gearing, but for now here she is:

JimmmyFLR

Wow, I love seeing all of these classics, preserved and ridden! Great thread - throwing my hat in here. Here's my RB2 (1992, the commemorative reincarnation of a 1991 model that was stolen 20 years ago ) , the day I bought it 6 weeks ago and a shot from yesterday. I think the old girl is coming along!

DyranRim

I had no bike experience until last month when I got bored and started to try my hand at fixing up old bikes. Here's my two projects from the last month:


'89 Scwhinn World sport, everything is stock except the saddle. Picked it up for $25 at a garage sale, cleaned it up, threw on some new cables and tape. Rides pretty well.


I decided to get adventurous and turn this '88 C-Dale SM500 mtb into a road/cyclocross kinda bike. It was my dad's old bike, but had been sitting around for the last 15 years. Kept the cantilever brakes, but put a drop bar and some dia compe lever brakes with a new stem. Got the "new" parts from a local bike graveyard.

Rocket-Sauce 

Nice bike, but the brake cables are not meant to be taped. They will work much better and smoother if they have the proper length and gentle "loop" instead of the abrupt bend to fit under the tape.

There is a whole thread about drop bar conversions for classic MTBs somewhere here on Bikeforums. Great stuff.

PennyTheDog

I just finished this for my wife. Well, I thought I'd finished it before, but the bars were too low, so I replaced the stem and flipped the moustache bars. I like this bike, because it's the first bike she ever bought for herself, in 1993 when she was a medical student. And she rode the %$! out of it! I've never seen a chainring or cassette as worn as this was.

It was a fairly cheap bike when it was new, and I fixed it back up cheaply, but it rides nicely. The rear shifter is 8-speed and the cassette is 7-speed, and I followed Sheldon Brown's cable-routing directions to make it work. It seems to shift right on. A brand new 22-year-old bike!

InGrained

Sorry for the bad picture. I hope to have better clearer ones in the daylight outside. My father found this at a goodwill for 20 bucks. It's a western flyer ten speed. Not sure on the year. It's got some scrapes and a little rust. It's cables need replaced, derailleurs adjusted, cleaning and polishing. And it's frame needs some painting. It would be easy for most with experience but it would be my first attempt at restoration. It's daunting to an idiot like me whos experience is putting on and removing additions with occasional brake adjustment. I've only worked on my modern hybrid. First vintage and road bike I have ever owned. I am excited to work on it and learn.

RobbieTunes

All info says this is an '87, but it does not have lawyer lips on the fork dropouts, so go figure.

'87 D'Arienzo. (Basso's frame builder.) Columbus SLX.
80's style fade, but between the bands of color, the chrome shows through, so 80's, I had to hang onto it.
Suntour GPX, available 87-89. Wheels are GPX hubs laced to NOS polished tubular rims, Panaracer 270TPI skins.

Rides nicely. Stops better since I went w/red Kool Stop pads. 21.7 lbs.














This is before I cleaned it up, replaced the SLX decal, and removed 3 red stripe decals before/after the D'Arienzo logo.


For those that wonder if it's a Basso? I'd say, uh, yes.

horatio 

RobbieTunes

No words. Truly bikedom.

RobbieTunes

This is not mine. I can't ride one that big, and those shoes are too small. Go figure.
1985 Raleigh Super Course, part of the Racing USA series. Reynolds 555. Not sure what came on it.
Shimano Golden Arrow RD/FD/shifters. DiaCompe AeroCompe brake levers, GC300 calipers.
Raleigh crankset by SR, seat post by SR, Raleigh SP-153 pedals, Raleigh straps, with Sakae toe clips.
Headset is a Tange Aero, stem is SR Custom, bars are SR Raleigh branded. Selle Italia Gel Flow Flite.
Tires are close to OEM, IRC Roadlites. Hubs are Raleigh sealed bearing laced to Araya's. BB is Raleigh sealed.

This belongs to cehowardGS, who is ill but going through rehab after a couple of surgeries and a close call. Enjoy.

RobbieTunes

More.

cb400bill

Please tell cehowardGS that we wish him a speedy recovery!

plonz 

Love the chrome Raleigh's and that blue is gorgeous. Great job on the restoration. The golden arrow group looks great. Did you do the detail on those pieces and if so, what did you use?

RobbieTunes

Thanks, and those Raleighs can grow on you. I've done one of his Gran Prix models of the same year (red, accents are all white), and I'm doing another Gran Prix, also red, with black accents, modern components.

The restoration was 90% elbow grease, but the frame was in pretty good shape. The chrome areas were covered with clear coat, and I removed that by just rubbing the heck out of it with 0000 steel wool and rubbing compound.

There were very few touch-up areas, and I mixed dabs of Sharpie blue and black paint pens onto a piece of vinyl, mixed them with a Q-tip until I was close, and used the same Q-tip to apply the paint. While it was tacky, I gently wiped what excess off that I could with a Q-tip dipped in mineral spirits. There was still excess paint on both side of the scratches, so I rolled another Q-tip in rubbing compound, and very slowly rubbed off the excess touch-up paint with that. Worked fairly well.

I had no problem disassembling and cleaning the calipers and levers; being in good shape, they made this easy, WD-40 toothbrush scrub and then 0000 steel wool, followed by a hot water rinse, wipe down and air dry.

The Golden Arrow stuff needed scrubbing with WD-40, completely disassembled, and then hot water rinse, air dry, re-assembly. I then wiped out the engravings with mineral spirits to make sure they were ready for paint. I went to Hobby Lobby and got a gold Craftsmart paint pen, ball point, and very carefully filled in the engravings. I still got some on the components, wiped gently with mineral spirits, then the rubbing compound on a Q-tip on the edges to make them clean.

The spokes are actually galvanized, not stainless, so I was careful wiping them down. Cleaning a galvanized spoke can often make them duller, so I used WD-40 and a cloth, nothing abrasive. The rims just needed to be wiped down with WD-40 and 0000 steel wool, which generally does not hurt anodizing. Same with the hubs, same with the pedals and crankset and rings (disassembled).

The OEM stem was black, same SR Custom, but I'm saving that for the black-accented Gran Prix.

I now have the Golden Arrow calipers and non-aero Golden Arrow brake levers, no hoods. I will clean them up, accent them with the gold, and hold them in case Coleman wants to use them. The GC300 calipers, with their cam adjustment and oval pads, are just way cool. I like the Aero Compe levers because they are spring-loaded.

Sure thing, Bill.

LrnFzx

My new Hot Rod from an old Schwinn frame.