Sunday, August 17, 2014

1977 Raleigh Record LTD Mixte- Campus bike rebuild Part II-nobody said it'd be easy

Well, not everything went wrong...I did get the seat post cleaned up.
a bit rusty
fairly shiny
What the pictures don't show is that I also took apart the clamp, cleaned it up and greased the rails and got it all back together.


I also got the bottom bracket cleaned up and installed.
prepping
Installed minus lock ring
Then things got a bit bumpy.  First issue bottom bracket spindle nuts.  I thought I could just get them at the hardware store...wrong.  I found nuts that were the right size and thread pitch but they were too fat!  no room to get a socket in to turn the bolt.
bigger not better

Issue number two the center pull straddle cable didn't work for the rear brake.  On a mixte the rear brake is a bit funky mounting to a bracket about halfway up the seat tube and needing to go around that tube.  A standard 110 mm straddle cable, I found out doesn't have enough length to do that.
a bit tight
Issue number three was fork steer tube length.  I knew when I ordered the replacement fork that it would be longer than the original and so I also ordered some spacers...just not enough.  I don't have a picture of that, think I was swearing, but imagine the top nut and then a space of threads and then the top spacer.

Issue number four was also fork related-crown race size.  As I mentioned in Part I, a new headset got ordered when I ordered the fork.  Now as you may know for most 10 speed forks there are two sizes of fork crown races either 26.4 or 27.0.  I ordered the new headset basing the size on what a 1977 Raleigh would have come with-26.4.  WRONG.  I should have considered the size of the crown race on the new fork I ordered which was of course -27.0.  It occurred to me I had an issue when I was trying to set the crown race and the damn thing wouldn't budge.
Fork packaging with the determining measurement
Nice ordering you git!
And lastly, I hope, issue number five was the front derailleur.  As I pointed out in Part I this bike lacked an FD, and so I went to Bike Works to pick up a used one.  As you may know most bike boom bikes had 28.6 diameter seat tubes while later aluminum bikes came with beefier 34.6 seat tubes.  The FD I picked out was a SunTour and therefore pretty old so no worries about the clamp diameter right?  Yep WRONG when I got it home and dry fitted it I found it was too big.

The good news is I have figured out work arounds for all of those issues which I will get into later, the bad news is I spent so much time sorting them that I had very little time to assemble the dang bike.
coming along...slowly
So rather than spending the weekend assembling the bike and finishing it on Sunday, I spent my time trouble shooting.  Part III is going to be a bit delayed as I am going on vacation next week so sometime after that I will finish the bike (I hope) and this series of posts.

Until then -Ride. Smile.Repeat.



8 comments:

  1. What a nice start to this project. This looks like it will turn into a real beauty. One to showcase in your portfolio. looking forward to the finish

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    1. Thanks Jim, this project thrown me more curveballs than expected so I too am looking forward to the finish and having lots of pictures to show of the completed project. This is my first time mounting a Wald front basket and my first use of a replacement fork.

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  2. Looks good so far but very cruel to go on vacation in the middle of multiseries bike builds ; )

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    1. accyclist- its a dirty job but somebody's got to do it ;-). In all seriousness I had expected to have the bike built last weekend and delivered on Monday but all the issues detailed above delayed the assembly process. Fortunately I have a patient and understanding niece.

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  3. This will be a poor woman's Cheviot, made by a kind hearted uncle. It will undoubtedly have much more character than Rivendell's version and in my favorite classic color: red. I can't wait to see the final project.

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    1. "A poor woman's Cheviot"- I like that -thanks Annie. I too am looking forward to the final project ;-)

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