Closing in... (Raleigh Super Course Part IX)

almost there doc

I can just hear Bugs saying "you're getting warmer doc" as things start coming together.  The rear wheel, which wasn't supposed to arrive until Thursday, arrived on Tuesday and got put through the new wheel protocol.

As it turned out it did need a bit of truing so I got out my spoke wrench and reference guide, the very good manual by Leonard Zinn- Zinn and the art of Road bike maintenance , and got to work. 

hitting the books

Once that was done I got some new rubber mounted on the rim and now we just await the new 6 speed freewheel, to be delivered today, before putting it on the bike.

Dude where's my freewheel!

I also started to run the shift cabling so it would ready to be finished once I mount the rear wheel and chain.  This gave me a chance to use my newest bike tool, before I left REI I purchased a Park cable & housing cutter using my small discount.  I started out with a cheap no name cable cutter a long time ago and quickly tired of poor cuts resulting in frayed cable ends.  I moved from that to a PBK (Pro bike kit an English online bike retailer) brand one that had been doing a good job but was starting to come up with poor cuts too.  So far I am really liking the clean crisp cuts of the Park CN-10.




out with the old and in with the new

One thing I like to do with cables is to keep some of the old cable housing lengths if I think they looked good on the bike, in particular for the final front derailleur housing.  I use the old musty ones as a template for the new ones.

And I think it works pretty well.

For the shifter housing I was on my own as we swapped road drop bars for city bars on this build.  Unless Joe wants to do "twirlies" like a bmx rider I think the length will be fine. 

This the third build I have used the Jagwire gold shift and brake cable & housing kit on and I think it will look good playing off the brown of the frame.  I wanted something with a bit more pizazz than black for the Sophisticated Gentleman's Upright city bike.


Since the Saddle had plenty of time to dry after I washed it, I went to phase two and applied the Obenauf's saddle goop. 

Pre saddle goop

I try not to be miserly with the goop especially on an old saddle but I also try to wipe off the excess before I let sit.




post saddle goop

Still have more to do like; mount the freewheel, put on the rear wheel, run the chain, dial in the shift cables, add the brake cables, attach saddle to seat post and mount, test ride etc.. but its coming together and I hope that the next post will include some pictures of the finished product.  Until then...


Ride. Smile. Repeat