1968 (?) Raleigh Super Course Part I -the before

I corresponded with my friend Joe last year and it turns out he had a vintage Raleigh Super Course hanging in his basement that he was interested in having refurbished.  Having never worked on a Super Course before I was of course(pun intended) interested.   I was in Portland recently to visit my Mom and stopped by Joe's to pick up the Super Course project and bring it back to the workshop.

I haven't pinpointed the exact year yet but I know Joe got the bike in 1970 from the original owner so I figure late 1960's.  Like most project bikes; its grimy, its got some pitted chrome on the front forks and its in need of alot of TLC, so pretty much SOP.  The Super Course came with Reynolds 531 main tubes, quick release hubs (many 10 speeds of the late 60s still had bolt ons), chromed rear stays and a Brooks saddle.  This one came in Coffee Brown, so I guess Raleigh knew it would eventually end up in the coffee crazy Pacific Northwest.

Pitted chrome on front fork with QR

Model B.15

While discolored the leather isn't cracked and doesn't appear too dried out.  One of the things I like about this era of Raleigh are the ornate lugs.

Fork crown

seat cluster

Head tube

This Super Course  also has a different (earlier) head badge than the other Raleigh's I have worked on.  It still has the regal Heron motif but as a solid badge, rather than  one with cut outs.

Cool pre 70's head badge

Another first for me will be working on Huret derailleurs, this bike is equipped with the Huret Svelto rear which has a unique design compared to the SunTour, Shimano and Campagnolo's of the 10 speed era.

Huret Rear

Huret Front

And this vintage 10 speed has my old friend the cottered crank. Which through long experience and a great tool I can handle.

A few things I have learned in working on old 10 speeds will come in handy working on this project.  First of all this Super Course has an AVA stem so I will need to look it over carefully to be sure its not a dreaded "death stem" model.

AVA stem

There is also a tiny brake cable end that fits into the brake bridge, you don't want to misplace this part - believe me.

Don't misplace the tiny parts!

I also have some shifter challenges to overcome although this bike might get configured as a city bike so I would be moving the shifters anyway - we'll see.

"lefty"

"righty"

So I have added a new project to the queue, I need to get back to work on the Torpado Alpha and I need to revamp the Motobecane Grand Touring but I look forward to getting this Super Course back on the road in style.

Until next time Ride. Smile. Repeat.

A few 2015 upgrades for the Motobecane Grand Touring

I am not one for resolutions but I would like to ride more in 2015.  To that end I did some thinking, and some shopping, about what would make riding easier in 2015.  Last year I finally found a bike I had spent a number of years looking for.  In rebuilding old 10 speeds I had developed a fondness for Motobecanes.  About 4 years ago I built up a Motobecane Nomade II, this was an nice bike but an entry level 10 speed I had every intention of selling.  When I test rode it, however, I was amazed at how well it fit, so I measured it very carefully with the thought that I would find a higher end MB someday to fix up for myself.  That day finally came last may when I came across this 1978 Motobecane Grand Touring on craigslist.

My reality for 2015 is that I am older, not very fit and live in a very hilly place so going with a completely stock 1978 Motobecane isn't going to work for me.  My first priority was to get gears that would make riding in my hilly neighborhood easier.  I had been eyeing the Velo Orange 46/30 Grand Cru crankset which I like not only for its hill friendly gears but also for its style, so that was the first thing in the shopping cart once I found a deal online.

To complement this new crank I figured I would go with a new bottom bracket, which is a bit tricky because for this year of Motobecane it's possible that the BB is;  French threaded, Swiss threaded or even English!  To avoid the potential problem of choosing the wrong BB I decided  to go with a  VO Grand Cru threadless BB.  I will let you know how that turns out when I install it but one thing that convinced me to go this route was that the existing threads can still be used after the threadless BB is removed, so I can also go back to the stock set up if I want.

no threads no dread of choosing wrong

To complete the new crank set up I picked up a pair of my favorite pedals the Shimano PD 324's, which gives me the ability to jump on the bike in sneakers or clip in for a "serious" ride while retaining a classic look.

I go both ways...

One thing I did not like about the bike when I got it were the brake levers.  They are obviously modified "safety lever" controls and I don't like the look.

cruelly cut down in a back alley somewhere

So I went with some nice Origin8 levers that are kind of a poor mans version of the TRP levers I put on my Velo Orange Rando  build.

Love that drilled look

I also have a Carradice Barley bag on order from the UK, this bike is called a Grand Touring after all. I don't know about the "Grand" part but I would like to get out and do some B&B overnights with this bike.

Mine is green with brown straps

I also have a few ideas about the cable housing and bar wrap combination but I will save that until I actually get it done.  In the meantime I have a Torpado Alpha to finish up but this gives me something to dream about and strive for in 2015,  a nice day long ride in say Portland Or, to a McMenamins pub for a well earned burger and a pint and a place to lay my head.

Happy riding in 2015.

Early 1970's Torpado Alpha Part II Disassembly

Standard FW on the left Racing on the right

The next step after acquiring the bike and giving it the once over is to take it down to the frame so it can be cleaned up and rebuilt.  I usually like to reuse as many of the original parts as I can, excepting the consumables like; rubber, bar tape, cables and chains etc., but in the case of this bike I am not sure about keeping the stock free-wheel.  As you can see from the picture above it has a minuscule range that while great for racing isn't a great fit for hilly Seattle.

One lesson I have learned is the importance of documenting how things are put together - before I take them apart.  With that in mind I tried to take a lot of pictures while taking the bike down to the frame.

rear brake attachment

Headset spacer order

Front brake attachment

Another thing about taking the bike down to the frame is you find things you can't detect from visually inspecting the bike while its complete.  Is the seat post stuck? is the stem stuck?  thank goodness neither of my biggest fears were realized.  I did find a few unexpected issues though:

a bent seat-post bolt

a bent cotter pin

In addition to the seat-post bolt being bent the cable guide is also pretty rusted so I am going to replace them both.  The bent cotter pin gave me a little fright as I was worried I wasn't going to be able to get it out and then I would have to deal with potentially replacing crank and BB.  Fortunately I was able to straighten out the cotter pin enough to drive it the rest of the way out with the cotter press and that was a big relief.  I have two new cotter pins ready to go and will be able to use the stock crank and BB.

Finally it was down to removing the headset and fork to complete the take down.  One thing I try to do with headset parts is keep them in order and then zip tie them once I have them removed.  They can even be cleaned in the sonic cleaner like that so that I can put things back in the right order.  That is especially helpful when it might be a weeks between disassembly and putting things back together.

Headset removed except for cups

Fork out with lower bearings

Keeping headset pieces together and in order 

So now the bike is down to the frame and ready for the next step - getting all those parts cleaned, polished, lubed and back together.

down to the frame

Speaking of polish I was pleased with how a quick Dremel with brass wire brush worked on the chromed head-tube lugs.

a little Dremel work in the middle of the lug

Now I just need to get motivated and start getting parts cleaned, framed cleaned and waxed, and all four main bearings rebuilt and we can get this Italian beauty back together.  Until next time; Ride.Smile.Repeat.

In the work-stand: Early 1970's Torpado Alpha

Now that I am done with the campus bike project for my Niece its time to move onto the next bike in the queue while the weather is still nice.  I wrote about the Torpado here back in January, since my options were to work on a complete bike or build one up from a frame-set, old Motobecane Mirage, I went with the complete bike.

I've noticed that on last few projects that I have jumped right in without much thought to whether I had all the parts I needed, so for this project I decided to give my parts bin and the bike a careful going over.  That helped me realize that I did not need to order brake pads, but that I was out of new chains and 27" tubes.  It was pretty obvious I would need new tires.

"All Original"

One benefit of a careful inspection was I discovered something about my brake levers.

The sharp eyed will notice that the levers are not the same.  One is fairly nice with a built in quick release.

The other is a converted "safety lever" model and is a bit Rube Goldberg to my eye.

Call me anal but it would bug me to finish the bike with this set up, fortunately I have a nice set of drilled Weinmann's that I can use instead of the existing set.

However there is one issue, ain't that always the case!, the drilled levers have no clamps for the handlebars so I am hoping I can cannibalize the mismatched set to make this work.

Giving this bike a careful once over also made me realize I would need to change how I route the brake cables.  Normally I like to run the the right lever to the rear brake but on this bike there is internal routing for the rear brake cable on the left side of the top tube so using my normal routing would mean some messy cable routing, so for this rebuild I am going to run the left lever to the rear brake (which I believe is how motorcyclist run their brakes) to keep things tidy.

So now that I have things scoped out and all the parts assembled (I hope) the next step is to take this Italian beauty down to the frame and start the rebuild, and find out what I have missed ;-) 

Until next time; Ride.Smile.Repeat.

1977 Raleigh Record LTD Mixte- Campus bike rebuild Part IV- Finished!

Well after what seems like way too long I finally got my Nieces' campus bike finished.  And I am glad to report that after all the trouble shooting I did yesterday that the running of cables and dialing in of brakes and shifting when pretty smoothly.

routing cables with basket

close up of the rear straddle cable "Racer" Hack

rear brake hooked up

 I am very pleased to be able to complete this bike so my Niece can get it down to Corvallis with her this week.  The good news is that we both have the same car -late 90s/early 2000s Honda civic 4 doors and I was able to get the bike in mine so it should work in hers.  The catch is I needed to do things like remove the basket, front wheel (naturally) and loosen up the stem to get it to fit so I will be giving her a crash course in reassembly before she leaves.

I am hopeful this bike will be useful and reliable transport for her while she is in grad school.  And it will be nice to know a bike I built is tooling around my old stomping grounds.

I hope the finished product was worth the wait for those of you who have been following this series on the Campus bike.  As always ride.smile.repeat.