Classic Raleigh Restoration

[jig-sore]

Classic Raleigh Restoration (now finished)

got a little project going at the moment. my sister wants me to "take a look" at her old bike with the idea of getting it ride-able again. now this bike hasn't moved since she went to school on it when she was 16. Now she's 37, so thats 21 years since this bike last saw sunlight

it's an unmolested Raleigh Panache ladies 5 speed "racer"...

complete with stem mounted gear lever...

and dynamo...

and some interesting engraving on the handle bars...

anyone make sense of this ??...

now this bike has done very few miles in it's life and it looks like new tyres and cables and a good clean and rebuild should get it usable again.

should be fun

 

[jig-sore]

finally got the bike stripped down, cleaned the frame, re-greased the headset and bottom bracket and cleaned the white bar tape and saddle so it's looking a lot cleaner now.

i was pleasantly surprised at how easy it came apart, no seized parts at all

it's now partly assembled so i can start cleaning and refitting gears and brakes etc.

any one know how long inner-tubes last ?? like i said, these are over 20 years old but they "seem" fine. (tyres are shot)
also worried about the pitting on the chrome plated rims, i think it may need new wheels

 

[nuovo_record]

looking good - your project seems familar to my next one.
we have started a very small cycling club, staurday mornings, 2 hours max...5 or 6 of us, and a lady has dragged her dawes galaxy back into service, complete with panniers, lights etc. so i'm going down the same route as you!

 

[John the Monkey]

Looks a bit like the bike I got going again for one of my neighbours recently (that one only needed new tyres & cables though).

I'd be tempted to move those stem mounted shifters to the DT, if possible.

 

[nuovo_record]

looking good - your project seems familar to my next one.
we have started a very small cycling club, staurday mornings, 2 hours max...5 or 6 of us, and a lady has dragged her dawes galaxy back into service, complete with panniers, lights etc. so i'm going down the same route as you!

the dawes has chrome forks, and suntour VX rear mech so it can't have been "low end"

 

[jig-sore]

I'd be tempted to move those stem mounted shifters to the DT, if possible.

well it's for my sister so they are probably best left where they are. she's not a natural cyclist so the more time her hands spend on the bars the better

 

[tyred]

I'd take a chance on the inner tubes so long as they hold air and aren't obviously perished. I have an old Raleigh which I use occasionally and the tubes are possibly thirty year old.

 

[nuovo_record]

inner tubes are only a couple of quid for a cheapo one, maybe better to replace them

 

[jig-sore]

a bit more progress made on the bike today (thanks to my sister finally getting all the parts )

both wheels cleaned, bearings re-done, spokes true'd and new tyres fitted (michelin city's 700x35c).

both brakes stripped and re-built, fitted to bike, rear one connected.

cranks/chain cleaned and re-fitted and rear derailleur stripped and re-built.

hopping to get it all finished tomorrow if the weathers good (front brake to connect, gears to connect and adjust, mudguards and rack to clean and re-fit and try to get the dynamo working again )

 

[fossyant]

Good work there - so what component's did you have to renew (other than tyres, tubes)

 

[jig-sore]

just the two brake cables and the gear cable !!! everything else has just been cleaned and re-built

 

[jig-sore]

finally got the bike finished today, had to wait for my sister to get the correct gear cable and the mudguards would not fit with the huge 700x35c tyres so had to wait for her to make a desision on getting different tyres or leaving the mudguards off.

anyway, its all done and even the dynamo still works. lets hope she actually uses it, it may be a case of another 20 years shut away in the garage

 

[SimonR]

Looking good!

My sister used to have one of those bikes - it was her first proper bike - we both got bikes for Christmas that year, probably about 1985ish. She had a Panache and I got a Raleigh Winner!

They were both good little bikes although, as the owner of SM Bishops (our LBS) in Histon said, the Panache is a poser's bicycle!!

If I were restoring that bike I think I'd go with different tyres both so that the mudguards fit and also for the sake of originality. Somehow all-black tyres look a bit wrong on it. But that's just nit-picking and it's highly hypocritical of me after the wheels I've put on my classic Raleigh!

I hope she enjoys riding it.

 

[jig-sore]

i wasn't sure if the mudguards were original spec or not. i know my dad always insisted we had them on our school bikes so assumed he had had them fitted when it was bought. i wasn't allowed to ride my BMX to school.

it's not really supposed to have been a proper full on restoration, just an attempt to get the bike usable again, but i can see where your coming from. in many ways it would be nice to keep it 100%. (but then the rear mudguard was dented and bent anyway).

PS: i remember she had a blue raleigh bike before this one (anyone remember the name of it ??), but she had it nicked from school. this was bought to replace it and hardly got used before it was left at the back of the garage.

 

[SimonR]

ISTR that my sister's bike had the same mudguards although my parents almost certainly would have asked for them to be fitted if they weren't already and I guess Raleigh dealers would use the same mudguards in all their shops.

If you wanted to fit new ones, the closest I've found to original Raleigh spec are these. I'm thinking of fitting them to my old Raleigh - who knows, these people may even have made the originals back in the day.