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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Bicycle
After |
Today I am starting the restoration of an early 1980's Raleigh Competition. I am so excited to start this restoration, I love race bikes from this era, I love riding them but also I love the design. They boarder on minimalism. Throw some chrome stays and components designed for lightness and you have a stunning design.
I love riding race bikes like this also, I just don't ride them much any more because they don't necessarily fair well in the places I like to ride. I have a 1977 Schwinn Volare that follows this design idea but it was a little before this Raleigh Competitions time. This Raleigh Competition takes the ideas to the next level.
The restoration will start out a little slow because I am right in the middle of the busiest part of tune up season so keep checking back for the progress.
The Raleigh Competition will get a complete restoration with new cables, cable housings, tires & tubes, saddle, brake lever hoods and handlebar tape. The Competition is pretty rough, some of the chrome on the frame is very rough, hopefully the chrome will come back a long ways. The paint is dirty and stained with a few chips, the staining should cut out no problem, under the chips is chrome so its nice that the whole frame was chromed not just the stays.
The tubing is Reynolds 555, the group is Suntour Cyclone, the crank is a Sugino and the hubs and other components are Raleigh.
I can't wait to get started. I also am going to try to date the Competition.
Sorry for the quality of the photos starting out, I learned how to batch edit photos in photo shop and did not understand what was going on at first so some got double edited.
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| Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Bicycle Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Handlebars
Before |
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| Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Stem Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Head Tube - Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Front Brake
Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Front Wheel
Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Fork & Fork Decal - Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Shift Levers
Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Competition
Decal - Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Seat Stays
Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Crank - Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Front Derailleur
Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Reynolds 555 Decal - Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Rear Brake
Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Rear Wheel - Before |
The frame is in good shape in some ways and in bad shape in others. The main triangle of the frame is paint over chrome, the stays are just chrome. The paint is in okay shape, some chips and scratches but with the chrome showing through from under the chips they do not stand out. The stays chrome is pretty rough, a lot of rust and bubbling. It is a shame such a nice frame was treated so poorly, I think the Raleigh was once used as a winter commuter and then stored dirty for many years.
I cleaned and polished the paint and it turned out way better then I was expecting, I am very happy about that. I cleaned and removed as much rust as possible from the stays chrome, that chrome definitely did not turn out as good as I wanted, but it is a lot better then it was. Over all I am ok with the results of the frame.
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| Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Frame Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Frame Before - Head Tube |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Frame Before - Seat Tube |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Frame Before - 555 Decal |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Frame Before
Bottom Bracket |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Frame Before - Brake Bridge |
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| Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Frame Polished |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Frame Polished
Seat Lug |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Frame Polished
Bottom Bracket |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Frame Polished - Brake Bridge |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Frame Polished - Chain Stays |
The Headset was also pretty rusted and rough. I cleaned the headset in the crock pot, parts cleaner and Sonic cleaner and then hit the polisher. The headset has a lot of pitting but it polished pretty nice, the bearings are good and with new grease the headset turns fantastic. I added a spacer in place of the front reflector bracket, the headset is very different from normal and there is not much room for options.
The bottom bracket was very dirty but it polished very nice, I am happy with that. A little new grease and it spins easy and smooth.
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Headset & Bottom Bracket
Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Headset & Bottom Bracket
Polished |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Headset Cups - Pressed |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Headset Bearings
New Grease |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Bottom Bracket
New Grease |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Bottom Bracket
Complete |
The stem was originally painted and that paint was is horrible shape. The only solution is to polish the paint off and use the polished alloy surfaces. It took a lot of work to get the stem looking respectable, it is not perfect because stems that are paints are not as refined. The stem shines fairly good but there are some spots the paint is in a low spot and just won't remove with out removing to much material. Over all I am happy with the stem considering.
the handlebars where also a little rough, they cleaned fine and polished okay but I wish they where in slightly better condition.
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| Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Stem & Handlebars - Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Stem & Handlebars
Before |
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| Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Stem - Before |
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| Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Stem - Polished |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Handlebars
Polished |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Handlebars & Stem - Installed |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Handlebars & Stem - Installed |
The crank came next. The crank is a very nice Sugino crank that is very light. The crank has a texture to it so polishing to a high mirror finish was not an option. I cleaned the crank and then gave a light polishing taking care of not making the texture blotchy. The crank chain ring bolts where very rusty but the polishing wheel removed most of it and made the bolts look good. Over all the crank looks good, it has a very scratches and gouges but not to bad. Over all I am pretty happy with the crank.
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| Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Crank - Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Crank
Exploded |
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| Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Crank - Polished |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Crank
Complete |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Crank - Installed |
he derailleurs where also rough, but very nice derailleurs, they are Suntour Cyclones. The derailleurs had some rust and corrosion, after cleaning, flushing & lubricating they function great. The derailleurs polished nice but I wish they would have polished up one more level but I think they took some salt from roads and have a little bit of a haze to them. considering where they started they look pretty good.
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Front Derailleur
Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Front Derailleur
Polished |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Front Derailleur
Installed |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Rear Derailleur
Exploded |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Rear Derailleur
Polished |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Rear Derailleur
Complete |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Rear Derailleur - Installed |
The brakes are nice, they are very nice for their day. The rear brake lock nut was cracked and broken in half when I removed it. I do not have that exact lock nut and its pretty rare so I replaced it with a more standard nut. The chrome components had a lot of rust but did polish up pretty nice, the alloy caliper arms polished very nice. I am happy with the brake caliper results.
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Brake Calipers
Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Brake Calipers
Exploded |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Broken & Replaced
Nuts |
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| Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Brakes - Polished |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Brake Calipers
Complete |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Front Brake Caliper - Installed |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration
Rear Brake Caliper - Installed |
The shift levers are one of my favorites, they are very slim and refined Suntour levers, still friction but that is okay because I like good friction shifting. I cleaned and polished the levers which turned out like little jewels, I then greased and installed the levers. Very happy with the shift elvers.
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Shift Levers
Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Shift Levers
Polished |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Shift Levers
Complete |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Shift Levers
Installed |
The brake levers are pretty standard but a bit rough, hey took a lot of polishing but are not perfect but a lot better then before. I installed new Shimano brake lever hoods and then installed he levers. The brake lever hoods look great and the levers don't look to bad on the bike.
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Brake Levers
Before |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Brake Levers
Polished |
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Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Brake Levers Hoods
Installed |
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| Early 1980's Raleigh Competition Restoration - Brake Levers Installed |
The seat post was also very rough and heavily gouged. I cleaned and polished it the best I could but it is not perfect. I also installed the new saddle at this time and a new seat binder bolt as the original was missing. I like the way the saddle looks on the Raleigh.
I'm working on the same model, thankfully in much better condition to start with. I'd like to know which Shimano hoods you used to cover the brake levers. Your craft is truly impressive.
ReplyDeleteGlad I found this page. Work at a bike shop and just acquired one of these frame sets in good condition. Had no idea what it had for parts back in the day. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteNICE RESTORATION LIKE THE JOB YOU DONE WITH THIS BIKE LOOK GREAT,
ReplyDelete