Emmett's Raleigh Olympic Mixtie for his Wife

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Starting Point

Hello,  I have been working on Emmett's Raleigh Olympic mixtie for his wife.  We stated with a Peugeot downer bike and a Gitane frame, but the french variances where just to much to get it to work out.  So today we started with a Raleigh Olympic frame.  The frame came with a bottom bracket, crank, stem, fork, brakes, derailleurs and shift levers.  The plane for the bike is to turn it into a city style bicycle for comfort and again in my opinion looks so much better then a mixtie frame with drop bars.

The frame stripped down pretty easy of its parts.  The bottom bracket lock ring was cross threaded just on the end of the bearing cup, the whole cup and lock ring came off as one, it took some creative use of a vise and bottom bracket tools to get the lock ring off.

The frame is in descent shape.  There are a few scratches and rust spots that I will try to fill.  The fork is not original and has an odd mismatched blue.  I will be stripping the fork and polishing the metal to a shine with a clear coat cover, not exactly a chrome fork, but the effect will be close to it and will work better then trying to match the blue of the frame.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Stripped of Parts - Dirty

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Frame BB Dirty

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Frame BB Polished

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Frame Cleaned & Polished

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - I Like Raleigh's
Head Badge

I have the bottom bracket components and the headset components in the crock pot with the soapy water cleaning, tomorrow they will be ready for polishing and installation, although the headset won't be installed until the fork is stripped and polished.


I continued work on the Raleigh Olympic Mixtie.  The bottom bracket cleaned up nicely in the crock pot and polished to a nice shine.  I am glad the lock ring came off the bearing cup with not to much problems.  The bottom bracket turns smoothly, a lot better then how it started.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Bottom Bracket Polished

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Bottom Bracket Bearings Packed

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Bottom Bracket Complete

While I worked on the bottom bracket and frame I had the fork sprayed with a foam paint stripper.  I do not  like to use chemicals, but at this time it is the easiest.  I try to contain all the chemicals in a lined wash bin and then dispose of them at house hold chemical recycling days.  I am not sure what is safer, mechanically removing paint wearing a respirator or chemicals with a respirator, soon i  hope to have the media blaster set up in my new very small shop.

the first coat removed the top coat of rattle can blue someone put on it in the past leaving the red layer underneath.  The red layer is a much stronger layer, it will take two to three coats of stripper.  I started the stripper coat for the red layer but that is when it started raining hard the other day and the stripper foam would just wash away.  With chemicals I only spray them out side, so I have to wait for a slight warmer day then today.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Fork Before

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie -
  Foam Stripper Applied

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie -  Paint Peeling

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie -
Red Layer Underneath

With the bad weather for working outside I worked on the wheels.  The rear wheel cleaned and polished up nicely.  Besides thirty year old grease there was not much where on the hub.  There was a little corrosion on the chromed axle pieces, on the buffing wheel the corrosion cleaned up but left some stains.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie -  Rear Wheel - Before

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Rear Wheel Hub Before

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Rear Wheel Complete & Installed

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie -  Rear
Wheel Rim Polished

Next is work on the front wheel and then the drive train.  Hoping for a day a little above freezing to finish the fork, but that does not look like it will be anytime soon.

I can not find the photos for the front wheel, so I will have to take new after photos and load them up.  The front wheel turned out nice, the alloy hub polished nicely and the chrome rim looks good, there is some wear in the hub, but not to bad, the wheel turns smooth.

I have been working on the fork, the fork is finally clean of paint, the layer of primer was very stubborn.  With the fork cleaned I polished it of the buffing wheel and some hand polishing in the hard to reach areas.  I have not clear coated the fork yet, I am using it now for mock up.  There are a few spots on the fork that did not polish away, but overall not to bad.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Fork Stripped
Not Polished

With the fork polished I started work on the stem and handlebars.  The stem polished just okay, after a closer look there is some staining in the aluminum, after a good amount of patients and some hand polishing it does not look to bad, but not perfect.  The handle bars are steel chromed.  There is some pitting on the bends and there was some rust near the collar for lack of a better word.  The rust has been removed from around the collar, but the chrome is damaged in that area.  Again the handle bars are not perfect, but they are a lot better then when started.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Stem and Handle Bars - Before

I need to find what happen to some of the photos, they have to be in the cloud somewhere or I will retake some of them.

I also installed the new tires today, below are photos of the fork polished and installed and the stem and bars polished and installed and the bike overall to this point.  Things will start to go fast now, drive train next.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Fork Polished and Installed
One More Polishing Needed

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Stem Polished
& Installed

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Handle Bars Polished & Installed

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Bicycle to this Point

That is the bike to this point.  If Emmett's wife likes the bike and it becomes a favorite I think a Repaint in a classic white or a lite blue with white cable housings would look really nice.  Until later Have a good day.


Got a lot done on the Raleigh Olympic Mixtie lately.  The derailleurs, crank and brake calipers are all done.  Some where in rough shape and only so much could be done.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Drive Train and Brake Calipers

In the photo above you can see the front brake caliper on the left.  There are some badly rusted parts along with the front derailleur on the right that is in rough shape.  In the photo below you can see the brake calipers cleaned and polished.  The front caliper is on the right.  There was a lot of rust damage to the small parts.  After a good deal of or they came out ok.  The small parts have a kind of anodized look to them.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Brake Calipers Polished

The front derailleur was in rough shape.  It took a lot of polishing and hand work and the derailleur did not function smoothly.  After all said and done it looks pretty good and now functions perfectly.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Front Derailleur Before

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Front Derailleur Finished & installed

The rear derailleur was also in somewhat of rough shape.  There are some bad gouges in the alloy that are just to big to fix.  The rear derailleur has been completely overhauled and polished.  It now functions perfectly and looks descent.  In the after photo below you can also see the pie plate polished and installled.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Rear Derailleur Before

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Rear Derailleur Overhauled & Installed

The crank is a riveted and stamped crank.  It can not be taken apart so it has been difficult to clean and polish.  I polished it the best I could, it looks ok, not anywhere near perfect, but ok.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Crank Polished & Installed

Below are photos of the bicycle so far.  Velo-Orange city brake levers have been installed.  Emmett has ordered some bar grips and thumb shift levers.  They should be here soon.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie -  Bicycle up to Now

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Front Brake Installed

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Rear Brake Installed

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Brake Levers Installed

It has been slow going for a while on the Raleigh Olympic.  Clear coating the fork took some time, had a few problems that would require start overs.  The fork clear coat did turn out pretty nice when it was all said and done, a couple more days of letting the clear harden and it can be polished out.

With the fork cleared everything started to go together pretty fast, the index shifting levers where installed, the cable housing and cables run and the leather handle bar grips installed.  When it came to tuning the bike things got a little rough, with the chain installed it could be seen that the rear derailleur had about three bends in it.  I tried to straighten it out, but could not get the bends out enough to shift smoothly.  Emmett has a few other derailleurs that we are going to try.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie - Cables Run

The freewheel and peddles where installed.  The freewheel was in rough shape but after an overhaul really spins nice, I am pleased with the results.  Emmett had a set of very nice peddles but one of them did nut spin smoothly.  After trying to overhaul the peddle it is just to far gone.  I had some nice peddles in my stash of parts and they cleaned up very nice and spin great.  In the photo below you can see the freewheel and peddles.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie -  Freewheel & Peddles Installed

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie -  Front View

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie -  Bike 99% Complete

In the photos you can also see that the saddle has been installed.  The bike is about 99% complete.  Need to  pick out a new derailleur, clip the cables and tune and test ride.  I here its suppose to be in the 50's this weekend, maybe it will melt some of this snow for a descent test ride.  It will also help in taking some descent after photos.

Well, after a lot of derailleur tries and a few different freewheels and finally got a combination that works nice.  I also installed the rear rack and a few odds and ends.  The test ride was nice, it road very nice, shifting I would say is about 95% of perfect, for the way it needed to be set up and using some late 80's mountain bike components to get index shifting 95% is pretty good.

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie -  Finished Bicycle - Side

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie -  Finished Bicycle - Angle View

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie -  Finished Bicycle - Handlebar View

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie -  Finished Bicycle - Drive Train

Raleigh Olympic Mixtie -  Finished Bicycle - Rear View

Jeffrey's Mid 1980's Schwinn Traveler Restoration

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Final Photo - Side View

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Bike Before

Hello,

I am putting the mystery Schwinn on hold until the summer and I can properly set up the paint booth.  In the mean time I started work on Jeffrey's mid 1980's Schwinn Traveler.  I like these mid 80's Schwinns, I also like the color, Reminds me of the Bianchi green.

The Schwinn Traveler already has new tires, from there it will be a complete restoration.  New cables, housings and bar tape along with new brake levers and pads will bring this bicycle a little more up to date.

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Bike Before

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Front Wheel Hub - Before

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Rear Wheel Hub - Before

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Rear Derailleur - Before

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Front Brake - Before

I started by tearing the bike down to the bare frame.  The frame is dirty and greasy, but the paint is in good shape.  There are some pretty big chips in the paint I would like to fill, this color will be a hard match, I hope I can find something.

With the frame stripped of components I started the cleaning and polishing.  I used a pretty strong paint cleaner on the light color to remove some of the staining and then polished out the paint.  The frame and fork polished nicely, I am pleased with the results.

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Frame BB Before Cleaning

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Frame Rear Before Cleaning

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Frame Before Cleaning

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Frame Cleaned & Polished

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Frame Cleaned & Polished

While I have been working on the frame I have had the bottom bracket and headset soaking in the crock pot on low.  Dish Soap and water in a crock pot set on low does a great job of removing dried grease from bearings and small parts.  The crock pot finished up this morning and I wiped off the last of the grease, later today I will polish the pieces on the bench top buffer.  After the headset and bottom bracket are complete I think I will start work on the wheel set.  Check back for more.

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Bottom Bracket & Headset - Before Crock Pot

I started work today by polishing the headset and bottom bracket components.  The headset polished very nicely along with the bottom bracket.  I assembled the headset and bottom bracket, the headset works wonderfully, the bottom bracket did not.  There was a grinding in the bottom bracket, I disassembled it a second time and check things out.  There is no wear, so I was not sure why there was grinding, assembling it the second time there was still a slight grind so I took it apart again.  After closer inspection I could not see anything wrong, so my solution was to replace the ball bearings with new.  I reassembled it and it is very smooth now.  I will be replacing the wheel ball bearings also just to be safe.

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Bottom Bracket & Headset - Polished

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Headset Bearing Packed

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Headset Complete

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Headset Complete

With the headset complete I started work on the stem.  The stem is painted black so I can not polish it on the bench buffer like I would with an unpainted stem.  The paint was dull and has two bad scratches in it, the scratches will repair pretty easy with touch up paint and a little sand paper.  I will do the touch up after the bike is complete.  The stem did polish very nice, I think it will look great with new handlebar tape and polished headset and bars.

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Stem & Handle Bars Before

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Stem Polished

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Stem Installed

With the headset, stem, fork and bottom bracket installed I decided to start on the wheels.  The rims have some tarnish and scratches and are dirty but otherwise in good shape.  The hubs are dirty and tarnished but will polish nicely.  The bubs and bearings where very dirty and show a little wear but have plenty of miles on them yet.  With the new bearings the front wheel turns very smoothly.

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Front Wheel Hub - Before

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Front Wheel Hub Cleaned

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Front Wheel Hub Polished

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Front Wheel Installed

I have the rear wheel disassembled and the components in the crock pot.  Tomorrow I will polish the wheel and assemble it and after that I have not decided what I will tackle next.  Check back tomorrow.



The last Couple of Days I have had the Flu that has been going around, it was awful.  Today I felt good enough to get some work done.  Today I finished the rear wheel.  There is a lot of corrosion on the wheels, after a good amount of polishing the hubs look great and the rims look pretty good.  I installed new ball bearings in the rear wheel also.  After Installation both wheels turn very smoothly.

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Wheels Overhauled & Installed

1980's Schwinn Traveler  - Rear Wheel Polished

With the wheels finished I started work on the crank, brake calipers and derailleurs.  I cleaned each components with soapy water and a brush, I then disassembled the crank and started polishing.  The alloy crank polished nicely on the buffer and the black chain ring polished pretty good by hand.  The black ring is painted and took care to polish correctly.

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Crank Before

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Crank Disassembled

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Crank Polished & Installed

With the derailleurs and brake calipers cleaned they will polish up quickly tomorrow.  I was not at full strength yet today, so hopefully tomorrow I will get a lot done.

Update 1-12-13

The remnants of the flu has hung on a little, I have been a little weak and slow the last couple of days but got a lot done on the bike.  I would have been done with the bicycle a couple of days ago if it wasn't for the flu.

I polished the brake calipers and derailleurs, I also cleaned and lubricated the freewheel and pie plate.  Only thing left to do is clean and polish the seat post and peddles, and then run the housings, cables and bar tape.

The brake calipers cleaned and polished beautifully, I completely disassembled the calipers to do the polishing.  New Jagwire brake pads where installed.

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Brake Caliper - Right Before - Left After

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Front Brake Caliper - Polished & Installed

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Rear Brake Caliper - Polished & Installed

The derailleurs took a little more time then the brake calipers to clean, polish and lubricate.  One of the jockey wheels bolt was frozen in place and it looked like someone damaged the bolt in the past trying to remove it.  I used a lot of penetrating oil and a socket with absolutely no depth to it, this means the socket does not have a rounded edge to it, the socket teeth start right at the edge.  With the bolt removed I was able to polish the derailleur and overhaul the jockey wheels.

The derailleurs take patience to get to look nice, it is a combination of  bench top buffer and hand polishing to get into the nooks and crannies.  The derailleurs look great installed.

In the rear derailleur photo you can see the freewheel installed, the freewheel was cleaned and lubricated and turns smoothly.

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Front Derailleur Before - Poor Photo

1980's Schwinn Traveler -  Front Derailleur - Polished & Installed

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Rear Derailleur & Free Wheel Installed

Next I will clean and polish the seat post and shift levers and then update photos with the cables run.  Check back soon.

I finished off all the little details and tuning today.  I installed the cables and housings, peddles, chain and handlebar tape.  Everything turned out pretty nice.  It took sometime to get the rear derailleur to shift correct, but now it works smooth.  I still have to do the test ride in the morning and final tuning and photos.  I also am working on finding a touch up color that will be at least an okay match to the green.

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Chain & Peddles Installed

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Shift Levers Polished & Installed

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Handle Bar Tape Installed

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Bicycle 99% Finished

I test road the Traveler and took final photos today.  It road smooth, the brake pads and rims need some time to break in, when rims get polished they need to be broken in.  It shifted well for a friction shift drive train, over all it road very smooth and tight.  It may ride even better then that, it is just to tall for me and I had to pay attention to the height more then the ride.  I really like the looks of the bike, I like the Bianchi type green and I really like the white, green and polished metal.  Thank you Jeffery for bring me the bike, I really enjoyed working on it.

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Final Photo - Side View

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Final Photo - Angle View

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Final Photo -
 Front View

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Final Photo - Drive Train

1980's Schwinn Traveler - Final Photo - Rear View