Disassemble and Recover a Vintage Raleigh
Restoring old bikes for a new lease of life and a vintage look is great fun. Old bikes were built to last and with the addition of a few new buts they ride as smoothly as ever and nothing looks better than a classic Raleigh, that's been brought up to date with a fresh paint job. Unfortunately they can also be very hard to disassemble because of obsolete manufacturing techniques and stripping one down for a refurbished one can prove frustrating.
Steps
- Finding an old Raleigh. Raleighs are all around us, either in a skip for free or in a trendy London bike shop at a huge premium. Keep your eyes open! A good starting point is e-Bay or Gumtree. One recent acquisition was a 1970s 3-gear ladies. Raleigh 65 quid, not bad at all.
- Take notes! This may sound silly, but old bikes are held together by a perplexing system of brackets, screws, rivets and other fiddly bits, it is highly recommend taking detailed notes, or better yet photographing the order of brackets, cables screws and where they belong. Taking apart is one thing, but putting back together can be a nightmare!
- Simple disassembly. Wheels and brakes are pretty standard, much like modern bikes. Get rid of all the cabling first, it'll ride much better with a fresh set of cables (again especially if you have a three gear hub system make notes, the spotty oik in Halfords is not going to know what a three gear system is, let alone advise you on how to sort out the small pile of bits and bobs that a three gear cable consists of).
- Loosen brakes and wheel nuts to slide the wheels out easily.
- Remove all brackets, gear and brake levers...make notes...
- Most cranks on old Raleighs, are held in place with cotter pins. You'll need to unscrew the top (at the base of the crank) and knock the pin out with a hammer. If your bike is pushing 20 years these pins will be VERY stiff. Persist, it will eventually fall out and the cranks will slide off easily.
- As with a modern bicycle unscrew the handlebar mount at the bottom of the headset and remove.
- You should now have a stripped frame ready for the fun bit, the revamp.
- Nitromors is an excellent product for stripping paint off frames, follow the instructions and you can strip a frame in well under a day.
- Make sure all surfaces are completely sanded down to remove all traces of old paintwork. Cosmetic rust also responds really well to sanding, make sure all your surfaces are even and wiped clean before the next step.
- Any car or bike shop should have a good range of products for a re-spray. You will need a good primer, your new snazzy color and a sealer, or lacquer to finish. if you do a re-spray at home it can cost as little as 20-30 pounds for a whole bike. Avoid spraying too close (this creates 'runs') and spray in even strokes to get good all over coats. Always follow directions on cans.
- Replace all brake cables, gear cables and brake pads. It costs peanuts and really makes a bike feel like new.
- Heavily corroded hubs respond well to sanding, and in extreme cases re-spraying can make them look like new, you really don't need to buy new wheels. A sanding, a re-spray or a new set of tires make wheels look really good. If you can get hold of them white wall tires, they will always make a vintage Raleigh look ace!
- Re-assemble. Leave your paint job to dry for as long as possible, and use your notes/photos to re-assemble you new rad-mobile!
- Show off to all the east London fixed wheel losers.
Tips
- ALWAYS use self owned bike traders for your parts and advice. They will know more about old bikes than anyone, and Halfords doesn't need your money.
