Classic & Vintage - Raleigh Sports rim replacement

Does anyone have experience in replacing rims on Raleigh three-speeds? I have a circa 1977 Raleigh Sports and am considering replacing at least the rear steel rim, which has a slight hop to it. I believe that there is an aluminium rim available in the correct size. I would like to reuse the original three-speed hub which works fine. Are there any pitfalls in doing this and is there anything special to consider in selecting spokes, etc?

Thanks!

I just bought some Weinmann 26" 1 3/8 rims, DT spokes, and a Tiagra hub to go with the SA hub I bought on eBay for my Raleigh LTD.-3 Those old steel rims can just die as far as I'm concerned. Heavy and you can't put too much air in the tires or Blammo!

You can let harriscyclery.com choose the spokes for you or use spokecalc. Spokes don't have to be perfect; Sheldon Brown says he rounds up to the next one if his calculations put him between spoke lengths.

The old size is aka 650A. You can also use the 650B's currently in fashion.

Just curious can you build up a mtb alloy rim with the SA 3 speed? Thanks

Just curious can you build up a mtb alloy rim with the SA 3 speed? Thanks

Certainly. You can lace any rim with the same number of spokes as the hub (and even this isn't a hard and fast necessity). The question really is, whether or not you can find a tire that both seats well on the rim that fits in the frame.

If you want to stick with 26 1 3/8" rims, you've got Weinmann and Sun CR-18 from Harris Cyclery in alloy.

If you're not too concerned about mounting wider tires, you've got plenty of selection in 700c rims, which will let you mount upto 700x28c tires with stock fenders.

Forty spoke holes. That's what the SA hub I was using had - I ended up ordering a Mavic rim (719?)through a L.B.S. - they had to special order it from France - it's meant for tandems.

You can find 36-hole Sturmey Archer AW 3-speed hubs on eBay quite frequently. The bigger issue to deal with is squeezing the rear triangle to 115mm or finding a longer replacement axle (which are around).

Neal

From what I can find the 40 spoke CR18's in the 26x1-3/8 are NLA if you find any grab 'em! I placed an order with Harris only to be told they were on terminal back order. Other sizes maybe available. BTW where are you finding the Weinmans?

Aaron:)

embrace: momentum

for alloy rims, it might be easier to locate current production 650B rims with a bsd of 584mm,
only 6mm diameter difference from the 590mm 26 1-3/8" rims
(brake reach will only vary by 3mm)

you'll need all new tires though

From what I can find the 40 spoke CR18's in the 26x1-3/8 are NLA if you find any grab 'em! I placed an order with Harris only to be told they were on terminal back order. Other sizes maybe available. BTW where are you finding the Weinmans?

Aaron:)


Harris has the Weinman rims (http://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?ID=2565)

If you want to stick with 26 1 3/8" rims, you've got Weinmann and Sun CR-18 from Harris Cyclery in alloy.

If you're not too concerned about mounting wider tires, you've got plenty of selection in 700c rims, which will let you mount upto 700x28c tires with stock fenders.


does this really fit? any pics? this would be a true upgrade to these bikes.

Pretty doubtful that a frame/fork made for 590mm ERD rims will fit 700c/622mm ERD rims. That's 16mm higher. Probably the only way to do it is to replace the front fork with one made for 700c wheels (as some of the over-the-top retrofits of Raleigh 3-speeds do).

Neal

Actually, this is what I've done with my 3 speed.

I built a 36 hole Sturmey hub up with an alloy 700c rim. It fits with 700x28c tires, but barely.

For the front, it is difficult to mount a modern hub, mostly because the original Raleigh hubs are narrower. I was able to wrench in a modern front hub, but it I had to spread the fork a bit to do it.