Classic & Vintage - 559mm rims on Raleigh Sports?

Hey everyone!

I recently got a 1972 Raleigh Sports for about 30 bucks and I'm looking to make it into a tourer/commuter, and I need to get rid of the steel wheels. The thing is I'm 16 and I don't want to spend money buying and building my own 590mm wheels.

By my calculations it would be possible to build a set of standard 26" wheels and have them work with a set of new brakes, and I'd like some confirmation that I am right, or maybe just someone to tell me that it won't work.

I measured the calipers on my bike right now and it seems like the reach is about 72 mm. The largest caliper I can find is a 95mm reach on Sheldon Brown's website. Going from 590 to 559 would require about 15-16 mm more reach, within the range of the calipers.

I also plan to keep the old SA hub in the rear as well as the front hub, because Raleigh spacing was quite a bit narrower than it is now. As long as the number of holes are the same for rims and hubs this should be ok, right?

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me!

Your math sounds right to me. Those must be BMX calipers of some sort to have that long of a reach. Keep in mind that your stopping power might be reduced given all of that flex (but alloy rims will help). You should see, however, if that rear hub is 40 holes--you won't have much luck finding a 559mm rim to match.

Neal

Hey everyone!

I recently got a 1972 Raleigh Sports for about 30 bucks and I'm looking to make it into a tourer/commuter, and I need to get rid of the steel wheels. The thing is I'm 16 and I don't want to spend money buying and building my own 590mm wheels.

By my calculations it would be possible to build a set of standard 26" wheels and have them work with a set of new brakes, and I'd like some confirmation that I am right, or maybe just someone to tell me that it won't work.

I measured the calipers on my bike right now and it seems like the reach is about 72 mm. The largest caliper I can find is a 95mm reach on Sheldon Brown's website. Going from 590 to 559 would require about 15-16 mm more reach, within the range of the calipers.

I also plan to keep the old SA hub in the rear as well as the front hub, because Raleigh spacing was quite a bit narrower than it is now. As long as the number of holes are the same for rims and hubs this should be ok, right?

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me!

I am a bit confused...you don't want to spend money on building up a set of 590 wheels, but you will spend money to replace the brakes and build up a set of 559 wheels? To me the quickest way to get a set of decent alloy wheels is to swap the current hubs onto a set of alloy rims. Alloy 590 rims are available from Harris Cyclery (http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/rims/590.html) (and other sources). I also second what Neal said about the rear hub. Unless it is a newer bike it is probably going to have a 40 hole rear hub and a 32 hole front hub. Some where around 1974 or so they switched to a 36 hole front and rear.

Aaron:)

Maybe you are right. The whole idea is based around the fact that I have some 559s sitting in my garage. I have a shop here that does a lot of SA conversions and I hoped that they would let me trade in my 40 hole hub for a 36. perhaps that is just wishful thinking though.

it sounds like the 650A's would be a lot less trouble overall.