capnjonny 

1958 Raleigh Lenton Grand Prix



Produced between 1948 and 1960 the Reynolds 531 framed Raleigh Lenton was the best selling entry level Club racer of its day in Great Britton. This bicycle, a 1958 Lenton Grand Prix, was the first model with derailleur gearing, using an early Benelux rear with a 4 speed free wheel and rod actuated front mech. with 14-24 tooth rear cogs and 46-49 tooth chain rings. The Bars are a special bend favored by Reg Harris, a cycling legend of the time.

When the bike appeared at the shop it was in pretty rough shape, having been ridden hard for many years. Someone had covered the original gold paint in red latex, Installed turkey levers on the brakes, changed the rear derailleur for a Suntour unit, and installed a vintage track stem.


Removing the latex revealed the original Raleigh Super Chromatic Gold paint and decals. Its poor condition resulted in the decision to repaint. A company in England had the decals and a set were ordered .

Having no luck finding a match for the original gold paint, black was selected to show off the beautiful Lenton decals.



After stripping the frame to bare metal it was painted with a 2 part primer and black acrylic enamel, the decals were put on, and a 2 part polyurethane clear top coat was applied for durability.

With the goal of keeping everything on the bike period correct if not original, a pair of beautiful 27” Rigida Chrome rims with Campagnolo hubs were installed along with 1 ¼” gum walls. A vintage GB stem was fitted with the Reg Harris bars and the original equipment Weinman brakes got early model levers. At the rear, a 14-28 tooth 5 speed Hyperglide style freewheel and Hurret Derailleur made pedaling up hills a possibility. The original Brooks swallow saddle having disappeared, a Vintage B 17 took its place.

The complete bike weighs 28.7 lbs. Not bad for an “all steel” bicycle.

WGB 

@capnjonny I posted a Raleigh Sports a few days ago on the Craigslist thread that's in St Louis. Seller wants $60. I wondered if that one might be of similar vintage? It also has the fork boss for a light and similar colour. Could it be bronze not yellow?

Clearly that one didn't start life as nice as yours did, let alone end up as nice as yours. Posted Incase someone wants to follow your lead. I'd be happy to have it, you should be proud of your efforts.

I'd add a link but not sure how using a phone.
Hopefully it works.
https://stlouis.craigslist.org/bik/d/saint-louis-raleigh-sports-road-bicycle/7579646914.html

Pcampeau

Good work on this one! The new paint and decals look great. I’ve got a 1960 Lenton Grand Prix and I need the seat tube decal for it so I’m happy to see that they exist and look so nice. 28.7lbs is not bad at all. I would’ve guessed north of 30lbs.

juvela

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thanks so much for this very fine post/report

wonderful job

colour note -

not a Raleigh expert by any means let alone this period but did own a Lenton Clubman of 1948 which was a kind of flambouyant turquoise (do not know mfr name for colour)

the gold examples do indeed seem to be the most frequently encountered...


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AdventureManCO 

I had one of those 'Sports' for a brief moment in time. In the little research I did on it, I think I had it dated to around 1964.

WGB 

@AdventureManCO - Thank you! Had to ask.

John E

When I was at UCLA (1968-1978), I saw a number of those, most with a 14-16-18-20-22 freewheel, all with 46-49 chainrings. Most still had a direct rod front derailleur, with various rear derailleurs, almost all of which were tremendous upgrades from OEM. .

1989Pre 

It looks great. These are my favorite bicycles, British racers (531 or not) from '57 to '63. That was a good call with the black main color, to contrast the downtube decals. Also was a good idea to go to Huret for the r.d. The stock Benelux Mk7 can be finicky, especially trying to negotiate a 28T, even with a narrow, 4-speed block (it can be done, though). The rod-operated front mech works surprisingly well, at least on these 46T-49T "close-ratio" swaged cranks. They are a lot of fun to use. It looks like you got the original rear shifter polished up nice. I wish that Raleigh had offered these in the U.S. at the time.

1989Pre 

I've heard something like that referred-to as "bird's egg blue", but flam would give it an added dimension.

juvela

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t'is now been a good forty yar since taking it in and only had it a short time

am at a loss for a good desrciptor of the livery

"turquoise" is misleading but do not have a better term

the fittings were really something

the herons on the crank arm spider had all this well delineated detail; one could clearly see the eyes and the nostrils in the beak

headset and bottom bracket fittings made bike boom era Sir Wallys look "department store"

came with a license plate from the city of Berkeley California for 1948

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rustystrings61 

c.2001 or so I had one of these that was dead stock except for a failed rear innertube. I think the one I had was fitted with GB Coureur sidepulls, but it definitely had the same Cyclo-Benelux rod-operated front changer and its stock pull-chain operated Benelux rear mech. At about the same time I had a Rudge Pathfinder, essentially the same bike, but that one had cable-operated Benelux derailleurs with downtube levers. The OP's repainted specimen matches my memory of the Lenton GP I had - very nice work!

b dub 

Here is mine. I love the patina.



I also own a Sports.

Feldman

Did you hand paint this? Great job! Brush or air gun?

capnjonny 

The bike was done with rattle cans. I was also painting a chrome framed Pinarello Montello at the same time and in hopes of getting good adhesion with the primer I sprayed them both with a can of 2 part primer I bought from amazon( about $30 per can). On the Lenton I followed that with Rustoleum primer then Rustoleum automotive grade Black, After applying the decals I used a second can of 2 part polyurethane clear, using the entire can . The 2 part paint has to be used up within about 48 hours and sets up fast on the bike. multiple coats applied about 30 minutes apart. The paint is extremely toxic if you breathe it while spraying so wear a tight fitting respirator with cartridge filters and spray outside away from any humans or animals. I am pretty good at this but was nervous before I sprayed the clear. I had heard it was hard to get a good coat , with some experiencing excessive orange peel.

I was careful to paint in the late morning before any wind when it was about 70 deg. outside. I prewarmed the paint in the bathroom sink till it was about body temp (98deg.) and shook the can twice the recomended time. My experience when painting was that the paint flowed well and did not tend to run but that the spray fan was too wide, wasting a lot of paint. Had I been able to adjust the width of the spray I could probably have painted 2 frames with one can but as it is I definately needed a whole can for one bike. If you want to paint a bike frame I highly recommend you set up a rotissary so ou can rotate the frame around the seat post while you paint. It can be very hard to tell if you have complete coverage when you paint. Being able to rotate the frame around 360 degrees allows you to paint with the spray can vertical most of the time and see into the crack and crevises. If I miss a spot it is usually on the underside of the top and down tubes or the inside edge of the stays. You really have to look closely to make sure you don't miss something.