dmitrij

Hi all,

I am just after a bit of advice regarding rebuilding an old frame into a tourer. Basically, I have always bought bikes 'off the shelf' and would like to know if it is a good idea to rebuild.

I have a raleigh clubman frame, it is old, my mum used to use it years ago, but it looks a good frame.

My girlfriend was going to buy a new bike to go touring on, so I was just wondering if it would be better to just buy the parts and fit them on the old Raleigh frame?

We have a budget of about £350 for her and I would like to build up a decent bike. When i look online(chainreaction) they always seem to have stuff at great prices, so would this be realistic?

I am not really sure which chainsets or derailers I need for the bike - surely not all will be compatable? some i see down from £100 to £40, ( https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/M...?ModelID=11832 ) would any one fit or how do i find out which ones will fit?

Any advice is much appriciated (before I go out buying stuff thats not compatible!)

Here is a few pics of the steed

zanq

I am in the process of rebuilding of an old Schwinn mountain frame into a 26 inch light touring bike and can share some experiences. I've had some frustrations along the way. What kind of touring is she planning to do? If she plans to pack heavy and be gone for long periods, a new bike designed for the job may be in order.

I do not know much about Clubman's but based on the age of the bike, I would not throw too much money at it. From your pictures, it looks like you still need to sort out wheels and shifting. My next step would be to measure the spacing of the rear drop-outs (where the rear hub slides into the frame). Measure inside-edge to inside-edge:

125 mm spacing


Here is a good reference - link.

Once you know the rear spacing, you will know how many speeds the drivetrain can be which dictates everything else (derailleurs, shifters, etc.). Rather than look at online retailers, your best bet to find the parts you need at cheap prices may be ebay. From what I can tell from the images, the frame only has 1 set of braze-on's for a rack or fenders in the rear, 1 (maybe 2) set of braze-on's on the front fork, the frame looks to take standard road wheels and the brakes are a standard road design. The clearance on the brakes may only allow narrow tires; not great for touring. Again, it would depend on what she wants to do.

As for my touring frame build, the bike started life as a 7 speed mountain bike with unusual 126mm rear spacing. I could force a modern road hub in the frame (130mm) but it wasn't pretty and not correct. The original hubs and rims failed after years of abuse and I couldn't find a prebuilt 26" wheelset with a 126mm hub. Modern hubs in that dimension were too expensive so I bought used, vintage road hubs and built a custom wheelset myself. I was hoping to run 8 speeds but I'm limited to 7 speeds and probably bar-end friction shifters.

So measure the rear spacing and that will start forming a picture of what is possible.

Cheers!

fietsbob

Q # 1 is the bike frame the size she, your GF, is already comfortable riding?

height/standover, and reach/top-tube length?

zanq

x2. In my response above, I am assuming you already determined the frame is the appropriate size for her.

This will help answer that question - https://www.competitivecyclist.com/za...LCULATOR_INTRO