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06-17-11 | 10:31 PM

#34

stonefree

Icantre Member

Joined: Jun 2011

Posts: 384

Likes: 0

From: the Bayou City perpetually under construction

Bikes: 2001 DBR Axis TT, 1998 Trek 5500 OCLV, 1993 Trek 1100, 1971 Raleigh Grand Prix, 1972 Gitane Attic Beater

Quote:

Originally Posted by -holiday76

Hi,
Just joined your forum. Anyhow, I just picked up a Raleigh Grand Prix last week for $40. It had the original seat, original tires and brakes, everything is original on it. The rear wheel is slightly rusted and needs to be rebuilt. I bought the bike to commute on. Aside from this i have two recumbents that I go on annual 1-2 week long cross country tours on. So that said I don't know much about retro bikes at all. I just like to tinker with stuff.

I found Sheldon Browns site that says you can date the bike by getting numbers off the bottom of the crank, but there are no numbers there on my bike. There is however a number near the rear left dropout and that number is 179573. The bike has Weinmann 610 Vainqueur 999 u shaped brakes. The derailer is simplex I believe. The bike looks like this:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/retroral...rand-prix.html

except that its the blue/black color. it does not have the duel lever brake levers, you can only brake from the dropped position. It has white covers on the brake levers. it says raleigh of nottingham on the front of the frame.

Can anyone help date the bike? I think it might be closer to 1968-70.

Also, can anyone tell me a little more about these bikes? It's a little heavy, but seems like it would make a nice commuter. I want to change the tire size to a 700cc. Has anyone done anything similiar? Seems I'd need to change the front brakes out to make them reach.

The bike also had brackets on the bottom tube that used to house a bike pump. does anyone know what they looked like? It seems like its from the factory and I'd love to see a picture of one.

Lastly, I'd love to know if anyone has any advice for cheap good upgrades to this bike. I dont want to drop a lot of cash into it, but I'd love to make it a little lighter, put wider bars on it, and put brake levers on it that i can pull from the top position.

Thanks for any help, and thanks in advance for any info you might have.

btw, this frame looks a lot like my bike in color, it might be identical but without the bike in front of me its hard to tell:

The picture looks a lot like the one I've had for 30 years, a blue with black Grand Prix, only mine's just a 60cm while yours looks a lot taller. Mine has the number (230379) on the rear left dropout like you said. Mine doesn't have the pump brackets either. I bought mine second hand from the local legendary bike shop in the late 70's. Anything I've ever bought for it has fit, but that's not much, like pedals and cables. I even have a set of top pull brake levers that I plan to install on it some day. I'm not sure how you could make it much lighter than maybe a couple of ounces. Around here the roads are so bad that steel wheels seem a little more practical.

Last edited by stonefree; 06-17-11 at 10:50 PM.

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