Originally Posted by
jeirvine
Great to see progress.
Re upgrading cranks: Measure the width of the bottom bracket shell (on the frame) to determine if it is the proprietary Raleigh - 71 or 76 mm - or a more standard 68 mm. I have upgraded the cranks on old Raleighs by re-using the BB cups (which had the proprietary Raleigh 26 tpi threading), and fining a square taper BB spindle in the co-op drawer that matched the old spindle bearing race width. Then you have a wide variety of square-taper aluminum cranks to choose from. If it is 68mm, then the BB cups are also probably British standard threading - 1.370" X 24 tpi. In that case you can use whatever 68mm BB you like.
Info on Raleigh threading:
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/raleigh26.html
Assuming I have my terminology correct (which I very well may not), I don't think I play on replacing the crank itself (although I did determine it is the 'Raleigh' type threading from that article, thank you). The cranks themselves look fine, I really just needed to remove them to do maintenance on the crank shaft. What I do have to replace is the cotters, which I am in the process of doing. I forgot who it was, but someone recommended this site:
Bicycle Crank Cotters. I just emailed him confirming something, and then I'll be ordering.