I have a 1978 or 1979 Raleigh Grand Prix that I bought new and have kept it in great shape. I would like to upgrade derailers and gearing to more modern components. I have no idea what fits or what modifications need to be made to enable stuff to fit. I dont want to spend a fortune and am not trying to make it competitive with new bikes, I just want it to be better. I appreciate your help in advance. Thank You.

If it has the old plastic Simplex shifters & derailleurs, you could buy some nicer replacements for not much $.
Maybe some good fresh brake pads.

Shifters are 'Suntour Power' and derailleurs just say 'Raleigh'. All original except wheels and tires. FWIW, brake pads are relatively new. I consider them to be a maintenance item. not an upgrade.

This "upgrade" could be as simple as a new freewheel (5-speed or 6-speed now?) with better gearing and a new chain or the sky is the limit cost wise if you want to upgrade to any form of indexing. What would you like to accomplish?

That's a tough one. I had an old Raleigh Grand Prix (76) and decided not to do any upgrades. It was kinda perfect already. Raleigh did a great job. To me, the big upgrade would be to free hubs and brifters (because I just love those brifters --just a flick of the fingers to stay in the perfect cadence, oh oh oh). But now you'd be looking at expanding the rear drops and probably going 700C wheels and new brakes and derailers and cables and shifters --big $$. The other option might be stripping it down to almost nothing and setting it up as a single speed. Again, both options seem extreme.

You might have issues with your bottom bracket threading. You'll need to verify your threadspacing before buying a new bb. Since you're using a freewheel now, and I assume when you say you want to upgrade gearing to 8,9,10 spd, you'll need to upgrade to a freehub. Your rear dropouts are going to be 126mm instead of 130mm. The rear dropouts can either be bent outwards a bit, or you can just squeeze the wheel in.

I'd get a new or slightly used 700c wheelset, used tiagra derailers, new casette/chain, used crankset and a new bottom bracket. Assuming you are satisfied with your friction shifters this shouldn't be too much trouble. The only thing you really need to worry about is your bottom bracket threading.

pictures, pictures...

Correct if the frame still has Raleigh's proprietary threading. In that case choices in new bottom brackets are both limited and expensive. As to the dropout spacing, it could well be 120 mm which is why I asked if the current freewheel was 5 or 6-speed.

General question for the Forum members: When did 6-speed and 126 mm dropout spacing become common? My '85 Bridgestone was spaced 126 mm but how much before that did 126 arrive?

As I said - all original except tires, handlebar tape and brake pads...

I hope I posted these right.

https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...x/IMG_6339.jpg

https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...x/IMG_6341.jpg

https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...x/IMG_6342.jpg

https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...x/IMG_6343.jpg

https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...x/IMG_6344.jpg

https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...x/IMG_6345.jpg

I think we really need more details of what you want to do with it and how you want to modernize it. Do you want combination brake levers/shifters (aka brifters)? Do you want bar end shifters? Do you like your stem shifters? Do you want more gears? Different gears? Different chainrings? For a lot of these, buying a new bike is often a cheaper option (unless you are in this to learn mechanics rather than save money).

If I were you I would replace the wheels with some nice 700Cs (provided the brake pads can be moved 4mm down) and good quality 700X32c tires like Rivendell RuffyTuffys or Panaracer Paselas. The wheels can probably be found NOS (new- old-stock) freewheel wheels and stick with 5 or six cogs on the back.

ANy other upgrade would require basically replacing evey part on the bike.

Perhaps some modern double-pivot long-reach caliper brakes would be nice, too.

Switching to modern derailleurs and shifters usually means swapping to indexed shifting and that means new rear hub, cassette, chain, and shifters. Hundreds of dollars and the only real difference is the shifters wold click into gear.
You could just slap on some newer derailleurs but there would be no actual change in performance unless you upgraded everything to indexed shifting. And even then the change in performance would be limited.

Wow. That looks identical to my former 76 Raleigh Grand Prix. I sold it many years ago so I can't verify any specs, but it's an identical color scheme and parts and very similar size (which was too big for me).

I'd be tempted to just overhaul the whole thing (all moving parts and bearings, new cables and housings, etc) and leave it as is. Raleigh made pretty much everything in those days --and they did a solid job of it.

If the frame fits you (which I doubt based on the seat height), I'd just replace stuff as needed. Stem shifters and suicide levers point to lower-end bike that isn't really worth putting too much money into. You could replace the brake levers with aero levers and go with either down tube (clamp-on style) or bar end shifters. If you shop carefully, that shouldn't set you back much. Other than that, I wouldn't do much with the drive train unless the gear range isn't working for you.

Now that the photos have been posted, I agree on both counts. If the seat height is at all correct, the frame is significantly too large for the OP and the stem shifters and suicide levers definitely spell "low end". Do the absolute minimum to keep it rideable and save the "upgrade" money for a better, newer bike.

Here is an upgrade you shold consider:

https://www.raleighusa.com/bikes/stee...grand-prix-12/

The 1st picture, tall frame with no seat post extension, suggests it is too large a bike for you.

look for a more appropriate for your size frame, on the bike you will take the effort to overhaul.
find a 6'4"+ buyer for that bike..

WOW - you guys are good. You are right in the size thing. I bought the bike when I was about 16 and had just had a huge growth spurt. Based on that we thought it was going to continue for a while longer. I am exactly 6' and the bike is, I believe, a 23 1/2 inch frame. It is all I have known as an adult and, I guess I am just used to it, but I have no problem with the size. Would a smaller frame be more efficient for me? I guess back to what I want the bike to do better. First, I love the new brifters (first time to use that word). New (newer style brakes would be nice. I really dont want to buy new wheels/tires right now. Those were upgraded in college (about 1987) to the glue on type and I just replaced both of them about 2 years ago (old ones dry-rotted). The only other thing - and I am not sure of the cause - is new bikes seem to coast MUCH better. This bike doesn't seem to coast as well - not like something is noticably dragging but just not as freely coasting as new stuff. No brakes are dragging or anything obvious. Could there be some maintenance issue?

Switching to 700c wheels and a 23-25mm tire would drop the top tube about 1/2 inch, couldn't hurt as you could then raise that seat a touch and still have some minimal standover clearance. Just make sure you have adequate brake reach. You'll need to be able to lower the pads about 4mm. If that is the direction you want to go, you can coldset the rear dropouts to 130mm and as mentioned above get some used wheels. I've not seen it with a Suntour equipped Raliegh, but I have seen old Schwinns upgraded to 7-sp freewheels or freehubs using the stock stem shifters.

Changing the wheel/tire diameter will not change the saddle to pedal distance so won't impact saddle height, only standover clearance.

As I said earlier, this is a lower end bike and making it into a "modern road bike" will probably cost more than buying a modern road bike and you'll be starting the build with a low-end frame that really doesn't fit you. Save up and buy a new bike or find a used bike with the components you want in the right size.

Your best and simplest upgrade would be to buy a new chain and modern freewheel which could be done for about $30. Changes upgrades much more than this would not be worth it on this bike. I would stick with the Suntour shifters and DR's they are very good and about as good as you can get on a budget.

I'd change the dorky stem shifters to downtube or bar end shifters. Suntour made especially good ones and you can find them on eBay. There is no point in changing to 700c wheels. It will lower the standover height only an insignificant 4 millimeters and cost you a bundle. Good tires are still available in 27 inch, notably the Panaracer Pasela. I have them on six bikes.

I'd also lose the dork disk and turkey levers and add a Brooks saddle, but that's just me.

There's nothing wrong with those centerpull brakes that some fresh Kool Stop pads wouldn't fix.

First, that is decidedly NOT a 23.5" frame. Actually it's unusually large - I would say possibly 27" (measure from center of crank/bb axle to top of seat tube). It is extremely likely that the saddle, as low as it is, still is not at proper height for comfort or efficiency, and a taller bike is also longer, making it less comfortable to reach the handlebars and brake levers.

Secondly, as has been pointed out by others, upgrading that bike would be prohibitively expensive and problematic, considering Raleigh's penchant for non-standard threading. It is a bit less likely to be a problem with later 70's models that were Suntour equipped.

Lastly coasting, if the tires are inflated well and brakes aren't rubbing, is predominately an issue of wheel bearing adjustment or condition and tire inflation or tread smoothness. The only friction present when coasting is from the wheel bearings turning and the tires contacting the pavement.

If it were me I would put comfort and the desire to ride a better working and fitting bike above sentimentality and sell it as a vintage bike, but only if you still have the original wheels in good condition. Otherwise sell it without wheels to someone who really needs a large frame and may pay well for it. Then use the money to help buy a modern bike - a used one if budget is an issue.

One of the main motivators for upgrading is not that I want a great bike. This one has sentimental value and I just would like to make it a bit better and maybe a little more modern. I really don't ride it much - much more of my time is now spent on a mountain bike and I dont do that as much as I should be...

For the record, I just measured, it is 25 1/2".

What is a 'dork disk'?

What are turkey levers?

Dork disc = spoke protector (the thing behind the freewheel)
Turkey levers = brake lever extensions (that let you aplly the brakes - although weakly - from the tops of the bars)

You can definately upgrade what you have but to what end? You can be sentimental about it the way it is. Anything you do to it will be a compromise because you are starting with a frame that isn't the right size for you.

I was in a similar position a few years ago with a '77 Le Tour with a 25" frame. Really attached to the bike and wanted to upgrade but, once I added up the cost and realized I'd have a bunch of money tied up in modern components on a low end frame that really didn't fit, I bought a new road bike.

Yes there could be some maintenance issues in the hubes and wheels DR's, chain and freewheel. I own and have sold bikes recentely that coast as good or better than most new bikes that where techinally 50's older or more. If it doesn't coast smooth you may have some maintence issues. When was the last time the wheels where properly serviced with grease and bearings? When was the last time the BB and pedals where serviced same grease and bearings?