Raleigh Record Upgrade Questions
 

So I posted this in the Road Bike thread originally, but was advised that this would be the more appropriate forum. so here it is:

I have an older Raleigh Record (1977-ish, I believe). I have not been on it too much until recently (I got it a little over a year ago) and have recently started to ride a lot more. I'm almost 100% certain that the majority of it are original parts. I've noticed that the gears stick a bit (even after a tune up). My question is, does anyone have experience with regards to upgrading the drive-train parts with more modern components? Is this possible or will I have issues since it is an older model? Thanks!

-Jon

ARgh, wrong section again. Sorry!

Most likely cause of the problem is in the cables- you could relubricate them by taking them off and out of the cable housing- if anything is rusted I'd replace it.

I'm not sure what you mean by "gears stick" otherwise- Chain skips? A delay after moving shift levers? Also try to lubricate the moving parts and joints on the derailleurs.

the Records I had experience with a few years before '77 had cottered cranks of heavy steel- I'd start any upgrade there, and then the shifters- Your's are Huret? Simplex? The front may be a pushrod- an inferior older design to a parallelogram- front shifters can be gotten fairly cheap on ebay or elsewhere since this fixie thing is big. You could probably get a much nicer front for about ten dollars or not much more.

other problems could be the freewheel and or chain are worn- without a lot of miles though, probably not, and good freewheels prior to the skinny 7 and 8 speed days are getting harder to find- if they are built up with less cogs they still often use skinny little angled teeth that often arent made well and don't accept a standard 3/32" chain very well-

The old adage is that you can't put a new chain on an old cog, and vice versa, because the relative wear causes it to skip-
probably NOT your problem is what I think based on what you've said. A new chain is a likely common solution to some problems, if the freewheel doesn't have a great many miles. Do the teeth look rounded? If you pedal the bike while holding up the back wheel, can you see a stiff link not bending through the back cage, or on the freewheel? Is your problem more on any gears or cogs in particular?

If you could post some photos of your Raleigh, with close ups of your drivetrain as well, it would help us help you.

Photos- saw this on ebay a while back- brings back many memories- this was one of my first links to cycling stuff back at the dawn of the '70's when imported cycling gear wasn't all that available- a Simplex pushrod front at bottom of the first page.