jonwvara 

I like the Stronglight 93 because all the bikes I wanted but couldn't afford in 1969 had them. They look great also, and last forever. A modern crankset would work well but wouldn't look right. For many of us here, that's the real issue--bikes just look best (to us, at least) when wearing their original parts, or at least parts of the right age.

That said, it's fine to replace old parts with modern ones if there's some good reason to do so. Just avoid doing anything irreversible. Save any removed parts in a box so someone else can put them back on later. Don't file or weld or grind or saw anything.

You can easily remove the stem shifters. You just remove the stem, loosen the mounting bolt, slide them off, and replace the stem--nothing will be left behind. You will need a different set of shifters for the down tube. A Huret like the one you have (but with a clamp that fits the down tube) should be easy to find and pretty cheap.

gugie 

Sorry, image servers are blocked at work, didn't get to see the pic till I got home.

Now that I am, I'll tell you that yours looks to be in good shape. To give you an idea what you could do with one of these, take a gander. You're not headed anywhere near that direction, but I post the link to let you know that the frame is well worth it.

All you really need is an overhaul, maybe a new saddle, and new tires. I'd recommend you learn how to work on it yourself. That's the beauty of these vintage bikes - you can work on them. Is there a co-op bike shop in town? Or a shop that has maintenance classes?

If this seems overwhelming, or just something that you don't really want to do, my recommendation is to sell it. A lot of the forum members would take it off your hands.

the sci guy 

Can the chain guard part be removed, leaving just the chainrings?
Hopefully the hoods clean up well I'd hate to have to replace them even if I don't like the cables coming out the top. Hopefully also the levers clean up well enough to keep.

Salamandrine 

Not easily. It's possible but there are complications. To start you'd need shorter chainring bolts and a new bottom bracket spindle. It might be easier to replace the guard with a large chainring and convert it to a triple crank, though I'm not certain if you'd have enough front derailleur range without seeing it.

thumpism 

If you decide to replace the stem shifters with downtube shifters any decent set will work but the ones you want are the Huret models that match the derailleurs. They might be hard to find but are as pretty as you could want. I had a pair but do not know if they are still in the dungeon. And since the kickstand is already on the bike, I'd recommend keeping it. They work, and any damage that might have been done to the stays (chipped paint and/or tube flattening) is already done, and will be obvious if the stand is removed.


And take that damn Sutherland tag off the rear brake cable!! I'll never understand why people leave those repair tags on once out of the shop.

gugie 

I did something different with my 93 crankset, converting a bike to a 5 speed rear IGH (internal gear hub, like a 3-speed) from a 10 speed.



Just to show you the bike you have is quite versatile. Those old Raleighs have been built up by forum members as single speeds ("fixies"), 3-speed, etc. up to long distance touring and randonneuring bikes.

So, the $64 question, have you pumped up the tires and ridden it yet? If it's rideable, that's really the first thing you should do. You'll figure out quickly what, if anything bugs you about the bike. Do the tires hold air? The very first thing you should do is learn how to fix a flat tire. Are the wheels so out of true that they scrape against the frame? If so, you'd be brave, but not the first person who tried to true the wheel on your own. Do the brakes work? If so, do they work well? Can you shift the gears? Is the saddle uncomfortable?

Just fix what needs to be fixed to get it in riding condition. Once you do that, go for a short ride. If everything holds together in one piece (including you), go for a longer one. You decide what short and long are. Slowly figure out the limits of the bike, your body, and your mechanic skills. Hang out here, post questions, find someone local to meet up and ride with. Surely there are bicycle clubs in Houston.

And, since you're a teacher, here's a reading assignment:
Read this, then ignore most it.
Read this, and heed most of it.
Well, that's my opinion, anyway.

87 Demo

I don't know if all that's necessary, for mine, all I did was switch the larger chainring to where the chain guard was, move the smaller chainring to where the larger chainring was. The bolts did'nt end up being any longer and the spindle is fine, the bolt/spacer setup on these is pretty versatile and I've thought of making it a triple, but correct BCD stronglight chainrings for a triple must be rare because I've never seen them.

thumpism 

122 BCD rings are out there but this setup only goes down to 38T for the smallest, not ideal for a triple but you might find a Triplizer that will work for your middle ring to take a smaller (and with a smaller BCD) inner ring. I may have a 38T for a 93 hanging around.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!to...ob/AoKJUVyPX8k

Back to the OP's bike, if he's going to polish the crankset to a mirror finish, he should also do the same thing to those Maillard 700 hubs. They were pretty shiny when new.

Salamandrine 

It's true you can do that. If it works for you, great. The problem is the chainline won't be correct, though it will be good enough to work. More importantly the chainring bolts will sometimes loosen up if used on an non-countersunk 'middle' ring like your formerly middle ring.

I was a pro mechanic for many years though, wouldn't have gotten away with that, as only correct will do. I look at things differently than home mechanics. In a pro shop if it works 4/5 times, that's not good enough, as a disgruntled customer could take the bike to a different shop. The old codger there would tell the customer it was done incorrectly, and then your reputation is screwed. So it may not be professional, but as a home mechanic you could do it that way.

Anyhow, the best way and most practical way to do this would be to polish the crank up and leave it alone. I will stick with that. It should also be noted that those old style chainguards will also function nicely as cyclocross bash guards - for you gravel grinders.

If you wanted to convert to triple, the right way to do it would be to acquire/pilfer a standard 45/52 122BCD chainring set from another crankset, or better yet 49 or 48/52 for half step, then add a 38 small. Needless to say working out the gear ratios first on a gear calculator would be a good idea.

USAZorro

I concur about the chainring bolts, but I'm not following why a different spindle would be needed. Can someone explain, please?

rustystrings61 

The stock Stronglight mod. 93 spindle is an asymmetrical 118mm with (I think!) a 5 mm offset to the drive side. The spindles used on mod. 93s fitted with the guard in the outerposition was a 123 or 125mm. It's not that much of a difference, but if you are a fiend for narrow tread/low-Q setups, it can make a difference.

There ARE 122mm triplizer rings that would fit this bike and permit use of a 74 bcd granny ring - I think jonwvara on this forum had them made, though availability and cost are considerations. That said, 118 mm spindles turn up all the time on the big auction site for little $, and any standard double chainring bolt set fits these, so the usual careful storage of original parts is in order here.

These cranks ARE worth the bother. They are so light, so very light, and so smooth, and Stronglight seems to have found a magic alloy that didn't skirt with embrittlement but just kept on a-goin'. The rest of the stock parts are pretty good, too.

I have come around to the view that one of the nastier tricks played on the cycling public has been the abandonment of the 27 x 1 1/4 tire for 700C. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the size, Panaracer Paselas are awesome tires for not that much money, and even the cheapies smooth out the ride on chipseal roads.

rhm

The current setup uses 'triple' length chainring bolts with a spacer between the small and large rings, and the crank spider between the large ring and the chainguard. So if you remover the guard and move the rings one place to the right, you no longer need the spacer, and you now use 'double' size bolts. In the process you have moved both rings 5 mm to the right. You may be able to adjust the front derailleur to work that way; or maybe not. Either way, there is no need for the crank to be so far off to the right. A shorter spindle would bring the chainrings back to the correct location.

the sci guy 

Thanks for the continued insight - even though some of it is over my head lol

To address a few things:
-I don't have any interest in turning it into a triple. As was stated before - I'm in Houston and I'm not exactly burdened by hills!
-I'm content leaving most of the gear the way it is as y'all have convinced me it's worth keeping it - with the exception of the shifters as I mentioned. However, I'm not a fan of the low & forward hoods on what look to be track bars. Would I be a terrible person for getting new hoods , levers, and drops? Is it safe to assume the quill is a 26?
-Can the downtube shifters be indexed?
-Are 27 tires still available - and for that matter wheels? I'm not sure the true condition of the wheels yet. Moving to 700c would require a change of the brakes because of the reach, yes? Though I am also assuming y'all would recommend keeping the wheels because of the nice hubs?

Either way, my first steps will be cleaning it up best I can, and having someone take a look at the hidden parts.

Salamandrine 

What's your intended use? If this is for a fast city bike, I'd consider a nice set of alloy 3 speed style bars.

If you prefer to stay with drops, I would start by moving those brake levers up the bar 1-2 inches or so, and retaping. They are badly positioned now. If that doesn't feel right then consider a new handlebar. You could put modern aero levers on there, it could work. The main objection would be aesthetics and taste.

You can't use indexing with 5 speed freewheel and those derailleurs. Friction shift is easy with that few rear cogs though.

27" tires of high quality are available. It's made a bit of a comeback. Panaracer Paselas or Continentals would be the obvious high quality tires currently sold.

gugie 

If you wanted to, you could just turn it into a 5 speed! But, as you've stated, probably best to just keep the bike "as-is" except for consumables.

Not sure what you mean by "hoods" - perhaps brake levers? You can remove the handlebar tape and reposition those, adjust the angle of the handlebars, etc. Changing the handlebars and brake levers, heck, doing whatever you want with it isn't a sin. It's your bike. On one end of the spectrum we have forum members that want to keep things exactly as it left the factory, I'm probably far to the other side - I strip down some of these old Raleighs, pull out my torch and modify the heck out of 'em, repaint, and put on whatever parts I like. I'd say most of the members are somewhere in the middle. For those of us old enough to remember these bikes when they were brand new in an LBS (Local Bike Shop), you'd be interested to know that the ones that actually got ridden a lot were modified, sometimes even before they left the shop. For someone just getting into this, I'd try to ride it as stock as possible - why change something that you don't know "needs" changing?

I'll let someone else answer the size question.

Short answer, no. Shifting "friction" shifters (not indexed) is an art, something you'll learn quickly. If you hear noises coming from the drivetrain, adjust the levers a bit until it goes away. A good learning experience is to put the bike on a stand and shift through the gears so you see what's happening. I doubt you have a stand, a piece of rope around a garage rafter will work.

Yes! A very good tire for the money is the Panaracer Pasela. I'd get them in the widest size you can find, which I believe is 27 1-14". That will give you a more comfortable ride than the skinny tires you see a lot of people riding on. You can find them for around $25 each.

I wouldn't recommend keeping the wheels because of the nice hubs. I'd recommend keeping the wheels because new ones might cost you more than you paid for the bike! As long as they're servicable, ride 'em.

Your first step should be to ride it around the block! Well, pump up the tires, spin the wheels, see if the brakes work, make sure the wheels are attached firmly, the handlebars are tight, and the saddle doesn't move first, then ride it around the block.

Bandera

A) Indexed DT shifters were designed for "braze-on" DT fittings which your frame lacks, so No.
Indexing system conversion will require investment in substantial drive train conversion, frame re-spacing & dropout work as well.

A.1) Since the conversions we did of DL140s to drop bars were done with Sun Tour bar-end controls that is another route to consider for friction shifting.
Those Jubilee derails work quite well w/ a little seat time to get used to them.

2) It looks like an old Super Course model was the donor for the GB bars/stem/levers/tape installed on your bike.
It's never safe w/ C&V. GB bar/stem was 25.4 if memory serves.

III) 27 x 1 1/4 tires are readily available, the Pasela previously mentioned works just fine for not much $$.
Have the hubs re-packed & the wheels dished/trued and you are good to go for years.

edit: @gugie types faster than I do.

-Bandera

gugie 

Perhaps, but @Salamandrine types faster than both of us!

gugie 

Perhaps I can recommend that @the sci guy throw the bike in the back of his pickup - Texas, everyone has one, right? ;-), head west on 290, and meet up with @Bandera. Six pack of Shiner Bock might get you far...

the sci guy 

intended use is: everything commuter, saturday miles, t-shirt rides, pure enjoyment.
I do prefer to stay with drops. I'm not sure I like the look/feel/position of the ones on there though.

I do have a workstand, and do some most of my maintenance on my own. I think I mentioned that about 2 years ago I got another old Raleigh and rebuilt that into my current commuter - but it's a single speed so it was a lot easier. Plus it didn't have the quirks of this even older bike. I had a shop replace the BB and tune-up the headset, but I did everything else myself, and installed all the components on my own. But obviously not having to deal with a front and rear derailleur made that much easier.
Here's that bike:


I would love to turn this into a 1x5 (was my original thought), but it seems changing the current crank to a single would be difficult and that's ok. I'd settle for being able to remove the chain guard, but I'm not losing sleep over either of those

Bummer about not indexing, but that's ok. I've had friction shifters on old mountain bikes from the 90s (those annoying thumb ones on the handlebars), and my Cross-Check had a friction front derailleur as well.

Yeah I fully intend to at least rotate the current bars back to how they should be, and adjust the hoods/levers as needed just to see how it rides and feels.

Thanks for the wheel info - good to know I can still get and use the current ones and there are things available!

the sci guy 

Great info, thanks! Like I just posted these were merely thoughts, I'm not heartbroken I can't do indexing and the whatnots!

Hey now, I drive a Hyundai!

gugie 

Well, damn, missed that! If you're doing your maintenance on the bike you posted, you've got this. The only "odd" thing about this bike is the rear drive side dropout - limits your derailleur choices - but the one on the bike is fine as is. Just replace the cables front and rear if needed (probably will be).

Hyundai pickup, haven't seen many of those.

;-)

thumpism 

1x5: A bike's bottom bracket spindle is made longer on the right than on the left so that it holds the crankset in the correct position relative to the centerline of the frame. You could remove both crankarms, remove the left side BB cup (the adjustable cup) leaving the right side (fixed cup) in place, turn the BB spindle end-for-end so that the side that used to point out the right now points out the left. This will bring the rightmost end in closer to the frame relative to its former position. If you now unbolt the rings and guard and take them off, pick the ring you do want and place it in the "big ring" position it will likely be "close" (measuring, vociferous arguments and fisticuffs about actually doing this come later) to what you need for a proper 1x5 chainline. You will need what are called BMX chainring bolts, a boltset designed to hold one ring to a spider instead of being long enough to hold two or three rings to the same spider. This depends on the actual length of your BB spindle and what swapping ends actually does to the placement of that one ring. I would try this on my own bike to see if it works, but you might not be interested and I'm sure many here would say I'm blowing smoke to suggest it.

Indexing: You might also be able to find older (late '80s to early '90s) downtube shifters that are clamp-on and indexing, but you would need a compatible rear derailleur and freewheel for it to all work together. It might mean going to a 6- or 7-speed freewheel, which gets into other issues. If you're cool with friction shifting, stick with that for now for the sake of simplicity.

the sci guy 

I've already asked a buddy of mine who is way more knowledgeable about maintenance to help me with taking apart everything that has bearings and cleaning/greasing, and reassembling - he said, and I quote, "I could do it in my sleep" - like most of you I bet. I think he may also have a truing stand. I've also never actually recabled derailleurs, so I'll ask him to show me how to do that too.

I'm assuming I'll need a new chain, and here's maybe the most important questions - what color bar tape!!

gugie 

Make sure your buddy knows that the Stronglight cranks use a proprietary arm remover if he plans on servicing the bottom bracket. If he tries to use the "standard" one, it's almost guaranteed the threads will strip. A lot of "experienced" mechanics have made that mistake.

the sci guy 

Yup, already have that info written down from someone earlier in the thread! Thanks!