So I finally have my 1959 Raleigh Lenton back on the road. This bike was mostly original (although it had been repainted, unfortunately) and was one of my favourite riders before Hurricane Katrina hit my beloved New Orleans. It was sitting on the floor of my shed/shop (I was in Hawaii when the storm hit, so I had no opportunity to secure my household), and it sat in about 2 feet of water for 9 days.

When I was allowed back home in early October, I immediately disassembled it. The water had lapped around the bottom bracket shell, but the paint was in pretty good shape. I Frame-Savered (if I can use that as a verb) the tubes and went to work planning the rebuild.

Where I ran into problems was the back hub. There was serious pitting in the cups. I don't have the money or patience to take the bike off the road long enough to find NOS or used BH parts, and while getting a NOS hub is possible, it didn't make sense to me economically. (The bicycle already was not original; the rear derailleur, which should be a Cyclo Benelux, was an older Suntour.)

So I decided to make it a fun project: a fast commuter/porteur-type bike.

I got a Sturmey Archer AW from the local co-op, and I reused the front BH Racelite, lacing the hubs to Mavic MA3 rims. The stem is a Nitto Technomic Deluxe I had sitting around, and I used a new Nitto Albatross handlebar, inverted. The brake calipers are Dia-Compes, as are the reverse-pull levers.

The old Brooks B17 is on my other Raleigh, so I put a newer B17 on this one. (I probably will switch them back eventually.) The cranks are Suntour GPXs that I had lying around. The bottom bracket is a Shimano held in place with Phil rings. (I have saved the original Williams cottered cranks and bottom bracket, as well as all other parts I removed; the only original parts that remain on the bike are the frame, the fork, headset and seatpost, I believe.) Pedals are Campy Gran Sports with Christophe clips and ALE straps.

The final pieces to the puzzle are a pair of chromed fenders (not pictured) I took from a flooded Schwinn Varsity I found around the corner from my house. Special thanks to USAZorro for his assist. I'm also running cyclocross tyres on it now, in preparation for some fire road/light trail riding I have planned.

It's not original, but it's a terrific ride and a fine commuter. It is again my favourite bike.

And just in time for Mardi Gras. Good job!

Spiderman-looks good.I'm getting to like that 3 speed look.How wide are 3 speed hubs usually?
A Mardi Gras aside-have you noticed all the ads for folks wanting to rent bikes($25-$50 each per day) for a couple of days at Mardi Gras and Jazz fest? Most of the ads wanted 2-4 bikes+ locks.I have 5 running bikes, but I really don't have any(a $50 bike) that I would trust a stranger with at Mardi Gras.With all the bikes-frames that have been tossed post flood there was a real opportunity-Jazz fest Mardi Gras-.Oh well-nice bike.Thanks.Charlie

Very nice. Looks like a very sweet, casual rider. But now I'm almost ashamed that I didn't pull the nicer shift chain off my Superbe and send you that instead.

fyi - the hub lives in Alabama, and the frame it was on now lives in South Florida. :)

115mm, I THINK.

The rear spacing on my frame is about 120mm, and the hub fit in with no respacing necessary. The axle is wide enough that respacing should be easy, I think.

I've noticed those ads, too, and thought about renting some of my bikes. (I guess I have 7 or 8 bicycles on the road.) But I wouldn't trust any of them to a stranger, lock or not. Most of the people posting the ads seem pretty lazy, because you can buy a bike at Plan B for dirt cheap and either keep it or donate it back to them. In fact, I ran into a young lady last night who had done just that. She is visiting town and bought an old Hercules three-speed to use while she's here.

Laissez les bons temps roulez!

Spider man.Yeah,those folks posting the ads must be fairly well healed to want to pay $100 to rent one bike for 3-4 days.You figure you can get a runner from Plan B for $30-50?Heck you can get a spanking new multispeed bike from W Mart-K mart-Sports Authority for well under $100 now.With a little bit of adjusting the brakes on those new cheapo bikes are much better than state of the art circa 1980
Speaking of Plan B-I need some old style cage type pedals-I should get over there soon.Mardi Gras weekend is probably the wrong time.
Boy,I do wish I had scooped up(I have a pickup) some of the hundreds of bikes that were tossed to the curb post flood.Tires-tubes might have been a problem-hard to get a set for under $20 or so.Seats would probably have been moldy smelling junk-figure another $10.Once you start adding it is clear that it would be hard to rehab for under $40.With new bikes costing ~$60.Guess it was just as well that I didn't bring them home.I think you saw my backyard-3-5 motorcycles-camper top-gas cans-lotta other junk.It is approaching Tobacco road-Redneck heaven as it is.Still-I wish I had selectively rescued a few.

John E and Spiderman thanks for the 115mm info, Thanks.Charlie
PS The citric acid does a good job on rust,but my wrapping the frame with rags wasn't one of my better ideas.Etched the bare metal-gave it a sorta snakeskin appearance.Kinda cool if that was my intent-.Took an 40 minutes of sanding to remove the etching.A full dip it the way to go on a frame.You could probably etch your name or a simple design pretty easily.

Nice save, spider-man. It's still a beautiful bike. How are the cyclocross tires on asphalt? Pondering using similar tires on a project bike that will see mostly road and very little trail use.