Upgrading a retro Raleigh
 

How much difficulty will I face in trying to upgrade a 78 or 79 Raleigh Super Grand Prix with newer-ish components? Would I be better off trying to get original equipment components for it? I think most of what's on the bike is ok, not great, but in the past, just trying to get things like races & such for hubs on an old Peugeot proved nearly impossible. I do like the old lugged frames though.

Cheers!
Dukester

What sort of upgrading do you have in mind? I'm pretty sure the rear on that is spaced for 120mm hub. It can be spread to 130, but that will be a bit harder than respacing a 126 to 130mm, and if not done properly, could result in minor alignment issues.

Depends what you have in mind as far as "newer-ish components" go. It is possible to upgrade any old steel bike to use a modern drivetrain say like a 10 speed hub and using STI shifters by bending the rear triangle to accept the wider spaced hub. However, unless you happen to have a lot of modern spare parts laying around at your disposal this can be a very expensive upgrade and some thought would have to go into it.. is the bike really worth sinking that kind of money into?

I would guess not with your raleigh, but its you bike and you can do as you please with it. Simple upgrades with good older parts would be a wiser move I think. All the threading on your raleigh is standard so a good replacement bottom bracket would be no big deal to obtain. You will kinda want to go over everything.. does the rear right drop out use a derailleur hanger? What size seat post does the bike accept, what diamater clamp on front derailleur am I gonna need? etc etc.. I have no idea of the specs of your raleigh but component swapping may not make much of a difference if it already has light alloy parts on it, but if it has a lot of steel stuff on it, then throwing any old half descent stuff on it can make a world of difference, a descent alloy wheel set is a good start.

My general use "beater" type bike is a old Entry level CCM targa, I stripped all the heavy steel parts off it and rebuilt it with whatever nicer spare parts I pulled off old cheaper bikes I bought over the years and made that bike so much better, and yet I still can lock it up somewhere and not worry about what might happen to it.

Upgrade to you hearts content (or your wallet's;)) the parts can always be stripped off and used on a different frame down the road.

Aaron:)

I guess I'm thinking of replacing hubs etc. The hub races are pitted and ditto for the bb. I didn't know if it was possible to purchase new old style parts for this bike rather than say new shimano 105 stuff. Is it just a matter of scouring eBay? Don't think I want to fool with changing the rear spacing. The brakes, shifters I can handle. Are the headsets on these replaceable with new stuff?

Thanks

With a Raleigh frame, it should be pretty easy to retrofit parts/assemblies -- they use threads and sizes that are, if not common, then certainly available.

I bought an old Grand Prix frame to set up as a simple singlespeed for commuting in crappy weather. It had no wheels (originally 27" type), so I bought a used 700C set. I've decided to standardize on 700C for all my bikes, so that I can interchange them. The GP has a headset that's shot, but the BB seems to be smooth enough. I don't like the cranks, since it has no separate large chainwheel -- the 52 side has the arms integral with the chainwheel, and the 42 is mounted to that. Well, for SS use, I can't really use the 52, I'd rather have a smaller chainwheel; so I will replace the crank with an old Sugino I have in the box.

I'm not that concerned about chainline, because the rear wheel has a Something-Glide freehub; I'll just buy one of those spacer/shim kits so that I can put the rear cog wherever the chainwheel ends up.

The GP came with Weinmann centerpull calipers, which have enough reach for the 700C rims; I bought some NOS Weinmann brake levers on eBay to match.

Seatpost seems to be 1" (25.4 mm) diameter; I'm hoping that the headset is std. English thread 1" type, because I have one on hand.

Now I need stem & bars, fenders, seat, chain, bell, some MKS platform pedals & toeclips! Maybe replace the brakepads too.

1" headsets with English threading will work fine. Your only concern will be the stack height. I believe you can still get new Tange headsets - which are nice, but much less expensive than NOS Campagnolo.

Hubs and BBs - there are lots of choices. I am usually happy with good used condition - but then I'm kind of cheap. :o

UNLESS...it's the "Raleigh" English headset!!

Standard English headset threading is 1" x 24 tpi, ...BUT the "Raleigh" English is 1" x 26 tpi.
(tpi=threads per inch)

"Close, but no cigar!" as my Dad used to say.

I'm having East Hill's mixte fork steer tube replaced to accommodate the "standard" English headset.
So we can use a Campy headset. :p

I'm in the process of updating a 72 Schwinn Paramount with modern components. I bought a donor bike for $350 on craiglist that has full campy right down to the seat post and wheels. Spreading the rear triangle from 120 to 130 is no big deal at all. If not for my father in-law’s experience doing stuff like this, I probably would have had a bike or frame shop do it for me. I think the price ranges from 45$ to 70$ or so. Next thing I need to do is drill the frame a bit for the recessed brake calipers then paint.

By they way, I found the frame in a neighbor’s garbage! Here's a picture of us in the act of spreading the rear triangle out to 130.

You are correct. Safer to avoid getting a Raleigh headset. The threading on the fork (presuming it's original and not one of Raleigh's "special" items), should be standard English threading. If you had a bike several years older, you might well run into the "define English" problem.

I had a '79 Raleigh SGP and it was a beautiful bike albeit way too tall for me.

It now lives with a much taller friend and underwent an SS conversion prior to the move and my friend is pretty thrilled as the bike has an amazingly nice ride and rols out pretty quickly as an SS.