Raleigh Super Tourer
 

All this time I though my husband's old bike was a Raleigh Competition on which someone had played a cruel trick. Seems it is a Super Tourer - same 531db frame, different components.

Ugly Green Paint job is shot and peeling with surface rust. Components original except for Rear derailleur and freewheel (I pulled an old Sun Tour out of the junk bin when we put on a bigger freewheel.........the bike was a bike shop "trade in")

My husband could give a rats patootie about how it looks - ok - so since it was made only two years - does it have any collectability? I don't see this being a "restoration" job, but unlike my paramount I won't be doing any custom paint jobs or adding braze ons.

I am thinking of just treating the surface rust, spray painting, slapping the components back on (after overhauling) and adding a cheap indexed shifting system (losing the pig metal stem shifters - I really only like downtube shifters for nin-indexed gearing and he won't go for that)) - and if someone really wants to fix it up down the road they can have at it.............sound like a good plan? Too bad the old huret rear deraillieur is gone but I don't recall it could wrap enough chain for a larger sprocket.

Bike always rode well. The goal is to ride bikes.

I want to know what else is in your garage. You really need to post some pics of these bikes. Please don't post a pic of these bikes leaning up against some old VW fan with a split windshield that you bought in a used car lot in 1982 for $100.:lol:

Post some pictures and tell me about the serial number format and location (I don't need the actual SN).

I have what I think it a Raleigh (that's what the Widow of the original owner said it was and he was English and the bike was bought in England) and it is a high end frame with Campy drop outs. I cannot find a catalog picture that shows exactly what I have. :(
Pictures in the blog link in my sig.

Don't do it, at least, not until you've posted a few photos so that the cosmetic condition can be evaluated.

Super Tourers, by virtue of being an oddball, have their own small band of followers. That said, no spray can job will be satisfactory, and it just might be that the cosmetic issues of the frame can be worked out with some simple love and care and a few easily purchased polishes from an auto shop (Meguiars' Scratch X / KIT Scratch Out).

Please post a few photos of it.

-Kurt

Mmm, Super Tourer:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_GmYBBzTzcVQ/Sn...perTourer2.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_GmYBBzTzcVQ/Sn...perTourer4.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_GmYBBzTzcVQ/Sn...Tourer_Cat.jpg

Neal

Will take some this weekend. Including the Melton Tandem Frame and the Paramount

The Super Tourer is a frameset and components right now. Just taken apart for overhauling - no pain has touched it but the top tube is not pretty.

No, the beat up VW with the bondo went in 1987 :) I have a 2007 Tundra. I did however buy a beetle once for $50 drove it for a few years then sold it for $100.

I happen to like the Super Tourer, too.

I can see why !

It's funny---I see bikes all over Boston that look like the Super Tourer (old steel road bikes fitted with upright bars and fenders) but I never knew a bike actually came like that from the factory.

I want one!

In 1976, when my friend and I were 15, International Cycles (or some name close to that) in Allston, MA was overstocked with Super Tourers. They didn't sell. So they put drop bars on and took the fenders off and sold them. My friend bought one then and still has it. He leaves it at his mother's house in Brookline (nlerner's town). My friend lives in NYC now and commutes on a cheap Favorit bike.

Too bad he had them take the fenders off. Now we know how nice fenders are, especially lightweight fenders, but back then, we thought they were very uncool.

I tried a set of handlebars like that on a Gran Sport for a while. It was really, really fun. I couldn't ride it long distance, but as a grocery getter, it was great.

I'm some day goign to put them on my Rudge '51 Sports - they are much more comfortable than regular North Roads.

Any idea what size the bike is or if your friend wants it out of his mother's house???

I'm sure his mother wants it out, but he won't part with anything. Maybe if he knew what he could get for it, he might. I think it's a 23" frame.

There's also a 1960 Raleigh Sports there, which was his father's. It's also a 23" frame.

Aren't stem shifters a little funny on a bike like this? Were mountain type thumb shifters available at that time? Still, I love those, especially the paint, and I'd pick one up in a heartbeat.

Tom: Of the two bikes that I have here, I have fenders on both, and I love them. But that still doesn't make them "cool!"

I don't think they were. ........stems shifter were typical on low end bikes. And these are definitely low end pig metal stem shifters. At least his saddle is the all leather brooks with springs and no padding like in the 1976 catalogue. A challenge will be to find chainrings for that stronglight crank. The inner one is pretty worn out. I am kind of wondering if the chain guard could be pulled to make it a triple. It is as thick as a sprocket and on the bolt circle. Of course the lowest cog made was a 38. I like Esge fenders. I think they are cool :)

As shown in that catalog page, Huret stem shifters were standard as was a Huret dork disk. And Huret Jubilee mechs. That sloping fork crown was only found on the Raleigh Pro of that year. It really is an odd duck.

Neal

Wasn't that crown used on the '75/6 Competitions as well?

-Kurt

Yes, the frame and fork are the same as were on the Competition of that year.

My friend's Super Tourer got down tube shifters in the conversion. Also, stem shifters are much better than downtube shifters for a bike with upright bars. I learned that the hard way recently when I put North Road bars on my Super Course.

I had the same cranks on the Gran Sport I had (purchased at the same shop in Allston). Yes, the chainguard is in place of a third chainring. So as a dutifully tinkering teenager, I bought a 56T chainring. So my chainrings were 42/52/56. Pretty silly for gears, but I liked it better than having a chainguard. I wanted no concession to practicality! ;)

Note I said the same model year as the one I show--1974. Here's the Competition from that year. Looks like the Vagner crown to me (despite the catalog copy):

http://web.mit.edu/nlerner/Public/Bi...ompetition.jpg

Neal

So Now for a verdict?

My husband wants to fix it and does not care how it looks but of course I care about the rust. This is just the frame and crank - the rest is "all good' though the seat is the older brooks leather with springs - the frame is clearly the 74 with the pump mount on the top tube.

I have concerns about the inner chainring on that crank - 122 BCD looks very hard to find based on some searches - $100+ for an old stronglight chainring - eeek.


So - s uggestions would be appreicated. It is rough. We did ride the heck out of our bikes though; I just did not abuse my paramount like he abused his bike (I did silly things like overhaul the bearings, wipe it down when it got wet...........we are talking about a man who drove a Ford Escort for 5 years without an oil change........the oil was tan colored and like sludge.........stinking car got 300,000 miles and it was the suspension, not the engine that finally went)

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=159666http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=159667http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=159668http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=159669 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=159670http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=159671

I sure don't know how I got the pictures so funky but it is in keeping with a 70s post AND my husband!

--------------

Edit-I actually DID find some chainrings from a french company. I believe I could move the 52 to outboard, put 46 in middle and 38 on inside............and get rid of the chain guard....these are clearly aftermarket but the new rings would be inside not outside.

http://www.xxcycle.com/122-mm-2-position,,en.php#avis

Anybody ever dealt with these folks? If so, I may get some TA chainrings (for the tandem) while I am at it.

$13 per chainring is an incredible price. Too good to be true?

Sad to see the frame in such bad shape. But it probably rides just fine. If it were mine, I would definitely fix it up.

I guess the question is can/should I salvage the current paint job or should we just strip and repaint and not worry about decals etc. I can't see paying a lot of money for a restoration unless there is some truly unique collectability to the bike as it is just a nice 531 frame with a lot of memories for him. I figure the bike will get ridden again and the paint will get scratched again - the chrome is salvageable on THIS bike. (Quick Glo is my friend)

I felt the hubs in bikes for $400 and they are not as smooth as his ancient Maillard hubs pre overhaul - We can fix up his whole bike for less than that even having the bike shop do it (If we paint it ourselves - he sells to automotive body shops so maybe he can work it in with a car paint job)

RE the chainrings - I think I am just going to order a 42 tooth aftermarket from these folks after I do some more research on them (it is a secure website) - when I played with gear ratios what I wanted to do would really not be practicable and a 42 front 32 back is a pretty low gear (well it was by yesterday's standards - sure not by today's)

There are ways to touch it up. The hard part is finding paint that matches your color. I vote to restore the paint, not replacing it.

I have one of these. The paint is about in the same shape as in the pics posted by rlerner early on in this thread. It is torn down and on the back burner. I don't know if there is a market for this bike but it is very unique so I am thinking restoration all the way. It could be mistaken for a steel-component Raleigh Sport but everything is alloy and high grade. A real sleeper. I like the chain guard. It looks like an outer chain ring that didn't get the teeth machined. Mine had a B.66 saddle when I bought it. I'll have to keep an eye out for the Brooks mattress model shown in the catalog picture.

Sleeper is the right word for this bike. It's a TOTAL sleeper.