So, I've been taking my Raleigh Sports on longer and longer rides, enjoying going up and down the hills that predominate in my area. It's been slightly geared down, to a 20 from an 18, and I am getting strong enough to pedal it up some serious inclines.

Here's the problem: sometimes, I need to stand up to get up the hills, or even just put some serious weight on the cranks as I sit. Now I'm getting a lot of creaking: what feels like the bottom bracket area, the pedals... you name it, I'm hearing it. So then I worry... am I killing my '69 Sports by using it as a bike?

But then I think: they made this bike in the UK for postal workers and cops (bobbies?) for heaven's sake. Surely they weren't walking it up hills? And I rode my single-speed, banana-seated, Stingray-rip-off Sears bike standing up with a friend on the banana seat holding on for dear life for years, and never blew anything out. Can I really not do this?

I realize it probably needs a thorough greasing/tuning-up, but in a broader sense, how strong are these things? How much real riding can a bike like this take? I'm not pumping it up hills every day, but I am pumping it up hills every week. It's Seattle, for god's sake. There are three flat trails and everything else requires serious climbing to get anywhere. Thoughts?

Edit: photos or it isn't happening...


That's about 2/3rds of the way up, and yes, there was some pumping on that hill. Not the whole way, but for portions.

I am no expert, but I don't think 1st gear in a SA-AW is meant for standing in the pedals. I usually try to stay seated and pedal hard. That said, I have a 24 tooth sprocket on the back of my DL-1, so that makes it a bit easier. Is it the bottom bracket or your hub that is creaking? Could be different problems depending. Too bad those blackberries aren't ripe yet, as that would make for a nice diversion up those sizable hills.

I have been having nasty clunking sounds coming out of my AW lately when I pedal (and it is happening in all gears and not really under load to speak of), and I don't know why. I have oiled it to no avail. I am kind of relieved that it will soon be retired. I am hoping my new 5 speed hub will prove a reliable replacement.

A lot of connections there to move and cause noise. Two cups, two crank arms, two cotters, two pedals. FWIW I have a 1971 Sports Standard that has well over 30,000 miles on it and it has not been babied. It was a daily rider for nearly 7 years. I would do a proper rebuild on the bottom bracket, make sure to file and fit the cotters properly using a press. All of my cottered cranks make a bit of protest when under a heavy stand up load.

Aaron

I'd also think that a woman's frame will flex more when standing on the pedals. A flexing frame usually makes some noise, but is nothing to worry about.

I think Aaron hit the nail on the head, except I would not "file and fit the cotters properly using a press" - I would use a good quality 12" mill file for that, and use the press to seat the cotters fully.

As a teenage boy I rode a Phillips or Hercules three-speed everywhere with lots of standing and big loads over several years with no creaks and no babying. The bike is engineered to take it. It does need to all be put together correctly - as Auch and Aaron have said, there are a lot of parts and connections between them, and they need to be put together correctly. We live in a world of assembling parts together, but in the early '60s and presumably before, bicycle and motorcycle mechanics lived in a world of filing things and adjusting shapes to fit perfectly together.

Snarkypup, you are not going to kill your bike, especially the frame. The creaking is a sign of something not being fit or tightened quite correctly. Whether it's going to affect the crank parts over the long term is anybody's guess. If you have access to a great white-haired vintage mechanic, see if he (she?) will help you sort it out.

Several readily available mechanic books cover bikes of this era, although I'm not sure they go into this much detail: Anybody's Bike Book (first edition) by Tom Cuthbertson, and Glenn's Bicycle Repair Manual (not sure I got Glenn's title correct). Both were sold in the late '60s and reflected mech knowledge people had then. More detailed and technical are the Sutherland's and Barnett's handbooks of bicycle repair. Here you're into the professional knowledge base, but if you can sort it out, they are great references.

So are Auch and Aaron (wahoonc), BTW.

Thanks guys! Sheldon makes it sound totally catastrophic if one stands too much.

I don't have a white haired mechanic, but I do have Fritz the wonder boy down at Dutch Bike. The Viva needs to go see him as something bad happened to the front drum cable, and I'll talk to him then about a Raleigh check-over. He's good with these old bikes, despite being young and prone to wrenching in a cowboy hat.

I just wanted to be sure that in the meantime, I wasn't doing something one wasn't supposed to ever do!

I don't want a bike I can't hammer on. I'm a masher. That's how I roll.

Colonel, I so agree! One must be able to mash. Mashing is part of the fun.

She's hitting 60 years old soon.

There's a few creaks,groans and some rattles....sometimes from the bike too.

'62 sports that I do some really terrible things to. getting up out of the saddle is the least. I'm 230 lbs, the worst that happend is the rear wheel has shifted in a climb or two and Ive replaced the cotters several times. I feel bad for the BB so I drop some SAE 30 motor oil down the seat tube from time to time. It's not a everyday rider but it does see some miles.

If you kill a sports I'm sending you a Varsity

lovely picture.

I that the "official" way to lubricate the BB? I never knew!

No, I don't think you're killing your 3-speed. This guy has 378,000 miles on his (using the same bike since 1962).



You may need some maintenance though.

I would check to see if a crank is loose on the spindle. Try standing on the cranks and to see if they move and then reverse them and try again. If you are grinding away up hills on a loose crank you will ruin the spindle and crank.

If it were me, I would try to get the gearing low enough that I could pedal up the hills seated in first gear; though I don't have any hills where I live, so I guess I don't really know if that is practical or not.

No, but I lazy by nature.

I'm going to take it in to my bike guy to get it lubbed and adjusted. I'll have him check the cranks, and the pedals to be sure they're okay. I'm in "training" for a 7 day bike tour of western Ireland this summer with 8 high school kids, so I need to be in decent shape. Hence the long, slightly hilly rides. No mountains in Ireland, but plenty of gently rolling lanes. I am pondering lowering the gears once more, but I don't mind where it is, as long as I can pump up the hills without hurting the bike. I like pumping up the hills, to be honest. It reminds me of being a little kid.

So lazy, he leaves out the 'm in "I'm."

Thanks, Zaphod. It's one of my favorites. That ride produced two new Raleigh favorites, including this one:

That looks like a catalog shot. Very nice.

'm..............y'z everyone is such a hurry?

No. But on the off chance that you did, you could easily find replacement parts cheap. Ride on!

I seriously doubt a lightweight like you on a stock chainring is going to hurt that SA hub. What Sheldon was really talking about is when people put these hubs into monster bike builds with triple chainrings up front and cobbled to cassettes in the rear. Some big strong 200+ dude standing on the pedals with long cranks and the bike geared down to >15 gear-inches and pulling a trailer and a load of scrap aluminum up a massive cliff face on the side of a mountain is going to bust something like an old pawl eventually -yes. But you aren't doing that. Don't worry about it.

Even if you do bust something in the hub someday it's a really cheap fix.

I suspect that your BB and cranks need to be looked at. It's an OLD bike and how long has that grease been in there? The cotters could probably use some attention too. Your bike is 40 years old and I bet for dozens of years in a row it sat unloved and unattended. Usually people put these things back on the road without fully restoring them from the ground up or at least doing a heavy tune-up which includes repacking ALL bearings and looking into the crank cotters. It's a testament to how durable these bikes really are that they can withstand this kind of abuse.

Lovely. You westerners aren't big on raking are ya

Clearly these photos were taken at much higher res and JPEG'd down for the forum. That's why there's that funny effect on all the diagonal lines such as the spokes. Do you have the full resolution photos posted anywhere? I'd love to see them.

What sort of camera do you use?

Thanks guys. Velognome, that was a sweet response. I was worried about not having gone with the , but figured you'd get it.

I believe the bottom bracket was greased up when I first bought the bike and had it reassembled and totally greased and tuned, but that wasn't by Fritz the Boy Wonder. We'll see what he can do.