gran sport

Hi - I've joined the forum for a particular reason, I'm restoring an early 1960's Raleigh Gran Sport: steel lugged frame, campy shifters and gran sport front & rear derailleur, brooks saddle, gb 66 brakes, gb maes stem and bars. I first used to ride this bike 35 years ago and it's time to give it some tlc... I recently bought some vintage 27" wheels: (CAMPAGNOLO RECORD SMALL FLANGE 36/36H HUBS on MAVIC MODULE 4 27 x 1 1/4in rims Regina 5spd 14–26T freewheel) thinking they would slot right in (couldn't find any of the original solid axle BH Racelite hubs); the rear one fits fine but the front axle (hollow with skewers) diameter is too wide for the fork drop out by about 1mm. I'm assuming this is an imperial/metric conflict - any thoughts anyone? They would be much appreciated!
John

puchfinnland

I have a lot of bikes in my stable, I do know some older bikes had thin solid axles

I beleive you are also upgrading your bike with better components.

I believe you need to take the fork off, get it in a vice and a good collection of hand files and take an afternoon and do the best job you can.

on the subject-
the rear hub spacing.

you can take a ruler, and measure between the rear stays with the wheels removed
- most likely 120mm,
measure your hubs and if they are 126 then you need to reset the frame
-not a big job, i just did one today,
check your front width also-your old hubs may be 92, the campagnolo hubs most likely are 100.

if you just push in a wider hub the axle will be distorted when the skewer is tight-leading to bearing failures slowly occouring.

hope this answers some questions.

send us a pic!
mike

gran sport

Thanks Mike – I found this thread which has enlightened me as to what the issues are:

https://www.bikeforums.net/archive/in.../t-541449.html

I might consider spreading the forks and filing flats on the axle but am going to look for some original hubs as well...