Paul Sanderson

What you refer to as a full, ground-up restoration is actually what I'm aiming for – though, like other such schemes, there might be difficulties along the way that mean things progress in fits and starts. What encourages me is that having seen how much time and effort goes into restoring an old car, doing the same for a bicycle is clearly a whole lot easier and very attainable for someone who's only previous dealings with bicycles is just to ride them.

But I'm not going to be a slave to a high ideal, even though I'm prepared to stop, strip new paint off and start again if things don't seem to be going right. I'll use modern strippers, de-rusters, primers and paints and I'm going straight back to bare metal. However, just out of interest, I will use some cleaner to take off some of the green just to have a look at the original black.

I won't aim for a perfect finish, just a very good one that I'd be proud to show. Rather than end up building a completely different bike through replacing all parts with NOS eBay (etc) parts - which would obviously be quicker - I'll only do that for parts that are too far gone, and am happy to rechrome existing parts even if they're a bit pitted, in order to retain as much of the original bike as possible. That excuses me when I fall short on skill and/or patience on other aspects. Yes, I'll dismantle the bike completely, taking notes and photos as I go, though I have a vague worry that ball bearings will suddenly spill out from somewhere and disappear in all directions in the workshop... and then I'll come crying to the C&V forum.

SirMike1983 

I think you can do an excellent job of it. You don't see very many total rebuilds on these because it's hard to get your money back out of them if you ever decide to sell. You see it more in the realm of American antique show bikes (Schwinn Phantoms etc) but even there the clean up and basic restoration is becoming more common than the ground up plus repaint. If your goal is to keep it and ride, then really the sky is the limit. Many of the techniques used in quality auto restoration translate, though the bikes do have some unique elements.

Paul Sanderson

SirMike - you've highlighted an important factor that has a bearing on me doing this: I'm not doing it thinking about any financial return sometime in the future. That's what guides many people in everything they do, and they're in a pop-eyed anxious sweat about it every waking moment from dawn to dusk, but not me.


It's not that I have enough spare money to be relaxed about making a buck – with four kids and two 90-year-olds for me and my wife to look after there's rarely any cash to spare. But I'm a happy-go-lucky sort and simply fancy 'having a go' at something I think I can make a decent attempt at. It might be the only one I ever do. I'm well aware that in this sort of venture you spend far more (in actual cash and if you price your time) than you're ever likely to recoup – there's no sense in deluding yourself otherwise – so that's another reason not to consider the matter of money. If you did, you'd never start.

SirMike1983 

I have a green 70s Raleigh Sports that is that way. I spent maybe $30 in 2003, but have put in far more bringing it up to something I really like. I'd never get my money out of that thing, but it has a lot of the extras that make it a really nice bike and a good rider. Yeah, it's a Sports and not rare, but it's a keeper because its build really reflects the sorts of stuff I like in a vintage bike.

browngw 

If it is something that makes life good for you, it it usually good for those you love. The Raleigh Sprite 10speed has been a fun and fufilling project, It pleases me just to look at it. Sure it cost some money, around $150 or more but it was never more than $30 at one time.
It's not a high end collector bike but it is popular with the general population and it is fun to ride.
I've had a Triumph TR7 drophead for almost 20 years and the bikes are as much fun to own and needles to say, cost considerably less.

Paul Sanderson

Me again - post Christmas, pre New Year. I need some advice on how the security lock on the front forks is removed.

The Raleigh Superbe is completely dismantled now. I've figured out that the chrome dimple finisher on the opposite fork to the lock is removed so that the small screw inside the head tube can be unscrewed to release the lock unit. Although the lock unit and the chrome barrel it sits in can be pulled out, it only moves about 2mm back-and-forth. A diagram on the Internet shows a woodruff key, but I think that simply holds the lock unit and the enclosing barrel together, and in any case it seems impossible to get to it until the whole thing is out of the bike. I'm guessing that what is stopping it is the the security pin (the one that slides upwards to fit into one of the three holes in the flange on the frame) but I don't know how to get that out. At the moment it's in the 'unlocked' position - that is, down flush with the fork.

If this is the case, has anyone any ideas how to remove it? And if it isn't the case, how do I get the lock out? I need to do this due to the forthcoming respray and the need to get a pair of keys made.

grimnewton

Hey, im new. Took this out of a housing and its not similar to diagrams ive found online. What year is this?

Sixty Fiver

If it was all cleaned up and taken apart that would give a better clue... the main drive gear on the axle is interchangeable through decades of manufacture but much older hubs had a floating gear while many newer hubs had the gear made with the axle which eliminated some manufacturing steps and removed a possible point of failure in the retaining pin.

The hub shell will have a date code on it and in most cases the internals will be the ones that came with the hub... those internals look horrid and bet the pawl springs are all but dust too as they are fine little bits of spring wire.

PatTheSlat 

Unfortunately I can't help you with removing it, but if it's the same style lock as later Raleighs (I have a '65), there should be a number printed on the face of the lock. There's a guy on ebay who sells keys to Raleigh locks, you just have to give him that number and he can cut one for you. Search ebay for "NGN & FP Raleigh Bike Original CUT Fork Lock KEYS"

Paul Sanderson

With an exploded view of the lock unit that I found on the Internet I figured out how to remove it from the Raleigh's forks, though it did involve a trip to the locksmith to get the lock barrel to rotate before the lock unit could be pulled from the bike. The number wasn't on the face of the lock, it was inside. A new key was cut and now the lock works fine.

In my search for info about how to remove the lock I came across a number of other people asking the same question, but (strangely) no explanations of how to do it. In truth, it's not that hard to figure out, especially with the exploded diagram. I'm going to do a PDF (text and pictures) of the procedure that can be downloaded from the Internet.

Had the bike frame chemically stripped and sand-blasted and got it back this morning. Things are going a lot more slowly than I envisaged but at least they're going, and in the right direction.

For some reason the auto-alert that sends me an email when there is a new entry on this thread has stopped doing so, so if there are queries addressed to me that I don't seem to be responding to, it's probably because I haven't remembered to visit this thread!

Paul Sanderson

Raleigh fork lock removal - I had a go, and applying my usual over-kill, here's how it's done…

https://www.sandy.dircon.co.uk/raleigh_fork_lock.pdf

BluesDaddy

Thank you very much for that, Paul. I printed it out so that, down the road (so to speak), I can get a key made for my 1954 Superbe.

Paul Sanderson

Superbe restoration on hiatus at the moment (20 Jan) due to deep snow between house and workshop and knowledge that it will be freezing cold there anyway. On balance, being sat here at the iMac with a coffee containing a generous slug of Baileys Irish Cream is surely better... in fact, very much better when you're viewing news pics of rest of sub-zero Britain, and with Sunday lunch aromas wafting through from the kitchen.

So I've been looking up more about Raleigh Superbes. Now that the frame is stripped to bare metal I can see from the serial number that it is indeed a 1951 model, which makes me happy because I'm a 1951 model too. Also, despite its police provenance, the bike has always been green (many British local police forces simply paid their officers a supplementary to use their own bikes) so green it shall remain, rather than the black I originally thought it would have been.

Raleigh did a number of variations on its Superbe theme, but looking at the catalogue images on Sheldon Brown's website I can see (by a process of elimination) that mine is a Superbe Dawn Tourist.

However, one thing is not clear from any Superbe pictures I've seen: did Superbes have the pinstriping on frame and fenders that other Raleigh products feature? I strongly suspect not (which would be a great help when I do the repaint!) but need other opinions.

Paul Sanderson

(31 January) Although I'm no nearer to discovering whether or not 1951 Superbe Dawn Tourists have lining on their frames and mudguards, I found this interesting web page about lining, should anyone need to do it. It's from 1910, but the procedure and tools are so straightforward as to be relevant today:

https://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac....ard/Lining.htm

SirMike1983 

My 1965 Dawn Tourist has (or at least had) lining on the fenders and frame. It has largely faded but you can still see it in spots where it was covered by clamps, etc.

Paul Sanderson

If 1951 SDTs do have lining on frame and fenders and thus I end up having to do it (Beugler do lining paint wheels) how wide are the original paint lines? 2mm..? 3mm? And are they a consistent width no matter where on the bike?

jackGordon

Paul, I'm feeling incomplete after reading this thread. How did the project end up? Where are the "all finished!" pics???

Old rides

Hi - an old thread I know, but does anyone have a copy of Paul's document on removing the fork lock from a Raleigh Superbe front fork? I want to identify my key number and it is not stamped on the lock face.
The document is called raleigh_fork_lock.pdf - if anyone can turn up a copy I would be most grateful.
Thanks, Pete

jackGordon

Did you see the thread Paul started called "Raleigh fork lock removal with pics"? I assume so. But, there's a fellow named wahoonc on that thread who said he saved the file. I'd recommend trying to message him.

Was funny timing seeing a reply on this thread pop up in my email today. I bought a 52 Raleigh over 2 years ago and just started working on it today! I have 2 keys with mine. If it would help I'd be willing to send you one of them to try out. Might get lucky and have a match.

nlerner

Shout out to @wahoonc.

wahoonc

Ask and ye shall receive!

Saw an email on the shout out from nlerner.

Aaron

Old rides

Hi all,
And thanks very much for your responses, what a great bunch I have found on this forum. In fact things have moved on since I posted my request, my forks were unlocked, missing the keys and no number stamped on the lock face but I could see from the exploded diagram the lock had to be turned, i.e. the forks locked, before the barrel could be removed.

I took it to my local locksmith who picked it for £10 and made me a key for another £4, which I thought very reasonable. It helped that I was able to tell him it was a Wilmott Breeden blank. My lock barrel just had 43 stamped on it which I understand is not conclusive as there are (or were) at least three letter series prefixes in play. In any case the locksmith said it bore no relation to the pattern of key he had to cut. The key cutting was all computerised and I came away with the new number of my key for future reference.

So once again many thanks, all good now and I'll keep a copy of the very professional .pdf now - for posterity.