Ive been a avid searcher of craigslist for 3 years searching for a old bike to restore/ride. I was originally looking to build a fixie or ss. Well today was my day. I found this little gem and it was only listed 10 mins when i found it. I got it for 50.00 bucks. I thought it was a good price. It has all shimano 600 componets. A quick question, im not going tear this apart do to the shape its in to make a fixie.i want to restore it into a nice rider. I could not ride it today because i dont have a adaptor for presta valves. These rims will not hold my 300 lb frame, should i throw deep v on there? Can i use the rear cogs for the deep v? Will my front skewer go to the new front rim or will have it have new quick releases? The bike looks hardly ridden..anyone know what year it is? Any other suggestions?

Sweeeeet. Those are what people bang away on craigslist for and almost always without luck. Good find!

Those rims may hold more than you think. That age bike everything was made from pretty decent steel for the rims, if you want to "upgrade" anything, maybe think about threading DT's instead?

NICE! good for you. very nice.

Those rims are either 36 spoke aluminum or steel. Make sure that you have good spoke tension. The only rim you have to worry about is the rear rim, the front rim doesn't support too much weight, or take too much damage. The front rims will definitely hold up fine.

for the rear. If they are aluminum they probably will hold you. If they are steel they definitely will hold. But steel rims are not too popular because they are heavy.

yeah you can try deep-V 40 hole, with a 135mm touring/mountain hub, with single or triple butted spokes, if you want something very strong, that will support you and then some.

The spacing on the rear is prob 126. No way do you want to put a 135mm hub there. If the wheels fail, have a shop relace them with beefy spokes and CXP33 rims.

It has been a long hard search, the guy i got it from was a good guy..he actually held it for me because it was a 60 mile round trip and he said he over 20 offers within a hour..some more money. Its nice to find decent folks.

You can use the bikes present hub and have it rebuilt with a Deep V and new spokes. Looks to be a 36 spoke wheel on there. Buy a 36 V and have it rebuilt. That way you know the cogs will work on the wheel.

The front skewer looks to be a quick release. Most fron forks have the same spacing. You can get any front skewer to work with it.

Nice bike! I bet it's from the early 80's. The brake calipers look the same style as what was on m wife's 84 Bianchi. Shimano 600 is the old Ultegra stuff.

Thanks beanz..yeah its shimano 600 brakes and cranks...and the derailers. Where can i find the 36 hole deep v..i searched the bay earlier but all i came up with was prelaced fixie wheels.

If you google Deep V, you will come up with some online sales. I've seen them for $50'ish on some sites. I've paid up to $75 at the shop and they are special order.

I once bought a Black V for $25 on a clearance rack at the LBS. They had a whole box of them. Now that I know how great they are, I could kick myself in the butt for not buying the entire box!

Not sure if anyone has the sites handy but I'll take a look around.

https://www.lickbike.com/productpage.aspx?PART_NUM_SUB='2092-28'

Here is one but looks liek the 36 hole is slightly higher at $59. I will ask at roadie forum cause I know I saw a site with lots of V's.

Dernit! Can't find it but posted in the other forum. May be some time before someone pops it out!

thats ok..thanks for looking. Ive had a couple replys of just keeping the stockers and putting some dt in it. I have to run up and fill up the tires today and take it for a quick spin when i get home from work. I dont know how to tension up spokes properly but im pretty good freinds with the lbs so that should be handled in a day or so as well

That is one sweet Raleigh you got there! I would check the rims and make sure they are not 27 x 1_1/4 which was a common tire size back in the day. You can still get tires and tubes for them, rims not so much. If your looking to convert it to a modern 700c wheel set you'll need to make sure you have the proper clearance. May need to install long reach brake calipers. You'll also be looking into having the rear spread out to fit a modern set of cogs if you go this rout. It's going to be quite expensive to convert it to something modern, if your looking for a vintage ride then ride her as is and replace parts as needed, if your looking for something with a vintage frame and modern componets buy a modern bike as you'll likly be withing new bike territory. That last bit was what I discovered when I purchased a garage queen. Still, very nice bike!

Its actuallyat my LBS now. Its getting the works.s The rims 27x1 1/8 i beleive. They are going to take the bike apart, slowly of course..lol and repack the cranks, headtube, adj calbes, dereails, brakes and true/tension the wheels for 55 bucks...like i said they like me there..lol. I was going to try and modernize it only in rims but i think ill clean the stockers up and maybe...maybe put new spokes in it and ride it like it is. I wanted to satisfy my roadie crave until i can purchase something modern.

Nice bike
gotta warn you, the old road bike thing can be addicting.
I just took a 1983 Peugeot apart for a rebuild. Getting the frame painted.
Lots of good people and info over at the C&V forum if you want help identifying your bike.

The rims, if 27" , will hold 1.25 tires. I'd suggest getting a set. Some bikes from that era have clearance for 1 3/8 tires. That would be even better at your weight, though heavier and not quite as fast. Speed, though, may not be a concern. From what I could tell, the rims appear to be aluminum. At 240 lbs, I run 1.25 tires on the rear of my Nishiki which has 27" 36 spoke wheels. My front tire is a skinny 1" model. They give me no problems.

Very nice find. Good to see you want to keep it in mostly original condition. It would be a shame to make a fixie or single speed out of it.

^^^agreed

Ill take it on its maiden voyage, with me anyway on tuesday when they are doen with it.

If you decide to "upgrade" the rear wheel, you might consider the 700C rims.
Your brakes pads need to reach 4MM (5/32") more toward the axle, so I don't know if you have enough adjustment left in the calipers.
Doing so would give you a lot more tire options, plus it could be a good time to get a new hub also and add a few cogs in the back.

Yeah, ill just have to see how it goes with a few rides. I want to get the old girl on the road where it belongs. It honestly looks like it has less then 50 miles on it. They are the original tires