I have to add a pinned comment on the subject of those shifters, since so many of my loyal friends on here are as detail obsessed and eagle-eyed as I am... Yes, I know they're upside down! I flipped them because I preferred the feel, they work either way and can easily be reversed if preferred. I'll leave that up to the shop mechanics and/or lucky new owner.
As an Architect who sometimes works on Grade II* heritage buildings, often I am asked by the client to 'swap-out' ancient/defective parts, such as windows, doors and timber frames. I have found that by removing the windows, making them good through repair, 'scarfing-in' new timber of exactly the same type into the rotten/defective parts of the frame, etc, leaving the repairs evident. The completed restoration exhibiting 'warts an all', is always very well received and usually I am thanked for not conceding to modernise the building through repair/restoration. I liked what you did to this bike. It has much more value to me showing that it was once and still is a beautiful Raleigh bike with original parts and the factory decal remaining. Also, your ethic of donating the bike to a charity is admirable. especially having spent so much tme, effort and dedication; you are still prepared to 'give'. Thank you. BTW: My father was an aero-engineer at Rolls Royce. Whenever he had a 'seized/welded' type threaded joint, the first thing he would do is ascertain what metal the parts were made of. Then he would inspect how they fitted together, then place the parts joined together into a firm vice with no movement. Let some penetrating oil do its thing (he used a Molybdenum disulfide solution similar to STP) , then select a suitable place on the part; or 'nut' in your situation - ensure that he had a tight grip onto the seized part using a chrome vanadium spanner, then set himself into almost an athlete's stance, take an appropriate 'drift' and lump hammer, and with great precision give the head of the drift or spanner one quick sharp hard clout. I have seen him free joints on all sorts of neighbour’s machines after they have despaired through mechanics/service engineers informing them that there was nothing they could do. As a kid, I was an avid photographer; I still am. I found an old 63 x 63mm RolleiCord (two and a quarter inch frame size) in a junk shop. I needed to free the lens securing ring to remove the Zeiss lens to clean the rear from fungus. RolleiCord and camera repairer experts laughed at me and told me to get lost. For one year I fretted over getting to the rear of the lens to clean it. Then in stepped Dad. He inspected the means of securing the lens. Collected the appropriate tools and in a couple of minutes the seized securing bezel was off. After careful cleaning, I set the camera at focal length at F11, speed 125, ISO at 250, focus at infinity, Ilford FP4 filmstock and just pointed and shot. When I went for interview at one of the world’s most prestigious universities, a panel of nine adjudicators at the interview spent most of the interview looking at my portfolio of photographs asking me how I had captured such poignant revealing abstract black and white photographs. I told them that I just pointed and shot having first composed what I saw. Just as long as the light and the time of day was right, all I had to do was understand how the camera worked and press a button. Out of 3,000 applicants, 3 places were available, and I won one of them. Same with the Royal Academy and other museums around the world - they ask me for my work to exhibit. And all done on what most people call a piece of junk. Your TH-cam video was the first thing I watched over a cuppa tea having just returned after taking some photographs this afternoon, out in a thunderstorm using a marvel of modern luxury - A Nikon Z6. Of course I use the camera manually, and like your bike, when I pick-up the camera, I feel like I am holding something precious = it is up to me to make it work properly. Thank you for an uplifting video and your humane display of generosity.
Delighted to hear you enjoyed the video, as you'll see from most if not all my builds I prefer to preserve originality wherever possible, even if patinated, rather than "restomod" or "update". Credit for the generosity really must go to my viewers who keep donating these bikes or piles of wreckage. Together we've done many bikes for charity and I'm always keen to do more.
Señor. That tool really needs to be bolted solidly down. I’ve ruined a good few Park spanner’s slipping off fixed cups. If all else fails. I grab the 3/4” impact at work and give it all the ugga dugga’s 😅 Looked like a right mission though! I know the feeling of dread trying to get back in to a project all too well. Glad to see it all finished 🤙
It hung over me for weeks like a dark cloud! There was no shifting that cup, even though I was fully prepared to sacrifice whatever tools it took in the process. I wish I had access to one of those impact drivers, sadly at my place of work there is nothing any more macho than some Eames chairs and exotic pot plants.
Park tools are highly over rated IMO, and totally unsuitable for this job. The best method I use is a 24" Stilson pipe wrench, which tightens its' self onto the offending nut / bolt the more you put force into it.
@@andy530i NOPE! That is NOT the way to remove a fixed cup. There's virtually ZERO purchase on the outer edge. You'll just end up mangling the BB shell in the process. The problem here was that he NEVER applied the appropriate torque to the cup in the first place. Had he done it properly, it most likely would have broken free. He never utilized a shop-quality fixed cup tool for removal. Short of this, no REAL attempt was made. And if not, then there are alternatives. An angle grinder or Dremel will allow you to cut apart the cup to free it from the BB shell. He just never quite gave it 100%, so he ended up with an old fixed cup rusted to the frame. Kinda sad.
I used to be the chief cycle mechanic at a bicycle recycling project. All we dealt with was shed & cellar dwellers that had been donated. Good quality stilsons work fine, and without mangling the BB shell, sometimes the paint is chipped off the edges, but that is the only damage I have caused using stilsons. I agree they do damage the BB cup , but 99% of the time the bearing surfaces are pitted, or severely damaged any way, and need replacing.
You need to know: all those hours on things like loosening the BB.. you are not alone! Me (and many others) have been stumbling and tinkering in the shed too. Families and friends not interested. No one to discuss it with other than... the internet! Love it. Other bits which were so recognizable: turning off the Dremel in the wrong direction (whoooosh! oh crap...) and running the inner brake cable and than that dreaded loop between the end and the actual brake. Keep it up!
Great vid! Another bike saved!! That bb was a real mission. I was waiting for the trick tip with nuts and bolts but you never showed it so didn’t know if it was me or not 😂😂😂. I must say, any man who slams the stem down like that with absolutely no hesitation is the dons of all dons. Respect!! 🙌🙌🙌🙌
Ah yes, the trick with the M12 bolt. You basically tighten the nut and bolt through the BB cup then go at it with an impact wrench. The tightening of the bolt contributes to the loosening of the cup. Not this time though... Always a pleasure to hear from a fellow don!
My dad had this bike until he got a recumbent for summer ridding and sold the Raleigh that had all its logos removed before my dad got the bike in California when living there all was gone except the front badge and the one stripe thing on the handlebars. A year or two later dad got for better winter road riding and not having to switch tires from road to mud cyclocross on the recumbent, this old 1980's higher end Japanese Mountain Bike from a used bike store that was so overbuilt. He still has both and wants to get back into riding the MTB as he had a bunch of that near his house and that classic stiff frame MTB is perfect for the type of gentle single track and gravel road stuff.
Brilliant! You have invented a novel new way of removing a fixed cup. Grease everything up, reinstall the B.B., ride it for a couple years, and it comes right off. 😂 All the best.
Lucky for you that Adjustable cup will be with tooling flats instead of a cup that will require a pin tool. When removing a stubborn Bottom Bracket cup with the frame in a flat position I'll vise it up in a bench vise with the flats of the cup squarely in the jaws of the vise, but the jaws will need to be clean and sharp, once it's all vised up I'll just rotate the frame, in saying the frame becomes the tool and it's always better to have a second pair of hands this way the frame wont flop out of the jaws, I've been doing this for well over 25 years and it works like a charm, of course you'll need to have access to a good bench vise. I had one customer who went to every single shop in town along with shops in surrounding towns a about 15 shops total, he rolled in with his frame and 5 minutes later the cup was off. Keep up the good work.
Exactly this - if my bench vice had had clean sharp jaws it would have been problem solved in seconds. But it doesn't, and the thought of driving round all the shops fills me with dread so thank heavens I worked out this solution.
I thought that bottom bracket was a show stopper. Impressed you made it work. Lovely bike. Although, if it were mine, original or not ,that plastic seat would have to go.
I thought it was for the skip. But yes, thank god the inside of that BB cup was still usable. The saddle is a cost-cutting crime on a bike that's otherwise so thoughtfully specced. Even the seat bolt is etched with the Sugino brand! I wonder if the genius that created this bike just forgot saddles when pricing it up, and had to make do with the scrapings off the warehouse floor?
Thank you for your kind words, hope you enjoy the rest of my bike vids. Very good comparison to F1 car too: the colourway is very reminiscent of the coolest race cars of the same era (John Player Special), and the handling is no less unforgiving.
@@red_dread yes exactly! I had a JPS lotus scalextric car and I had the devil’s own job keeping on the slots. The Record Sprint was a glorious machine. I have a ‘restomod’ Raleigh Clubman from 1983 and I’m looking for a Road Ace of a similar vintage.
Where did you source the bottom bracket removal tool from? It is the first time I have seen it. In the past I have clamped the fixed cup in a heavy steel vise and used the frame as leverage to remove the fixed cup.
I just found it on Google, and it wasn't exactly a roaring success! If you can find a bench vice with proper, clean, sharp jaws then that's an infinitely better solution.
I've only just discovered your channel, and I'm a few videos in already. Very nice work. TH-cam really is a fantastic resource, and I find I learn something new from every video. I'm tipping away at a couple of 20year old alloy Specialized Rockhoppers (we have them from new) and an odd Specialized Sirrus from the 2010's (skip rescue, some frame damage). Funny enough, my latest issue is replacing an old "Thun" bottom bracket (same branding as on your cranks here) in the Sirrus... and after a long mediation process, I managed to arrange an amicable split between component and frame over the weekend.
Masterful job! Kudos and major props for a smashing result. Great job on the bike and the video. You've won a new subscriber. Also, any advice on how to loosen a BB in an aluminum framed MTB (90's)? I suspect some galvanic corrosion might have occurred. Anyone else in the community feel free to respond with suggestions. Thanks.
Thanks! Galvanic corrosion is a next level nasty business. I've seen it a lot with seatposts but not so much with BBs. In the case of seatposts I've found brute force works eventually but I have heard of people pouring some seriously caustic fluids down inside frames to tackle it. Couldn't tell you what the product was I'm afraid, but I'm sure there's experts out there...
I enjoyed watching you suffer as I do, you have more tenacity than I do. Great video, thank you. I had and raced a Raleigh RRA, Reynolds 531 throughout with Nervex lugs and Stronglight 99 Crank, really nice yellow and white. Wish I had never sold it.
I will never forgive myself for letting my first "real" bike go. Breaks my heart to think of it, however I did find an exact facsimile of it on eBay and brought it home for an emotional video on this channel.
You’ve come up in my recommended videos and I’m made up because I have this exact bike in my garage, been sat there for 25 years and never been touched. She will live again, you’ve inspired me to get her back on the road
I love the gold bits.I bought the brakes and bars off an old Record and stuck them on my black and gold Raleigh Grantour. I'm still after a gold chainset.
It's stunning isn't it? I seem to remember the brand name was "Thun" - I'm not sure how easy or hard they would be to source. My one was certainly the worse for wear but still too lovely not to save.
Aah, my first proper bike. I did so many miles on mine it was unbelievable, several summers of pure happiness! I just wish I still had the strength to turn those gears.....
This one's relatively generously geared, perhaps someone slipped a bigger cassette on it at some point. But I do remember some of the higher-end road bikes of the 80s had gears that even a pro today would consider insane.
Besides the vise to remove the fixed cup, the other method I have used is a bolt with washers, when you tighten it, it will loosen the cup, as the cup is left threaded, that also has worked every time. Keep up the good work.
That's what the M12 bolts in the video were for! This was going to be my next method, but before I could procure a socket to fit the breaker bar I got bored and gave up, thankfully the cup was cleanable in-situ. I hope I don't have to do that job again any time soon, it was most tiresome.
Great video, have to disagree on the index vs friction shifting, maybe it's just me but I far prefer friction over indexed, especially for the front chain-rings. Nice that it's being sold for a good cause as well.
Thanks, it's far from perfect but I think a certain amount of vintage patina is appropriate for a bike of this age and value. If its next owner wants to really go to work on a restoration there's still potential, but it's solid and ready to be ridden and enjoyed just as it is.
Wow there's a blast from the past, everyone had Raleigh bikes, I had a Europa my friend had the Ace, but that bike was also in the bike shop but too expensive for me to get my hands on. Happy days 👍
I'm very slightly too young for this bike from new - I remember it for sure, but the year it came out I'd have been more interested in the Burner BMXes in the same colour scheme. Road bikes (or "racers" as we'd have called them in primary school) were strictly for the bigger kids.
Nice job. Back in the day I had special tool in my bicycle repair shop to get right bracket cup out. I’d always begin with the left cup and take the axle out. Then I’d use a kind of an axle on which you could screw a cap on the other end. So this axle went through the bracket from the left side, then the cap would go on the threaded part sticking out of the bracket at the right side so you can fix the cup between the part of the axle inside bracket and the cap, and then with a big spanner ( I sometimes used 70cm leverage!) you can loosen the cup.This tool has never let me down! It was an official tool made by the toolmanufacturer Koets in The Netherlands. A magic trick is to support the downside of the bracket with a heavy object ( I used a 4kg “cowpaw” of solid steel) and then hit the top of the bracket with a sandfilled knockdown hammer. Works for every thread that doesn’t want to come loose. By the way you’ve mounted the shifters the wrong around. The rounded side should face forward. This bike was my first bike which I bought in 1987. I rode with full camping equipment from Tours in France through the Pyrenees to Cadeques in Spain and back to Lyon. 2100km in 19 days with a lowest gear 42x28. Nowadays this seems impossible, I did the Tourmalet, the Mont Ventoux, the Col d’Aspin etc. without setting one foot ont the ground during these climbs. Must have been the bike :)
I've seen those tools, somebody else told me about another "official" manufacturer that did a version too, my hack with the M12 bolt and nuts would have been an approximation of it but luckily my shortcut became apparent before I needed to. I know about the shifters - see my pinned comment on the subject. Yes, I find it mad that people used to consider those gear ratios normal!
Such a great build. Also, I both love and hate those stubborn jobs like that BB. I hate that it takes so much time and effort to solve them but I love the sense of satisfaction in finally getting them fixed or at least finding a solution to the problem as you did. Great video. 👌🏻
I've been having a similar fight with an old raleigh mtb bottom bracket. Hadn't considered just leaving the immovable cup in place, certainly will try that !
What a great video and cause. I believe this is the mark 2 version. The mark 1 had Campagnola shifters, front and rear derailleur. The mark 3 was mostly Suntour so Raleigh were clearly cutting back on costs. I picked up a great example that turned out to be too big for me. I looked like it had been bought for Christmas with the idea I’d grow into it. But then my lad sprouted and he has (according to me) the coolest bike in town, reaffirmed by another 50 something. Next stop, a Fila tracksuit.
Quite right - I’d love to get my hands on an original Mk1, the spec on those is stunning. I can’t wait until my kids are old enough to ride around on rare and unique retro builds.
👏👏👏👏 Bravo. Super human effort mate. I lived just round the corner from Chorlton at Whalley Range quite a few years back. Nice community too. Lovely gesture by the way 👍
I used to have the Raleigh Quasar when I was 15, I felt like a king! Same 501 aero frame, different trimmings, better than the record sprint but not quite as good as the criterium... thanks for posting
Nice job mate! Really enjoyed this. I had a Record Sprint when I was in my teens and I felt like Stephen Roche on it on my local roads and when I really fell in love with cycling. It was a beautiful bike and I remember the pre index shifting and toe clips and straps, with “quick release” buckles I fitted to it. 😊 Unfortunately it was stolen from my parents front garden one evening and I never saw it again. I was heartbroken. 😢 I would love to own one again….
I'd get in trouble for inciting v**lence on TH-cam, but needless to say I wish only the most unpleasant of outcomes for whoever stole that bike! Horrible tale to hear.
Two classics - a Raleigh Record and a Bedlington Terrier! I spent hours in a cycle shop in Ealing watching the mechanics rebuild racing bikes after re-sprays and so.Old skills never lost 60 years on....
That lovely little Bedlington is never far away when I'm fixing up bikes. You can usually see him snuffling at the fence behind me trying to get at next door's cat.
@@red_dread when I was growing up and walking home from primary school I often stopped and chatted to a lady out walking her baby in its pram and her little Bedlington by her side. That was over 60 years ago and over the years I have always found this breed so attractive, so fast and so endearing. One ran rings around my airedale who could never match its speed and abilty to twist and turn. Lovely dogs.
I've had good luck using an old Kingsbridge tool for fixed cups. It's a friction style tool that clamps down on the cup face, you use one person holding back with an large adjustable wrench on one side while the other person with another large adjustable wrench on the other side cranks it clockwise. Any bike can be fixed, it's just a matter how much time and money you want to put into it. I've seen people give away some really nice bikes they no longer need in fact working with a nonprofit that gives away donated bikes, we get so many that a certain % have to be scrapped after we strip for any good parts. Take care!
Those Kingsbridge tools are basically a professional's version of my M12 nut and bolt trick. Same principle, but very hard to find nowadays. If I'd had to, I reckon cranking my M12 bolt would have worked eventually, at risk of extreme force damaging the frame, but thankfully I discovered the intact bearing surface on the fixed cup just in time so I didn't have to. Great to hear there are nonprofits out there saving as much as they can, wish there were more. No bike should ever go to landfill.
@@red_dread I think Bicycle Research made a less expensive version also. Yes good idea to keep bikes out of landfills, my brother in law is a scrapper and picked up a bunch of the bikes that weren't worth fixing.
There are two ways of doing it: the craftsman can carefully re-thread the hole with the correct sized tap and then use a sawn-off alloy bottle cage bolt with a stainless washer. The butcher, meanwhile, simply uses a heavy duty square of double-sided adhesive foam. The tension of the cables will keep it in place for years.
I purchased one of these around 1985 and joined my local cycle club.Did 1000's of miles on it.Its up in my attic now having been gived a freshen up about 10 years ago.
Great job rescuing an old bike! Only thing, I'm about 99% sure you've got your shifters set up backwards, the right's on the left, and the left's on the right.
Wow awesome rebuild dude great job first vid I’ve watched from your channel, that BB was a mission but well done man you got it out.. great work. 😀😃👍🚴🏻Pete
i once had a like welded seized cup into an old Raleigh Chopper, i used a leverage as last resort, something will come loose and it luckily was the cup, i wonder why they seize up like that
I have no idea why, of all the parts on a bike, it's always that BB cup that's most likely to seize! It's not even a case of bimetallic (galvanic) corrosion as it's often steel-in-steel. I guess manufacturers and bike shops were just torquing them in with maximum force in the first place.
I remember going to Raleigh shop and buying that 1st edition bike. I’m trying to think what happened to it but I wish I still had it. Lovely bike when new . So glad I had one.
1971 went from my first bike a Super Course to a champagne colored International on to a Harry Quinn. Still riding 4 to 5 days a week but that time was still the most fun .
Excellent work and inspired out-of-the-box thinking just to leave the cup on for the next guy. A minor quibble: the right hand cup *is* lefty tighty to stop it going *loose* because of precession or something. I don't understand it either. Nor presumably do Italians.
Now this bike is done I don't even want to remember whether that thing was English threaded or Italian threaded - I considered both but whichever way it was there was no shifting it. As you say, it's the next guy's problem now. As long as they keep it clean, it'll run fine until the end of time.
@@red_dread It would surely have been English originally but sometimes people convert to Italian as a hack if the threads are ruined for some reason (Italian is slightly bigger). Seems unlikely that happened to that bicycle as it looked low-mileage. But it can do a lot of miles before that cup is ever a problem again so at the very least you have given it a long life extension. By the time it needs a new RH cup in 2043 we can just let a superintelligent AI sort it out.
If I'd had a proper heavy duty bench vice with clean sharp jaws then yes, that works. Alas, those are few and far between in my community of hammer-wielding bike butchers.
Sorry, I don't think it had a name - it was just a cheap one I found on Google and I can't even remember what search term I used. But if you look closely at the one I used you'll very easily be able to find a match by eye, they only come in one size.
It looked like you were trying to undo the fixed cup in the wrong direction. Did you try the opposite direction? Both sides of the bottom bracket undo by turning towards the rear.
I did try both, yes - I'm aware that some frames of this generation are threaded the "English" way and some are the opposite ("Italian"). Whichever one this is, there's no shifting it...
Put the fixed cup in a machine vice and tighten the jaws up against the flats. Use the frame as a lever and try to get some movement on the threads. Once it starts to move it will come out. Used the method many times on stubborn BB cups. Use grease on the threads when refitting the bottom bracket to avoid the problem. Surprised the bike shop wasn't able to sort this.
This has come up in discussion a lot - it's true that a heavy duty bench vice could easily fix such things, but there are a couple of complicating factors. The jaws need to be razor sharp and clean because the flats are so shallow on this BB cup, plus they were quite mashed from various attempts to remove them. My vice wasn't heavy duty or sharp enough to hold enough grip, the whole thing just popped out under load. I believe the bike shop could have sorted this, but he didn't want to take the risk because the corrosion was so bad that it was possible the torsion could irreparably damage the frame.
The Raleigh Record is made of hi-tensile steel, so after putting all that work into it, you will wind up with a bike that is good enough, but not something superior. Cant you find a frame made from alloy steels like reynolds 531 or Columbus or Champion?
It’s made of 501, which is cromoly, not hi-ten. It’s the same material as 531 but seamed rather than drawn. If you want to see Columbus, Prestige, all the higher grades of Reynolds, plus alloys, carbon and titanium, it’s all here on this channel!
I've actually no idea how old mine is - I don't believe as old as the 60s because the Mk1 had a solid bench without the various perforations for add-ons. It just looks ancient because it's had a very hard life. My old man used to use it (amongst other things) to clamp logs while he went at them with a chainsaw. It bears many scars from this but is still solid and extremely useful.
My best friend's brother had a Raleigh Record Sprit that I always loved the look of. If they are in good condition they still look awesome with nostalgia glasses on. But most are run into the ground and would cost fortune to bring back to reasonable condition. I for one would love you to do an immaculate Raleigh Bomber restoration. :)
This one is certainly far from mint - but it's solid and I think a certain patina can really enhance the aesthetic of a true vintage build. A Bomber would be amazing, it seemed like everyone's big brother had one when I was in infant school - but you never see those nowadays. I guess they had hard lives.
Great job red_dread. I've often left a seized working cup in situ. A guy at my school had one of these bikes - his parents were fairly loaded. Everyone was jealous because after all it was 1980s Galway and it was not the 'loadsa money era' at all! Big shame was - he just didn't ride it often. Are the friction shifter levers upside-down (or more likely on the wrong sides) - they looked different on may Raleigh Pursuit in 1987. Keep up the great work. ps: thanks for doing this for a very deserving charity.
I reckon you'd definitely have needed rich parents to get one of these back in the 80s for sure. Yes, I flipped the shifters upside down because I preferred the feel. Can easily be reversed if preferred, they work either way. And all thanks go to my viewers, who keep generously donating these bikes for me to restore and pass on. That bike shop has done very well out of the TH-cam retrobike community, and I hope it will continue.
i restored the very same bike... it took a week of sitting in sodium hydroxide to get the seat post out :D when heating a seized componant there are two mechanisms at play, as the outside heats faster than the inside there is relitive movement but more importantly a portion of the iron oxide is converted back to iron and so reduces in volume
This was my first 'serious' bike. During the 80s I rode many wonderful miles on it, but one day, whilst climbing, the right crank came off the spider throwing me onto the tarmac. That was the day I said goodbye to this bike.
1: see pinned comment. 2. Sounds like you had the Mk1, which was higher spec. This one’s the 85 model which had quite a few cost cutting changes to the spec, including this nasty Selle Royal plastic saddle which I’m sad to say is what you would have got that year. The first generation also had some Campagnolo components and a lot more gold including even the hubs and cassette.
Where did you purchase the Weinman Ferals? I looked online but wasn't able to find it. So far you're the first video that has mentioned this part! Great video
Thanks! Can't remember exactly where I found them, but if you Google and change the spelling to "ferrules" a lot of options come up. Seems like there are still bike shops with drawers full, but I couldn't find any gold ones unfortunately. Good luck.
contrats on the result of the BB a stealthy little whip, like the way you slammed the stem.... not sure if the gear levers are the right way round and I'm not sure if it's my middle aged eyesight but the front wheel looked as though it had a radial buckle in it, more likely it was the tyre overall, a lovely little thing
Ha, the stem originally had a lovely UCI rainbow tape around it about half way down the quill. No way that was staying on... All the way down it went. You're right about the shifters, I flipped them upside down because I just preferred the feel. Can easily be reversed if preferred, they work either way. No buckles in the wheels but there's a terrible optical illusion because the rims are black coated and the braking surfaces are unevenly worn, hence they appear quite buckled even though they're not.
'escalating scale of violence '😅. Same can be said for stuck seatposts. One busted WorkMate, ans I had a sore back for weeks! Still, the 18" pipe wrench did the trick. P.s. also worth a try are the cans of freeze spray for the BB (and seatposts.)
That's just the way the film was edited. Hours of battering cut down to a few seconds of video. In fact I was constantly trying different methods on both sides until one of them gave way. Was not fun.
I really do not think a breaker bar to get the BB loose would pose a real threat to the frame welds snapping :) But kudos for showing us all the ways to go about it!
simplex retro levers for your NON indexed shifting, a bit like playing the Harmonica , you cant see where the wholes for the notes are but you play them perfectly with practice, same with retro shifting ( non indexed) once perfected you get a buzz from each well timed and silent gear change.
I have so much respect for those old-school riders that can do friction shifting by instinct! It’s definitely reminiscent of learning an instrument, yes.
"Good vice" being the operative term. For a case as extreme as this one, you need a proper heavy duty bench vice with the cleanest, sharpest jaws. A luxury I did not have!
A knowledgeable friend once told me that the right side cup of this vintage of British bike was 'non-removable'. It Can be removed, but it isn't meant to be removed. Guess they assumed that when the cup is trash, then the rest of the bike is by that stage also trash.
Your wise friend has a point - a lot of parts on cheaper bikes would have been considered "fit and forget". Sadly I bet few people at Raleigh in 1985 would have cared whether or not I was destined to struggle with a corroded BB decades later.
I started out experimenting on my own bikes with my dad’s tools and a bit of his help in the 80s, then obsessively devoured every catalogue and magazine I could get my hands on as a kid, then finally got jobs in bike shops in the 90s where I got to practice on thousands of bikes in real life! I have an ingrained memory for old bikes, but when it comes to new stuff (hydraulics, electronics, suspension) I have to follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Thankfully everything is online nowadays.
@@red_dread thanks for the reply. I have always enjoyed riding bikes and while I appreciate the qualities of super high spec rides I have always been drawn to more modest bikes personally - I just cant justify spending the sums that I see some people do. I would love to learn how to work on bikes and will take to youtube to get a better idea. Think I will keep an eye out for a fixer upper as a first project. Very much enjoy your videos! Slowly making my way some of your older ones. Cheers
What's crazy is that i have a bike JUST LIKE THIS ONE. the only defects it has is a crooked chainwheel (it makes this click noise at a certain point when i pedal), the rear brake lever is seized so imma have to get a new one and the seat post is also seized. Its a Lotus Excelle: Triathlon Series in case your wondering.
It does look very evocative with its worn stickers and patina. Although, on a more downbeat note, you could make it exactly right but you could never recreate the experience of riding this in the 80s when you're 15.
Very true, there's no recreating the feeling of getting your hands on one of these bikes as a kid - but the nostalgia is a powerful substitute! I hope its next owner gives it the love it deserves.
The earliest iterations were the nicest of all - they had more gold bits and even some Campagnolo parts, plus a suede saddle! I still covet those to this day.
@@red_dread Last one got stolen, it was an '87 Raleigh Big Horn, silver and black. The only thing I'm not keeping original is the bars, can't do race bars. I'll keep them handy in case that changes though.
That righthand shift lever is UPSIDE DOWN! GREASE that stem before putting in the fork otherwise in 10yrs time you'll be burning it to get it out! The tyres were either CST amber wall 700x20. Or Michelin BIB SPORT 700x20.
1. See pinned comment. 2. The inside of the steerer was coated in grease. Same effect, less overspill. 3. Yes, the tyres were originally the latter. Would have been lovely to keep it all-original but they had perished to dust and would have been extremely hazardous! The new owner might enjoy the plusher 25mms, or they might want to revert to vintage spec - either way the charity gets some nice Mavic tyres for free.
@@red_dread I had that RECORD SPRINT when I was 15. Back in 1986. There were two frames available 501/18-23 Tensile steel main tubes and REYNOLDS 501 full tubing(which was offered with better components). Gold weinmann rims, gold weinmann brakes and levers. Those shifters were made buy HURET. the rear mech a then GOLDEN ARROW (better known as Shimano 105). The crankset was a THUN golden one and and TANGE BB. headset was steel. SR SAKAE bars n stem and probably seatpost too. Can't remember if the saddle was SELLE ROYAL or ISCASELLE! Hubs MAILLARD. maybe rear hub was a HELICOMATIC? BIKE RIBBON bar tape.....RALEIGH cables. Ah yes I did work for a RALEIGH shop in Cambridge in 1988!
I rescued one of these from a skip once, only to have the frame break at the chain stay. Got a new back end fitted in Czech Republic, only for the head tube to fail. With hind sight, should have left it in the skip...
@red_dread I'd actually bought a lot of parts and used spares I had lying around to make up a complete bike, so when I had to accept that the frame was finally dead, I just bought a cheap new frame and swapped everything over. Recently I've got hold of a really nice Raleigh Richmond Reynolds 531 frame, abandoned in Oxford, so that's my next project.
heat the cup to force it to expand in the frame , this will compress the rust , then quench the cup with penetrant , it will smoke alot , the rapid cooling will break the cup free from the now compressed rust , now clamp the fixed cup in a vice using the axle with some washers and crank nut so it cant leap out the vice jaws , now use the frame to unwind the cup. takes around 5 minutes . there you have a pro mechanic tip which has never failed in 35 years of me dealing with such issues.
Me too - except this time one detail was missing: you need a bench vice with really clean, straight, sharp jaws. Which mine isn't. So it was doomed to fail.
What I once did successfully was puting dry ice on the axle and cup to make it contract. Then use force... put the cup in a vice, use the frame as a lever.
I wish I'd had access to dry ice, I'm sure that would have been effective, as would a chest freezer but who has a spare empty one of those lying around and ready to go? As it was, I only had a jug of water with ice cubes in it and as you can see it was useless. Did not enjoy that job!
A friend of mine had one from new. I'm pretty sure his was equipped with gold anodised Campagnolo front and rear mechs, and a gold chain and block. (Holding my breath for anyone under about 45 telling me it's a cassette... it's not.) Also, I have an older Black & Decker Workmate.
Sounds like the Mk1, which had a higher spec than this one. There's an immaculate example somewhere on TH-cam and it's stunning. I guess they had to meet a price point so they made quite a few downgrades for the 85 model year. My ancestral Workmate is probably not as ancient as it looks, I guess my grandad got it some time in the 70s. Many of the accessories are now long gone but it's still solid - just needs a clean at some point. The original one from the 60s is unmistakable because the bench doesn't have the guide holes. Is that the one you have?
That did occur to me, after the fact. Those are rare limited edition Casablancas too, more valuable than the bike! Usually I wear 23-yr-old Reef sandals in that workshop.
@red_dread I wasn't sure how much they cost but I was thinking one spot of oil is gonna be a nightmare to get out! 😫 😂👍 Enjoying your vids by the way 😉👌
I grew up on these bikes and today l have 2 Raleigh bananas which are mint condition and a worse for wear Raleigh winner which l used all year round for a very long time 👍
Friction is a must have on any kludge but on period correct classics there can be only one way. As to the orientation of the shifters, i wonder if maybe in the hetic haste of a whirring production line they put them on the wrong way to begin with 🤔😮
Oh, I'm pretty sure the way I put them on was the opposite of how they ought to be! But they work either way, it's just my preference. The shop or the new owner can easily flip them if they want.
The spring is to hold the tool in place while simultaneously allowing a certain amount of movement - so the part can be unscrewed a few mm with the tool still clamped to it.
Although it would take a bit of time you could have cut the fixed cup out. Stick a blade through the hole and make 3 or 4 cuts in the cup to the top of the threads. Then with a chisel wack around the edge of the cup. The cup will eventually collapse on itself and fall out.
You don't heat the "nut area". You heat only the bottom bracket area where the threads are so "only it" is expanded by the heat. Not the whole area, which expands all the parts.
I tried both. The shell and the cup are made of different types of steel so there's no way of knowing their respective expansion/contraction rates against each other. The way I got the left cup out was rapid heating followed by rapid cooling to crack the bond created by corrosion.
I have to add a pinned comment on the subject of those shifters, since so many of my loyal friends on here are as detail obsessed and eagle-eyed as I am... Yes, I know they're upside down! I flipped them because I preferred the feel, they work either way and can easily be reversed if preferred. I'll leave that up to the shop mechanics and/or lucky new owner.
Dread all you have to worry about are a few savory sausage rolls and maybe a tasty bit of cake 😁
@@tmayberry7559 and a good Brew of Tetley's or PG tips to go with em!
As an Architect who sometimes works on Grade II* heritage buildings, often I am asked by the client to 'swap-out' ancient/defective parts, such as windows, doors and timber frames. I have found that by removing the windows, making them good through repair, 'scarfing-in' new timber of exactly the same type into the rotten/defective parts of the frame, etc, leaving the repairs evident. The completed restoration exhibiting 'warts an all', is always very well received and usually I am thanked for not conceding to modernise the building through repair/restoration.
I liked what you did to this bike. It has much more value to me showing that it was once and still is a beautiful Raleigh bike with original parts and the factory decal remaining. Also, your ethic of donating the bike to a charity is admirable. especially having spent so much tme, effort and dedication; you are still prepared to 'give'. Thank you.
BTW: My father was an aero-engineer at Rolls Royce. Whenever he had a 'seized/welded' type threaded joint, the first thing he would do is ascertain what metal the parts were made of. Then he would inspect how they fitted together, then place the parts joined together into a firm vice with no movement. Let some penetrating oil do its thing (he used a Molybdenum disulfide solution similar to STP) , then select a suitable place on the part; or 'nut' in your situation - ensure that he had a tight grip onto the seized part using a chrome vanadium spanner, then set himself into almost an athlete's stance, take an appropriate 'drift' and lump hammer, and with great precision give the head of the drift or spanner one quick sharp hard clout. I have seen him free joints on all sorts of neighbour’s machines after they have despaired through mechanics/service engineers informing them that there was nothing they could do.
As a kid, I was an avid photographer; I still am. I found an old 63 x 63mm RolleiCord (two and a quarter inch frame size) in a junk shop. I needed to free the lens securing ring to remove the Zeiss lens to clean the rear from fungus. RolleiCord and camera repairer experts laughed at me and told me to get lost. For one year I fretted over getting to the rear of the lens to clean it. Then in stepped Dad. He inspected the means of securing the lens. Collected the appropriate tools and in a couple of minutes the seized securing bezel was off. After careful cleaning, I set the camera at focal length at F11, speed 125, ISO at 250, focus at infinity, Ilford FP4 filmstock and just pointed and shot. When I went for interview at one of the world’s most prestigious universities, a panel of nine adjudicators at the interview spent most of the interview looking at my portfolio of photographs asking me how I had captured such poignant revealing abstract black and white photographs. I told them that I just pointed and shot having first composed what I saw. Just as long as the light and the time of day was right, all I had to do was understand how the camera worked and press a button. Out of 3,000 applicants, 3 places were available, and I won one of them. Same with the Royal Academy and other museums around the world - they ask me for my work to exhibit. And all done on what most people call a piece of junk.
Your TH-cam video was the first thing I watched over a cuppa tea having just returned after taking some photographs this afternoon, out in a thunderstorm using a marvel of modern luxury - A Nikon Z6. Of course I use the camera manually, and like your bike, when I pick-up the camera, I feel like I am holding something precious = it is up to me to make it work properly.
Thank you for an uplifting video and your humane display of generosity.
Delighted to hear you enjoyed the video, as you'll see from most if not all my builds I prefer to preserve originality wherever possible, even if patinated, rather than "restomod" or "update". Credit for the generosity really must go to my viewers who keep donating these bikes or piles of wreckage. Together we've done many bikes for charity and I'm always keen to do more.
Señor. That tool really needs to be bolted solidly down. I’ve ruined a good few Park spanner’s slipping off fixed cups.
If all else fails. I grab the 3/4” impact at work and give it all the ugga dugga’s 😅
Looked like a right mission though! I know the feeling of dread trying to get back in to a project all too well. Glad to see it all finished 🤙
It hung over me for weeks like a dark cloud! There was no shifting that cup, even though I was fully prepared to sacrifice whatever tools it took in the process. I wish I had access to one of those impact drivers, sadly at my place of work there is nothing any more macho than some Eames chairs and exotic pot plants.
Park tools are highly over rated IMO, and totally unsuitable for this job. The best method I use is a 24" Stilson pipe wrench, which tightens its' self onto the offending nut / bolt the more you put force into it.
@@andy530i NOPE! That is NOT the way to remove a fixed cup. There's virtually ZERO purchase on the outer edge. You'll just end up mangling the BB shell in the process.
The problem here was that he NEVER applied the appropriate torque to the cup in the first place. Had he done it properly, it most likely would have broken free. He never utilized a shop-quality fixed cup tool for removal. Short of this, no REAL attempt was made.
And if not, then there are alternatives. An angle grinder or Dremel will allow you to cut apart the cup to free it from the BB shell.
He just never quite gave it 100%, so he ended up with an old fixed cup rusted to the frame.
Kinda sad.
I used to be the chief cycle mechanic at a bicycle recycling project. All we dealt with was shed & cellar dwellers that had been donated. Good quality stilsons work fine, and without mangling the BB shell, sometimes the paint is chipped off the edges, but that is the only damage I have caused using stilsons. I agree they do damage the BB cup , but 99% of the time the bearing surfaces are pitted, or severely damaged any way, and need replacing.
Nice work, great use of your brain as the most important tool in the shed, and lovely presentation! Cute dog at the too.
My bike nerd brain and my tiny-brained dog are my two greatest treasures.
You need to know: all those hours on things like loosening the BB.. you are not alone! Me (and many others) have been stumbling and tinkering in the shed too. Families and friends not interested. No one to discuss it with other than... the internet! Love it. Other bits which were so recognizable: turning off the Dremel in the wrong direction (whoooosh! oh crap...) and running the inner brake cable and than that dreaded loop between the end and the actual brake. Keep it up!
Social media does make bike tinkering so much more rewarding doesn't it?
Great vid! Another bike saved!! That bb was a real mission.
I was waiting for the trick tip with nuts and bolts but you never showed it so didn’t know if it was me or not 😂😂😂.
I must say, any man who slams the stem down like that with absolutely no hesitation is the dons of all dons. Respect!! 🙌🙌🙌🙌
Ah yes, the trick with the M12 bolt. You basically tighten the nut and bolt through the BB cup then go at it with an impact wrench. The tightening of the bolt contributes to the loosening of the cup. Not this time though... Always a pleasure to hear from a fellow don!
*I HAD THAT BIKE AS A KID* I was so insanely proud of the gold bits and it was black as well.
My dad had this bike until he got a recumbent for summer ridding and sold the Raleigh that had all its logos removed before my dad got the bike in California when living there all was gone except the front badge and the one stripe thing on the handlebars. A year or two later dad got for better winter road riding and not having to switch tires from road to mud cyclocross on the recumbent, this old 1980's higher end Japanese Mountain Bike from a used bike store that was so overbuilt. He still has both and wants to get back into riding the MTB as he had a bunch of that near his house and that classic stiff frame MTB is perfect for the type of gentle single track and gravel road stuff.
I did as well great memories
@@vincevinnyp9224 - It was too big for me when I first got it and i had to have blocks of wood on the peddles LOL
Me too. First a Milk Race Special, then this.
Me too. Loved mine and rode it everywhere
Brilliant! You have invented a novel new way of removing a fixed cup. Grease everything up, reinstall the B.B., ride it for a couple years, and it comes right off. 😂 All the best.
That's not a bad idea. Perhaps you could replace the grease with sand and give it to Sir Chris Hoy to ride, he'll have it out in minutes!
Lucky for you that Adjustable cup will be with tooling flats instead of a cup that will require a pin tool. When removing a stubborn Bottom Bracket cup with the frame in a flat position I'll vise it up in a bench vise with the flats of the cup squarely in the jaws of the vise, but the jaws will need to be clean and sharp, once it's all vised up I'll just rotate the frame, in saying the frame becomes the tool and it's always better to have a second pair of hands this way the frame wont flop out of the jaws, I've been doing this for well over 25 years and it works like a charm, of course you'll need to have access to a good bench vise. I had one customer who went to every single shop in town along with shops in surrounding towns a about 15 shops total, he rolled in with his frame and 5 minutes later the cup was off. Keep up the good work.
Exactly this - if my bench vice had had clean sharp jaws it would have been problem solved in seconds. But it doesn't, and the thought of driving round all the shops fills me with dread so thank heavens I worked out this solution.
I thought that bottom bracket was a show stopper. Impressed you made it work. Lovely bike. Although, if it were mine, original or not ,that plastic seat would have to go.
I thought it was for the skip. But yes, thank god the inside of that BB cup was still usable. The saddle is a cost-cutting crime on a bike that's otherwise so thoughtfully specced. Even the seat bolt is etched with the Sugino brand! I wonder if the genius that created this bike just forgot saddles when pricing it up, and had to make do with the scrapings off the warehouse floor?
I've managed a Shimano cart conversion on a similar era Raleigh after snapping an axel. Never want to go through removing a BB like that again haha
Had one of these when I was young and after riding a chopper it felt like an F1 car. Great video. You’re very good and rather funny.
Thank you for your kind words, hope you enjoy the rest of my bike vids. Very good comparison to F1 car too: the colourway is very reminiscent of the coolest race cars of the same era (John Player Special), and the handling is no less unforgiving.
@@red_dread yes exactly! I had a JPS lotus scalextric car and I had the devil’s own job keeping on the slots. The Record Sprint was a glorious machine. I have a ‘restomod’ Raleigh Clubman from 1983 and I’m looking for a Road Ace of a similar vintage.
I had the Quasar model with its round-oval-round Reynolds 501 tubing. I think later records had the same frame set. nice video.
Yes, a lovely silver blue with a FAST aero bottle as standard. 😊
I don't think I mentioned the aero tubing on this - but it has the same. Very cool.
Where did you source the bottom bracket removal tool from? It is the first time I have seen it. In the past I have clamped the fixed cup in a heavy steel vise and used the frame as leverage to remove the fixed cup.
I just found it on Google, and it wasn't exactly a roaring success! If you can find a bench vice with proper, clean, sharp jaws then that's an infinitely better solution.
I've only just discovered your channel, and I'm a few videos in already. Very nice work. TH-cam really is a fantastic resource, and I find I learn something new from every video.
I'm tipping away at a couple of 20year old alloy Specialized Rockhoppers (we have them from new) and an odd Specialized Sirrus from the 2010's (skip rescue, some frame damage).
Funny enough, my latest issue is replacing an old "Thun" bottom bracket (same branding as on your cranks here) in the Sirrus... and after a long mediation process, I managed to arrange an amicable split between component and frame over the weekend.
Congratulations on getting that BB out - that's gone straight in at Number One as my most hated job! Glad you found my channel, stay tuned...
Masterful job! Kudos and major props for a smashing result. Great job on the bike and the video. You've won a new subscriber. Also, any advice on how to loosen a BB in an aluminum framed MTB (90's)? I suspect some galvanic corrosion might have occurred. Anyone else in the community feel free to respond with suggestions. Thanks.
Thanks! Galvanic corrosion is a next level nasty business. I've seen it a lot with seatposts but not so much with BBs. In the case of seatposts I've found brute force works eventually but I have heard of people pouring some seriously caustic fluids down inside frames to tackle it. Couldn't tell you what the product was I'm afraid, but I'm sure there's experts out there...
Great vid. Well done giving it to the charity shop. Someone will be thrilled with it.
Thanks, I'm sure it'll fetch a few quid and someone is going to look very cool riding this thing around town.
I enjoyed watching you suffer as I do, you have more tenacity than I do.
Great video, thank you.
I had and raced a Raleigh RRA, Reynolds 531 throughout with Nervex lugs and Stronglight 99 Crank, really nice yellow and white.
Wish I had never sold it.
I will never forgive myself for letting my first "real" bike go. Breaks my heart to think of it, however I did find an exact facsimile of it on eBay and brought it home for an emotional video on this channel.
You’ve come up in my recommended videos and I’m made up because I have this exact bike in my garage, been sat there for 25 years and never been touched. She will live again, you’ve inspired me to get her back on the road
Yes! Love hearing stories like this - let me see it when it's done.
@@red_dread will do, I’ve also got a 25yr old Puch that needs some TLC but that will have to wait a little longer now 😂
I love the gold bits.I bought the brakes and bars off an old Record and stuck them on my black and gold Raleigh Grantour. I'm still after a gold chainset.
It's stunning isn't it? I seem to remember the brand name was "Thun" - I'm not sure how easy or hard they would be to source. My one was certainly the worse for wear but still too lovely not to save.
I was chuffed to hear you talk about CFC in Chorlton. I volunteer at the Cheltenham shop!
I had one in the early nineties! A good rebuild - and +1 here for the comments about the shifters being on the wrong side!
It came out OK considering the state the pile of parts was in when I found it. See my pinned comment on those shifters...
Aah, my first proper bike. I did so many miles on mine it was unbelievable, several summers of pure happiness! I just wish I still had the strength to turn those gears.....
This one's relatively generously geared, perhaps someone slipped a bigger cassette on it at some point. But I do remember some of the higher-end road bikes of the 80s had gears that even a pro today would consider insane.
Beautiful Bicycle! Craftsmanship.
Besides the vise to remove the fixed cup, the other method I have used is a bolt with washers, when you tighten it, it will loosen the cup, as the cup is left threaded, that also has worked every time. Keep up the good work.
That's what the M12 bolts in the video were for! This was going to be my next method, but before I could procure a socket to fit the breaker bar I got bored and gave up, thankfully the cup was cleanable in-situ. I hope I don't have to do that job again any time soon, it was most tiresome.
Great video, have to disagree on the index vs friction shifting, maybe it's just me but I far prefer friction over indexed, especially for the front chain-rings. Nice that it's being sold for a good cause as well.
I agree about friction on the front for sure. It's nice to be able to trim your front mech so it doesn't rub as you move up and down the block.
Nice looking bike that, you did a good job
Thanks, it's far from perfect but I think a certain amount of vintage patina is appropriate for a bike of this age and value. If its next owner wants to really go to work on a restoration there's still potential, but it's solid and ready to be ridden and enjoyed just as it is.
“Escalating scale of violence”, love it. 👍🏼
Wow there's a blast from the past, everyone had Raleigh bikes, I had a Europa my friend had the Ace, but that bike was also in the bike shop but too expensive for me to get my hands on. Happy days 👍
I'm very slightly too young for this bike from new - I remember it for sure, but the year it came out I'd have been more interested in the Burner BMXes in the same colour scheme. Road bikes (or "racers" as we'd have called them in primary school) were strictly for the bigger kids.
Nice job.
Back in the day I had special tool in my bicycle repair shop to get right bracket cup out. I’d always begin with the left cup and take the axle out. Then I’d use a kind of an axle on which you could screw a cap on the other end. So this axle went through the bracket from the left side, then the cap would go on the threaded part sticking out of the bracket at the right side so you can fix the cup between the part of the axle inside bracket and the cap, and then with a big spanner ( I sometimes used 70cm leverage!) you can loosen the cup.This tool has never let me down! It was an official tool made by the toolmanufacturer Koets in The Netherlands.
A magic trick is to support the downside of the bracket with a heavy object ( I used a 4kg “cowpaw” of solid steel) and then hit the top of the bracket with a sandfilled knockdown hammer. Works for every thread that doesn’t want to come loose.
By the way you’ve mounted the shifters the wrong around. The rounded side should face forward.
This bike was my first bike which I bought in 1987. I rode with full camping equipment from Tours in France through the Pyrenees to Cadeques in Spain and back to Lyon. 2100km in 19 days with a lowest gear 42x28. Nowadays this seems impossible, I did the Tourmalet, the Mont Ventoux, the Col d’Aspin etc. without setting one foot ont the ground during these climbs. Must have been the bike :)
I've seen those tools, somebody else told me about another "official" manufacturer that did a version too, my hack with the M12 bolt and nuts would have been an approximation of it but luckily my shortcut became apparent before I needed to. I know about the shifters - see my pinned comment on the subject. Yes, I find it mad that people used to consider those gear ratios normal!
Such a great build. Also, I both love and hate those stubborn jobs like that BB. I hate that it takes so much time and effort to solve them but I love the sense of satisfaction in finally getting them fixed or at least finding a solution to the problem as you did. Great video. 👌🏻
Thanks, yes I'm very happy now it's complete - that was indeed worth the effort.
I've been having a similar fight with an old raleigh mtb bottom bracket. Hadn't considered just leaving the immovable cup in place, certainly will try that !
What a great video and cause. I believe this is the mark 2 version. The mark 1 had Campagnola shifters, front and rear derailleur. The mark 3 was mostly Suntour so Raleigh were clearly cutting back on costs. I picked up a great example that turned out to be too big for me. I looked like it had been bought for Christmas with the idea I’d grow into it. But then my lad sprouted and he has (according to me) the coolest bike in town, reaffirmed by another 50 something. Next stop, a Fila tracksuit.
Quite right - I’d love to get my hands on an original Mk1, the spec on those is stunning. I can’t wait until my kids are old enough to ride around on rare and unique retro builds.
👏👏👏👏
Bravo. Super human effort mate.
I lived just round the corner from Chorlton at Whalley Range quite a few years back. Nice community too.
Lovely gesture by the way 👍
Credit for the lovely gesture goes to my viewers as always, for finding, donating and encouraging! All I do is indulge my hobby, so everyone wins.
I used to have the Raleigh Quasar when I was 15, I felt like a king! Same 501 aero frame, different trimmings, better than the record sprint but not quite as good as the criterium... thanks for posting
I suspect a few more classic road bikes are going to come out of the woodwork on this channel before too long.
Nice restoration.
Nice job mate! Really enjoyed this. I had a Record Sprint when I was in my teens and I felt like Stephen Roche on it on my local roads and when I really fell in love with cycling. It was a beautiful bike and I remember the pre index shifting and toe clips and straps, with “quick release” buckles I fitted to it. 😊 Unfortunately it was stolen from my parents front garden one evening and I never saw it again. I was heartbroken. 😢 I would love to own one again….
I'd get in trouble for inciting v**lence on TH-cam, but needless to say I wish only the most unpleasant of outcomes for whoever stole that bike! Horrible tale to hear.
Well done. I've rebuilt a 1974 Steve Bauer with Suntour Superbe Pro ect. People bypass many other nice bikes and ask about it and take photos.
I would love to get my hands on one of those vintage Suntour road groupsets!
Two classics - a Raleigh Record and a Bedlington Terrier! I spent hours in a cycle shop in Ealing watching the mechanics rebuild racing bikes after re-sprays and so.Old skills never lost 60 years on....
That lovely little Bedlington is never far away when I'm fixing up bikes. You can usually see him snuffling at the fence behind me trying to get at next door's cat.
@@red_dread when I was growing up and walking home from primary school I often stopped and chatted to a lady out walking her baby in its pram and her little Bedlington by her side. That was over 60 years ago and over the years I have always found this breed so attractive, so fast and so endearing. One ran rings around my airedale who could never match its speed and abilty to twist and turn. Lovely dogs.
@@yvoheaton6402 I think Bedlingtons and Airedales go rather well together in many ways, except in a running race of course.
I've had good luck using an old Kingsbridge tool for fixed cups. It's a friction style tool that clamps down on the cup face, you use one person holding back with an large adjustable wrench on one side while the other person with another large adjustable wrench on the other side cranks it clockwise. Any bike can be fixed, it's just a matter how much time and money you want to put into it. I've seen people give away some really nice bikes they no longer need in fact working with a nonprofit that gives away donated bikes, we get so many that a certain % have to be scrapped after we strip for any good parts. Take care!
Those Kingsbridge tools are basically a professional's version of my M12 nut and bolt trick. Same principle, but very hard to find nowadays. If I'd had to, I reckon cranking my M12 bolt would have worked eventually, at risk of extreme force damaging the frame, but thankfully I discovered the intact bearing surface on the fixed cup just in time so I didn't have to. Great to hear there are nonprofits out there saving as much as they can, wish there were more. No bike should ever go to landfill.
@@red_dread I think Bicycle Research made a less expensive version also. Yes good idea to keep bikes out of landfills, my brother in law is a scrapper and picked up a bunch of the bikes that weren't worth fixing.
Shifters are on wrong way love your videos
Yes, I flipped them upside down because I preferred the feel. Can easily be reversed if preferred.
Nice work! Lovely bike! How did you end up attaching the plastic cable guide to the bottom of the frame?
There are two ways of doing it: the craftsman can carefully re-thread the hole with the correct sized tap and then use a sawn-off alloy bottle cage bolt with a stainless washer. The butcher, meanwhile, simply uses a heavy duty square of double-sided adhesive foam. The tension of the cables will keep it in place for years.
I purchased one of these around 1985 and joined my local cycle club.Did 1000's of miles on it.Its up in my attic now having been gived a freshen up about 10 years ago.
Glad to hear you're keeping it in the family.
Had one of these beauties, lent it to a neighbour 3 years ago. Its still now rotting n wrecked in a bush at their house.
Ugh, go round that neighbour's house immediately and piss through their letterbox.
Looking sharp, Dread!
The amount of time I spend thinking about outfits and hair, and who watches my channel? Other dads. Criminal waste if you ask me.
The bike looks tasty. I must say that was a proper bit of kit you were wearing 😅
Great job rescuing an old bike! Only thing, I'm about 99% sure you've got your shifters set up backwards, the right's on the left, and the left's on the right.
Wow awesome rebuild dude great job first vid I’ve watched from your channel, that BB was a mission but well done man you got it out.. great work. 😀😃👍🚴🏻Pete
Welcome to the channel! There's plenty more successful builds past and future.
i once had a like welded seized cup into an old Raleigh Chopper, i used a leverage as last resort, something will come loose and it luckily was the cup, i wonder why they seize up like that
I have no idea why, of all the parts on a bike, it's always that BB cup that's most likely to seize! It's not even a case of bimetallic (galvanic) corrosion as it's often steel-in-steel. I guess manufacturers and bike shops were just torquing them in with maximum force in the first place.
I remember going to Raleigh shop and buying that 1st edition bike. I’m trying to think what happened to it but I wish I still had it. Lovely bike when new . So glad I had one.
The first edition was quite a bit higher spec than this one. I bet your friends were jealous back in the day.
@@red_dread they were , it was stunning new nothing else like it. It was very good specification for the money 🙂
Nice work
1971 went from my first bike a Super Course to a champagne colored International on to a Harry Quinn. Still riding 4 to 5 days a week but that time was still the most fun .
That champagne colour is irresistible! Never goes out of style.
Excellent work and inspired out-of-the-box thinking just to leave the cup on for the next guy. A minor quibble: the right hand cup *is* lefty tighty to stop it going *loose* because of precession or something. I don't understand it either. Nor presumably do Italians.
Now this bike is done I don't even want to remember whether that thing was English threaded or Italian threaded - I considered both but whichever way it was there was no shifting it. As you say, it's the next guy's problem now. As long as they keep it clean, it'll run fine until the end of time.
@@red_dread It would surely have been English originally but sometimes people convert to Italian as a hack if the threads are ruined for some reason (Italian is slightly bigger). Seems unlikely that happened to that bicycle as it looked low-mileage. But it can do a lot of miles before that cup is ever a problem again so at the very least you have given it a long life extension. By the time it needs a new RH cup in 2043 we can just let a superintelligent AI sort it out.
I clamped the bearing cup by the two flats in the vice and turned the frame on my 45 year old Carlton. Worked fine.
If I'd had a proper heavy duty bench vice with clean sharp jaws then yes, that works. Alas, those are few and far between in my community of hammer-wielding bike butchers.
What's the name of the tool you used to get the bottom bracket off? I could really use one of those!
Sorry, I don't think it had a name - it was just a cheap one I found on Google and I can't even remember what search term I used. But if you look closely at the one I used you'll very easily be able to find a match by eye, they only come in one size.
off to chorlton to have a look well done mate!
Wonder if it's on the shop floor yet. Hopefully it'll fetch a few quid. There's an even better one coming up next.
It looked like you were trying to undo the fixed cup in the wrong direction. Did you try the opposite direction? Both sides of the bottom bracket undo by turning towards the rear.
I did try both, yes - I'm aware that some frames of this generation are threaded the "English" way and some are the opposite ("Italian"). Whichever one this is, there's no shifting it...
Put the fixed cup in a machine vice and tighten the jaws up against the flats. Use the frame as a lever and try to get some movement on the threads. Once it starts to move it will come out. Used the method many times on stubborn BB cups. Use grease on the threads when refitting the bottom bracket to avoid the problem. Surprised the bike shop wasn't able to sort this.
This has come up in discussion a lot - it's true that a heavy duty bench vice could easily fix such things, but there are a couple of complicating factors. The jaws need to be razor sharp and clean because the flats are so shallow on this BB cup, plus they were quite mashed from various attempts to remove them. My vice wasn't heavy duty or sharp enough to hold enough grip, the whole thing just popped out under load. I believe the bike shop could have sorted this, but he didn't want to take the risk because the corrosion was so bad that it was possible the torsion could irreparably damage the frame.
"The Marcellus Wallace Technique" Getting medieval on that...
The Raleigh Record is made of hi-tensile steel, so after putting all that work into it, you will wind up with a bike that is good enough, but not something superior. Cant you find a frame made from alloy steels like reynolds 531 or Columbus or Champion?
It’s made of 501, which is cromoly, not hi-ten. It’s the same material as 531 but seamed rather than drawn. If you want to see Columbus, Prestige, all the higher grades of Reynolds, plus alloys, carbon and titanium, it’s all here on this channel!
My Workmate dates from about 1978. Still going strong - good kit.
I've actually no idea how old mine is - I don't believe as old as the 60s because the Mk1 had a solid bench without the various perforations for add-ons. It just looks ancient because it's had a very hard life. My old man used to use it (amongst other things) to clamp logs while he went at them with a chainsaw. It bears many scars from this but is still solid and extremely useful.
@@red_dread www being what it is, there's at least one site devoted to workmates I've seen. Geek heaven!
My best friend's brother had a Raleigh Record Sprit that I always loved the look of. If they are in good condition they still look awesome with nostalgia glasses on. But most are run into the ground and would cost fortune to bring back to reasonable condition. I for one would love you to do an immaculate Raleigh Bomber restoration. :)
This one is certainly far from mint - but it's solid and I think a certain patina can really enhance the aesthetic of a true vintage build. A Bomber would be amazing, it seemed like everyone's big brother had one when I was in infant school - but you never see those nowadays. I guess they had hard lives.
@@red_dread Yeah I agree... Sometimes those "Rat Bikes" as the cool kids call them can look rather good.
"penetrating" oil is actually made from snake oil. Never in my life have I had it do anything other than make an oily mess....love the jersey👍
Exactly this! Yes, the Mapei kit is definitely up there in my all-time top 3 alongside La Vie Claire and Z.
Great job red_dread. I've often left a seized working cup in situ. A guy at my school had one of these bikes - his parents were fairly loaded. Everyone was jealous because after all it was 1980s Galway and it was not the 'loadsa money era' at all! Big shame was - he just didn't ride it often. Are the friction shifter levers upside-down (or more likely on the wrong sides) - they looked different on may Raleigh Pursuit in 1987. Keep up the great work. ps: thanks for doing this for a very deserving charity.
I reckon you'd definitely have needed rich parents to get one of these back in the 80s for sure. Yes, I flipped the shifters upside down because I preferred the feel. Can easily be reversed if preferred, they work either way. And all thanks go to my viewers, who keep generously donating these bikes for me to restore and pass on. That bike shop has done very well out of the TH-cam retrobike community, and I hope it will continue.
i restored the very same bike... it took a week of sitting in sodium hydroxide to get the seat post out :D when heating a seized componant there are two mechanisms at play, as the outside heats faster than the inside there is relitive movement but more importantly a portion of the iron oxide is converted back to iron and so reduces in volume
I doubt a nuclear explosion could have shifted this one!
This was my first 'serious' bike. During the 80s I rode many wonderful miles on it, but one day, whilst climbing, the right crank came off the spider throwing me onto the tarmac. That was the day I said goodbye to this bike.
That's a scary tale. Was it the same gold Thun crankset?
@@red_dread It was!
Nice vid ,you have the left down tube shifter on the right hand side and vice Versa.I know I had this bike,the oh seat was black suede.👍
1: see pinned comment. 2. Sounds like you had the Mk1, which was higher spec. This one’s the 85 model which had quite a few cost cutting changes to the spec, including this nasty Selle Royal plastic saddle which I’m sad to say is what you would have got that year. The first generation also had some Campagnolo components and a lot more gold including even the hubs and cassette.
Where did you purchase the Weinman Ferals? I looked online but wasn't able to find it. So far you're the first video that has mentioned this part! Great video
Thanks! Can't remember exactly where I found them, but if you Google and change the spelling to "ferrules" a lot of options come up. Seems like there are still bike shops with drawers full, but I couldn't find any gold ones unfortunately. Good luck.
Great job, I'm glad that bike will live on and donating it to help charity is wonderful 👍
Thanks go to Big Ed who donated it in the first place. TH-cam cyclists are a very generous and supportive community.
contrats on the result of the BB
a stealthy little whip, like the way you slammed the stem.... not sure if the gear levers are the right way round and I'm not sure if it's my middle aged eyesight but the front wheel looked as though it had a radial buckle in it, more likely it was the tyre
overall, a lovely little thing
Ha, the stem originally had a lovely UCI rainbow tape around it about half way down the quill. No way that was staying on... All the way down it went. You're right about the shifters, I flipped them upside down because I just preferred the feel. Can easily be reversed if preferred, they work either way. No buckles in the wheels but there's a terrible optical illusion because the rims are black coated and the braking surfaces are unevenly worn, hence they appear quite buckled even though they're not.
Try building some of the oldest cannondale mtbs. those aluminum frames with 24 inch rear wheel and 26 inch front wheel
Those things were so cool. The original mullet-bikes. If I ever see a wrecked one in need of restoration I'll take it on, 100%.
'escalating scale of violence '😅.
Same can be said for stuck seatposts. One busted WorkMate, ans I had a sore back for weeks! Still, the 18" pipe wrench did the trick.
P.s. also worth a try are the cans of freeze spray for the BB (and seatposts.)
Freeze spray! Great idea - will definitely get one next time this happens. The jug of iced water was pretty lame.
points for persistence. I am puzzled why you invested so much time in the fixed cup before even trying the adjustable side.
That's just the way the film was edited. Hours of battering cut down to a few seconds of video. In fact I was constantly trying different methods on both sides until one of them gave way. Was not fun.
Hey I bought a second hand MAPEI jersey recently too. Very nice aesthetic.
It is so cool isn't it? It's in my top three along with La Vie Claire and Z.
I really do not think a breaker bar to get the BB loose would pose a real threat to the frame welds snapping :) But kudos for showing us all the ways to go about it!
It would with me and my hammer on the other end of it.
simplex retro levers for your NON indexed shifting, a bit like playing the Harmonica , you cant see where the wholes for the notes are but you play them perfectly with practice, same with retro shifting ( non indexed) once perfected you get a buzz from each well timed and silent gear change.
I have so much respect for those old-school riders that can do friction shifting by instinct! It’s definitely reminiscent of learning an instrument, yes.
Great job
If you have a good vice, you could have put the 2 flats of the fixed cup in the vice and used the frame for leverage, has worked every time for me.
"Good vice" being the operative term. For a case as extreme as this one, you need a proper heavy duty bench vice with the cleanest, sharpest jaws. A luxury I did not have!
A knowledgeable friend once told me that the right side cup of this vintage of British bike was 'non-removable'. It Can be removed, but it isn't meant to be removed. Guess they assumed that when the cup is trash, then the rest of the bike is by that stage also trash.
Your wise friend has a point - a lot of parts on cheaper bikes would have been considered "fit and forget". Sadly I bet few people at Raleigh in 1985 would have cared whether or not I was destined to struggle with a corroded BB decades later.
Hi, just wondering how you get good at working on bikes? Just TH-cam vids and practice?
I started out experimenting on my own bikes with my dad’s tools and a bit of his help in the 80s, then obsessively devoured every catalogue and magazine I could get my hands on as a kid, then finally got jobs in bike shops in the 90s where I got to practice on thousands of bikes in real life! I have an ingrained memory for old bikes, but when it comes to new stuff (hydraulics, electronics, suspension) I have to follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Thankfully everything is online nowadays.
@@red_dread thanks for the reply. I have always enjoyed riding bikes and while I appreciate the qualities of super high spec rides I have always been drawn to more modest bikes personally - I just cant justify spending the sums that I see some people do. I would love to learn how to work on bikes and will take to youtube to get a better idea. Think I will keep an eye out for a fixer upper as a first project. Very much enjoy your videos! Slowly making my way some of your older ones. Cheers
What's crazy is that i have a bike JUST LIKE THIS ONE. the only defects it has is a crooked chainwheel (it makes this click noise at a certain point when i pedal), the rear brake lever is seized so imma have to get a new one and the seat post is also seized.
Its a Lotus Excelle: Triathlon Series in case your wondering.
Oof, sounds like yours has had a hard life. The seatpost especially is a job I don't envy. Hope you get it back up and running!
It does look very evocative with its worn stickers and patina. Although, on a more downbeat note, you could make it exactly right but you could never recreate the experience of riding this in the 80s when you're 15.
Very true, there's no recreating the feeling of getting your hands on one of these bikes as a kid - but the nostalgia is a powerful substitute! I hope its next owner gives it the love it deserves.
My mate had one of these (but an early iteration circa 1982) - I really coveted it.
The earliest iterations were the nicest of all - they had more gold bits and even some Campagnolo parts, plus a suede saddle! I still covet those to this day.
I have this exact bike, I look forward to making it my daily rider 👍
Fantastic - there's no reason why it shouldn't last you a very long time to come.
@@red_dread Last one got stolen, it was an '87 Raleigh Big Horn, silver and black. The only thing I'm not keeping original is the bars, can't do race bars. I'll keep them handy in case that changes though.
Sure those gear cables are wired correctly? Looks like you put them in the wrong way
Yes, I flipped them upside down because I preferred the feel. Can easily be reversed if preferred.
That righthand shift lever is UPSIDE DOWN! GREASE that stem before putting in the fork otherwise in 10yrs time you'll be burning it to get it out! The tyres were either CST amber wall 700x20. Or Michelin BIB SPORT 700x20.
1. See pinned comment. 2. The inside of the steerer was coated in grease. Same effect, less overspill. 3. Yes, the tyres were originally the latter. Would have been lovely to keep it all-original but they had perished to dust and would have been extremely hazardous! The new owner might enjoy the plusher 25mms, or they might want to revert to vintage spec - either way the charity gets some nice Mavic tyres for free.
@@red_dread I had that RECORD SPRINT when I was 15. Back in 1986. There were two frames available 501/18-23 Tensile steel main tubes and REYNOLDS 501 full tubing(which was offered with better components). Gold weinmann rims, gold weinmann brakes and levers. Those shifters were made buy HURET. the rear mech a then GOLDEN ARROW (better known as Shimano 105). The crankset was a THUN golden one and and TANGE BB. headset was steel. SR SAKAE bars n stem and probably seatpost too. Can't remember if the saddle was SELLE ROYAL or ISCASELLE! Hubs MAILLARD. maybe rear hub was a HELICOMATIC? BIKE RIBBON bar tape.....RALEIGH cables. Ah yes I did work for a RALEIGH shop in Cambridge in 1988!
I rescued one of these from a skip once, only to have the frame break at the chain stay. Got a new back end fitted in Czech Republic, only for the head tube to fail. With hind sight, should have left it in the skip...
Wow, sounds like that one had had a hard life! Did you at least manage to rescue some of the nice components off it?
@red_dread I'd actually bought a lot of parts and used spares I had lying around to make up a complete bike, so when I had to accept that the frame was finally dead, I just bought a cheap new frame and swapped everything over. Recently I've got hold of a really nice Raleigh Richmond Reynolds 531 frame, abandoned in Oxford, so that's my next project.
heat the cup to force it to expand in the frame , this will compress the rust , then quench the cup with penetrant , it will smoke alot , the rapid cooling will break the cup free from the now compressed rust , now clamp the fixed cup in a vice using the axle with some washers and crank nut so it cant leap out the vice jaws , now use the frame to unwind the cup. takes around 5 minutes . there you have a pro mechanic tip which has never failed in 35 years of me dealing with such issues.
Me too - except this time one detail was missing: you need a bench vice with really clean, straight, sharp jaws. Which mine isn't. So it was doomed to fail.
What I once did successfully was puting dry ice on the axle and cup to make it contract. Then use force... put the cup in a vice, use the frame as a lever.
I wish I'd had access to dry ice, I'm sure that would have been effective, as would a chest freezer but who has a spare empty one of those lying around and ready to go? As it was, I only had a jug of water with ice cubes in it and as you can see it was useless. Did not enjoy that job!
A friend of mine had one from new. I'm pretty sure his was equipped with gold anodised Campagnolo front and rear mechs, and a gold chain and block. (Holding my breath for anyone under about 45 telling me it's a cassette... it's not.)
Also, I have an older Black & Decker Workmate.
Sounds like the Mk1, which had a higher spec than this one. There's an immaculate example somewhere on TH-cam and it's stunning. I guess they had to meet a price point so they made quite a few downgrades for the 85 model year. My ancestral Workmate is probably not as ancient as it looks, I guess my grandad got it some time in the 70s. Many of the accessories are now long gone but it's still solid - just needs a clean at some point. The original one from the 60s is unmistakable because the bench doesn't have the guide holes. Is that the one you have?
If it’s a Raleigh Record, why doesn’t it have a Campag Record group set?
Good question. If it had, I might have been a little more inclined to hoard it rather than giving it away!
Good job.
I have a Sprint bought off a local guy who had owned it since new , bought from his Mum's clothing catalogue
I remember looking at these in the pages of catalogues! His mum must have been quite generous.
I defo would leave off the white trainers whilst working with oily bits! 😂
That did occur to me, after the fact. Those are rare limited edition Casablancas too, more valuable than the bike! Usually I wear 23-yr-old Reef sandals in that workshop.
@red_dread
I wasn't sure how much they cost but I was thinking one spot of oil is gonna be a nightmare to get out! 😫 😂👍
Enjoying your vids by the way 😉👌
I grew up on these bikes and today l have 2 Raleigh bananas which are mint condition and a worse for wear Raleigh winner which l used all year round for a very long time 👍
Fantastic bikes, all of them. Such a big part of all our childhoods, nothing but love for Raleigh.
Friction is a must have on any kludge but on period correct classics there can be only one way.
As to the orientation of the shifters, i wonder if maybe in the hetic haste of a whirring production line they put them on the wrong way to begin with 🤔😮
Oh, I'm pretty sure the way I put them on was the opposite of how they ought to be! But they work either way, it's just my preference. The shop or the new owner can easily flip them if they want.
one of my mate in the 70s had one of those , i had a Raleigh Arena .
I remember the Arena! Quite a few of the older kids I knew growing up had those, it's a name I haven't heard for many years.
why the spring :)
The spring is to hold the tool in place while simultaneously allowing a certain amount of movement - so the part can be unscrewed a few mm with the tool still clamped to it.
Although it would take a bit of time you could have cut the fixed cup out. Stick a blade through the hole and make 3 or 4 cuts in the cup to the top of the threads. Then with a chisel wack around the edge of the cup. The cup will eventually collapse on itself and fall out.
That was one of the options I would have considered if I'd really been forced to, yes. Would have been risky and probably eaten a lot of blades!
If you want a penetrating fluid that is more effective than anything else on the market, mix automatic transmission fluid and acetone in a 50/50 mix.
Fingers crossed I never find myself needing it! Hated that job...
You don't heat the "nut area". You heat only the bottom bracket area where the threads are so "only it" is expanded by the heat. Not the whole area, which expands all the parts.
I tried both. The shell and the cup are made of different types of steel so there's no way of knowing their respective expansion/contraction rates against each other. The way I got the left cup out was rapid heating followed by rapid cooling to crack the bond created by corrosion.
really went medieval on that BB's arse
What now? Let me tell you what now...