Raleigh-made BSA bicycle. BSC/ISO standards or Raleigh?

ansbaradigeidfran

As the thread title suggests, I've got a Raleigh-made BSA bicycle, a 'Weekender'. I can't find any reference to this model on the internet, and little about post-buyout BSA cycles in general. My big question is what measurements (e.g. BB threads) would this bicycle be likely to have, the old BSA/BSC standards that became today's ISO, or Raleigh's? I'd assume that things were Raleighfied at some point, but would anyone be able to share some details about when/how this happened?

bagpusscp

Should find what you need to know here.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/retroraleighs/

ansbaradigeidfran

That's a great website (which I've already browsed), but it is quite specific to Raleigh-branded Raleighs. What's gotten me into a bit of confusion is the fact that, near the top of http://www.sheldonbrown.com/raleigh26.html points out that the BSA standards were adopted by the BSC, and eventually became the ISO standard. I was wondering if there would have been any significant tail-off of BSC components coming out with SA-Raleigh labels, or if Raleigh threw everything out and put their own machine tools to work immediately.

GarethPJ

It's my understanding that most of the companies Raleigh bought out followed a similar pattern. They tended to continue with their original componentry until stock was used up at which point they would be moved over to Raleigh's standards.

However the whole thing tended to be a hotch potch especially since there was a lot of badge engineering going on. Quite often the odd model names were sometimes from one of Raleigh's brands rebadged to another keeping the same model name. So if there was a Weekender under another of Raleigh's brands that might be what you have there.

On the subject of BSA's a spotted an old BSA in the weeds near the station last night. Looked like somebody has trashed the wheels and dumped it. If it's still there the next time I need the car for work I'll salvage it.

ansbaradigeidfran

Same model, different 'manufacturer' - genius!

Some searches for a Raleigh Weekender have thrown up a few more results, such as this and this. Those have a triple chainset, whereas mine is single, but the BSA could have been the budget model, or even a (slight) predecessor. Regardless, I'm likely to find that it's all Raleigh dimensions when I get around to taking it apart.

Thanks.

GarethPJ

Now you mention it I seem to recall that Raleigh used BSA as something of a budget brand of their own bikes, in a similar way that they used Carlton as an upmarket brand.

For example a friend used to ride a single speed Shopper that was badged as a BSA. While I never saw a Raleigh Shopper that wasn't a three speed.

Dickie

If your weekender is brown late 70s early 80s it will be standard 24tpi BSA/iso b/b shell. You can see the difference between 26tpi and 24tpi quite plainly.

ansbaradigeidfran

Thanks all. I took the brakes off to clean them, and they're date-stamped 81. When I get down to the BB, I'll hopefully find 24tpi, in which case I can consider buying a modern replacement and putting a cotterless crankset on. (Cottered doubles seem to be few and far between on eBay etc.)