oldie noobie wanting to update an old bike

seezed

Hi

I've been riding an mtb for about a year now after a long time out of the saddle but would love to get my old Raleigh Record Sprint up and running again. The frame is in good nick, trouble is the gear and braking systems have seen better days and I'd love to get them replaced with new ones but where do I start? As its a labour of love I'm not going to throw much money at it (unless I get the bug good and proper) so I'll probably be scouring ebay but whats the right spec for my bike? Its circa 1988 with downtube shifters. Its also a double with 14 gears but I'd love to go for a triple with at least 21 but would love more to help my aging flabby ass get up them hills. Can I go for modern or what? I mean how far could I go with it? I'm just not a techie so when I see components on websites I'm utterly clueless as to what would suit my bike or not. I just need pointing in the right direction.

I'd love to get a new bike but financially thats out of the question at the moment.

Help!??!

Diogenes

Hi Seezed,

It is relatively straightforward to replace worn out rear cogs, you just need to know whether you have a screw on freewheel or a free hub and cassette. I am not aware of any 7 speed freehubs so would "guess" that you will have screw on freewheel.

Oddly it can be more difficult to find these now but they are readiliy available on the net.

With non indexed downtube shifters you have no real problems with changing cables etc.

However if you want to move to triple you will probably have to change the rear mech as the short cage on your double may not accommodate the loose chain when you drop to the granny ring on a triple. Also you may (but not always) have to change the bottom bracket to accommodate the extra ring on the front.

And that brings us to the front rings, replacing the double for a triple is straightforward but when you add up the cost of all the bits it is not always an economic option. If it is a beloved bike that you want to spend c£150 - £200 on then it is all feasible.

Take a look at the late Sheldon Brown to get excellent info on gear:-

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/freewheels.html


Good luck

D

PH5121

I would recommend having a look on the retro bike forum, and asking a few questions there.

There is a dedicated retro road section and I am sure you would be able to source parts and info from the forum.

Monty Dog

As it's 1988, likely to be freehub/cassette rather than freewheel - photo or your LBS should be able to help. If it's a freehub, you'll be able to upgrade to a more recent 8, 9 or even 10 speed transmission. The frame is recent enough to make it possible to fit modern components - older Raleighs have some odd-sized fittings that make life a bit more tricky.
Your big decision is whether you want to keep costs low and stick to your downtube shifters or whether you want to upgrade to combined handlebar brakelevers/shifters. Suggest you make that decision first and maybe find yourself some shifters, which will then drive your other purchase decisions. In the mean time, you could also look for a suitable road triple chainset and bottom bracket - choice is pretty independent of what you want to do with the rest of the transmission.

stabilised

I had one of those once, too! It was my first half-decent bike. I must have bought mine in 1987, so only a six speed (screw on) freewheel, rather than your seven. The other comments are right about the drivetrain - shuld be no real problems with changing the chainset and the bottom bracket, including for a triple, if that's what you want. If you stay with the friction gear levers you might even get away with a triple chainset without having to change the rear mech for a longer-cage one. My wife runs a triple (28-40-48) witha six speed freewheel (14-24) on a short-cage rear mech from that era (a suntour of some sort) and although it is at the limits of what it can handle, so needs to be kept carefully adjusted, it does work OK. I'm not sure it would be OK if it were indexed. That could save a bit of money.

No one else has mentioned brakes, so I'd suggest that could be a really good upgrade. Chances are that what you've got will be Weinmann single pivot side-pull calipers (gold anodised on mine, as were the brake levers - bling before anyone thought of bling). They work - sort-of. Modern dual-pivot brakes are a massive improvement (I still ride Campag single pivot side-pulls on one of my bikes and they are fairly useless unless you really pull on the levers, especially in the wet). You may find you have to drill out the fork crown and brake bridge to fit them, as the recessed allen key nuts used now mean that the bolts on the calipers won't be long enough, but don't be afraid to do that.

Money is mounting up, though, so it may be that you want to just spend a lot of time and care on cleaning and reconditioning everything that you can as well as you can and re-using everything possible. Change the chain and all the cables for safety's sake, though.

seezed

Thanks for the replies guys.

Stabilised
Brakes are indeed Weinmans that refuse to be adjusted. Gear levers are indexed will that make any difference?

Think I'm going to stay with downtube shifters for now and just upgrade gears etc, levers, cables, chainset, bottom bracket, cassette(?) (haven't had chance to check type yet), and brakes.

Just went to check on freewheel its a Shimano Hyperglide MF-HG20, and to correct an earlier error on my part, its a 6 speed [/b]http://www.bikepro.com/products/freewheels/shimfw.html[/b] (hope the link worked). Is this good or bad? Perhaps I should go for a new rear wheel to widen my choices.

As for Chainset and bottom bracket any advice?

Thanks again

seezed

I'd quite like to change my freewheel from a 6 speed to an 8 or 9 but I'm not sure what to look for in order for the new one to still be compatible with the current hub.

Also, it was mentioned above that if I want to change the chanset to a triple I'd have to change the bottom bracket - why? (I'm sure its necessary I'm just ignorant of the reason - although I'm equally sure its going to be obvious). Again though, what should I look for?

Lillywhite

seezed wrote:

I'd quite like to change my freewheel from a 6 speed to an 8 or 9 but I'm not sure what to look for in order for the new one to still be compatible with the current hub.

Will the spacing on your old frame be wide enough for 8/9 cassette?

Regarding the bottom bracket, a triple chainring requires a wider bracket, around 112-113 mm wide rather than a 102 mm fitted for a double chainring.

Monty Dog

If you want to upgrade to 8 or 9 gears, then your best bet is to have the rear wheel rebuilt with a new hub, or even buy a new wheel. Whilst 8 speed freewheels are available, you'd need your rear wheel re-dished, they're not as reliable and your choice of gears is limited. 7 speed freewheel would be OK with your existing wheel, gear mech and levers.
Sticking to downtube levers is OK, but you might want to upgrade to a set compatible with your choice of rear mech / number of gears, otherwise you'll need to use them in friction-mode only.
You might not need to change your bottom bracket, but it depends on your choice of chainset which dictates the length of axle - but assume you do.