Surprise visit from the NBF

EKE_38BPM

After snapping the frame of my Banana fixie a few months back, I've been forced to fall back on my winter commuter, a BTwin Vitamin. Not fun.

But today, a customer a work gave me a 531 framed old Raleigh frame and forks. Headset and BB included. He bought it as a project but fixing up his newly bought houseboat takes precedence so he gave it to me.

Tomorrow I hope to swap the parts from the Banana and onto the new frame. Its still in the bubble wrap it came in when he bought it off of fleabay, so I don't know what model it is, but I do know it is a bigger frame than the Banana was and that is a good thing.

I am a very happy chappie!

veronese68

Wow, that's great. I need customers like that. Does he want to buy any bits for old sports cars?
Look forward to hearing more about it.

rjsterry

Jammy!

Not had any clients that generous yet.

EKE_38BPM

Update:
I've removed the bubble-wrap from the frame and see that it is a Raleigh Record Ace, 531 frame and forks. All of the tubes/stays look straight and all of the joints look in good nick.
I've had a look on t'internet for more info and judging by the frame number, it looks like it was built in 1971.

There is a bit of surface rust so I think I would like to get it powder coated (gloss black, contrasting lugwork, custom EKE decals, maybe some pinstripes, maybe chrome forks) when I'm feeling a bit more flush.
Before the 'restore it to original' posse jump on my back, I don't care what you say. I don't want it to look original, I want to make it look like MY bike and I want to keep it for a long time.

I've had a quick look on ebay and the closest to it I've seen is a 1977 531 Team Raleigh Campag. It is in the colours of the Europa (my first road bike) and bidding is currently at just over £1000 + £245 p&p.
I now know that the bloke who gave me the frame was EXTREMELY generous.

Now to clean it up and put the bits from the Banana on. It will be an entry to the Frankenbike competition until the new paint job.

Gussio

Result!

itboffin

this thread is useless without pics

you know's the ruleZ

EKE_38BPM

itboffin wrote:

this thread is useless without pics

you know's the ruleZ

Right now I'm eating and the camera is in the garage. When I finish eating I'll go back to bike building and taking pictures. Then I'll upload and you can all have a gander.

Revision on the date of the frame. Further research (wikipedia) tells me that it was made in Worksop in June 1982.
I'm having serious difficulty removing the BB. ~28 years of congealed grease and pedaling stick the cups in there pretty good!

Yes, I am attempting to unscrew them the right way, before you ask!!!

sketchley

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/bbcups.html

EKE_38BPM

Sketchley wrote:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/bbcups.html

Cheers for that, but I've got the right tools and the right technique, its just the lack of force thats the problem!

sketchley

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Sketchley wrote:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/bbcups.html

Cheers for that, but I've got the right tools and the right technique, its just the lack of force thats the problem!

MTFU

itboffin

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Sketchley wrote:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/bbcups.html

Cheers for that, but I've got the right tools and the right technique, its just the lack of force thats the problem!

Silly question BUT ... do you need to remove the BB? is it stuck, grinding, wobbly?

EKE_38BPM

itboffin wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Sketchley wrote:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/bbcups.html

Cheers for that, but I've got the right tools and the right technique, its just the lack of force thats the problem!

Silly question BUT ... do you need to remove the BB? is it stuck, grinding, wobbly?

I HATE BOTTOM BRACKETS!

I didn't really NEED to remove it as it wasn't very grindy, but the chainset on the Banana uses a Campag square taper so I put a Campag BB on that (on your advice) and I want to use the same chainset (and its as smooth as me chatting up a pretty lady).
I could have re-used it and used a different chainset with a standard (JIS?) square taper, but that would have given me a different gear.

I eventually got the old BB off (brute force and ignorance) and am now fighting to remove the Campag BB from the Banana. It was only on the Banana for less than a thousand miles and I installed it with copper slip, but I guess my awesome power screwed it on tight.

Right, back to the garage. I only came in to wash my hands so that I could get an eyelash out of my eye!

chilling

My mate had a Record Ace. I was dead jealous because I only had a Clubman and his was all 531 whereas mine was only the main tubes. This must have been about '84.

Did some long distance touring on those wheels.

veronese68

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Right, back to the garage. I only came in to wash my hands so that I could get an eyelash out of my eye!

Bottom brackets can be difficult I grant you, but there's no need to cry about it.

rolf_f

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I've had a quick look on ebay and the closest to it I've seen is a 1977 531 Team Raleigh Campag. It is in the colours of the Europa (my first road bike) and bidding is currently at just over £1000 + £245 p&p.
I now know that the bloke who gave me the frame was EXTREMELY generous.

No, he was just generous. Record Aces are nice bikes (I have a 1980 one - made in Worksop. Yours I think will be Nottingham made - they kept the frame number sequence going after Worksop closed around 1981) but a decent one will make £100 - £200 depending on luck and the quality of the bike and advert. There's one that did slightly better than it should have (given the size of the frame and minor unoriginality!) if you search under completed listings.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Raleigh-Recor ... 336b816d8a
Sadly, after 1980, the Record Ace was downgraded in quality if not cachet from Suntour to Campag; if you'd had the earlier one, I'd have been grovelling at you for the groupset

Mine - still in need of a better saddle......

EKE_38BPM

Rolf F wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I've had a quick look on ebay and the closest to it I've seen is a 1977 531 Team Raleigh Campag. It is in the colours of the Europa (my first road bike) and bidding is currently at just over £1000 + £245 p&p.
I now know that the bloke who gave me the frame was EXTREMELY generous.

No, he was just generous. Record Aces are nice bikes (I have a 1980 one - made in Worksop. Yours I think will be Nottingham made - they kept the frame number sequence going after Worksop closed around 1981) but a decent one will make £100 - £200 depending on luck and the quality of the bike and advert. There's one that did slightly better than it should have (given the size of the frame and minor unoriginality!) if you search under completed listings.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Raleigh-Recor ... 336b816d8a
Sadly, after 1980, the Record Ace was downgraded in quality if not cachet from Suntour to Campag; if you'd had the earlier one, I'd have been grovelling at you for the groupset

Mine - still in need of a better saddle......

Nice bike. I especially like the look of your chainrings.
I think mine originally had the Suntour groupset as Suntour is stamped into the gear hanger (part of the frame, not a separate part). I was just given the frame, fork, headset and bottom bracket so no groupset. Any more info on the Record Ace would be gratefully recieved.

I've now 98% finished the build. Just need to get the fork drilled to accept the slightly bigger front brake nut (I had to do the same to the Banana fork), fit the water bottle holder and wrap the handlebar then the Record Ace fixie will be complete.
I've taken it for a very short test ride and it feels nice but it seems to pull to the left slightly. I'll investigate properly in daylight (and take some pics).

EKE_38BPM

You all asked for it (OK, one person asked for it), so here are pictures of the Raleigh Record Ace Fixie.
As a taster, feast your peepers at this:


I've still got to wrap the handlebars and, as I said, I want to get it powder coated. It rides well (no more drift to the left, dunno what that was all about). Now to correct the saddle level and go for a longer test ride.

UndercoverElephant

Very nice, EKE. Very nice indeed.

itboffin

Very nice but I think you're going to need to move the chainring to the outside of the spider, scary lack of clearance.

EKE_38BPM

itboffin wrote:

Very nice but I think you're going to need to move the chainring to the outside of the spider, scary lack of clearance.

I'm thinking the same thing. Could mess up the chainline though.

itboffin

nah if it does you just swap around the spacers on the rear wheel, simples!

EKE_38BPM

Cool.

Next stop, find powder coaters and get quotes. Any idea on good ones?

itboffin

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Cool.

Next stop, find powder coaters and get quotes. Any idea on good ones?

Armourtex in Hackney http://www.armourtexltd.co.uk/cycles.html

See my red Raleigh 531 steel in sig for an example of their excellent work.

rolf_f

Not worth painting it if you are leaving those truly hideous handlebars on it! I mean, really!

sketchley

Needs an oversized saddle bag then it would be perfect

EKE_38BPM

itboffin wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Cool.

Next stop, find powder coaters and get quotes. Any idea on good ones?

Armourtex in Hackney http://www.armourtexltd.co.uk/cycles.html

See my red Raleigh 531 steel in sig for an example of their excellent work.

Nice one. Very local to me too.
Now to decide on the decals. 531 obviously, but there are some other things I want on there too. I've got a mate who I think can produce custom decals, then wrap it all in helicopter tape and job done.

Rolf, the bars stay.

rolf_f

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Rolf, the bars stay.

Don't tell me now - I've just eaten

EKE_38BPM

Clearance between the chainring and the chain stay increased. I never had any problems, but <1mm clearance is just too tight for peace of mind.

itboffin

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Clearance between the chainring and the chain stay increased. I never had any problems, but <1mm clearance is just too tight for peace of mind.

Yep even with steel there will be flex and a chain hitting stay on a fixed - ouch!

rjsterry

If it were me (and I know it's not) I would try and replicate that script on the existing decals. Perhaps something like "Raleigh Record Eke". Classy and subtle. Be good to find a vintage 531 decal too - they're quite unusual.

EKE_38BPM

Hopefully I'll be flush sooner than expected, so I'm leaving the bike looking ratty and then taking it to Armourtex.

I assume I should sand the rusty bits before taking it for powder coating? I've had a read of their website and the bead/shot blasting removes "light rust" but would this count as light rust?

I think I'll give them a ring, point them to the pics and see what they say.