HELP! old school project raleigh record sprint

George_T_Harris

Hey guys, i'm new to road biking and recently i picked up a Raleigh Record Sprint renolds 501 frame for £30 but haven't a clue where to start on her.
If you cant give me any specs on the bike e.g. year, frame/wheel sizes and if so where could replace the worn sticker set.
Need a new wheel set as spokes are loose and have rusted into the nipples , so can anyone recommend a budget replacement set of wheels with the correct size for the bike!?

Many thanks!

alihisgreat

you can start by selling it to me for £30

Drumlin

How much money are you prepared to spend ?

percybigun

Very cool bike! And a bargain price.

The decals sometimes crop up on ebay, otherwise i use a local signwriter who makes replica decals from photo's /dimensions in vinyl, he is pretty cheap.

I have a similar wheel dilemna with my two 80's raleigh reynolds 501 bikes, to avoid wasted purchases i'm putting one bike in a bike shop to get a new rear wheel fitted, then i'll copy whatever the shop does for my other wheels. Similar to you i just want budget alloy 700c rims which are half decent. I'll let you know how i get on.

secretsam

Oh, good grief not another one...try the Commuting forum, a couple of people on there have bothered with this

It's a cheap and cheerful bike from the 80s, it was cheap when it came out and is really nothing special - think the standard of a boggo Airlite from Raleigh now

So don't spend a fortune on it, just because it's an old steel frame doesn't mean it's any good!

(PS: FWIW, I'm doing up an old 531 frame (full 531, mind) with mostly second hand bits and bobs - and I'm modernising it)

rolf_f

SecretSam wrote:

Oh, good grief not another one...try the Commuting forum, a couple of people on there have bothered with this

It's a cheap and cheerful bike from the 80s, it was cheap when it came out and is really nothing special - think the standard of a boggo Airlite from Raleigh now

So don't spend a fortune on it, just because it's an old steel frame doesn't mean it's any good!

(PS: FWIW, I'm doing up an old 531 frame (full 531, mind) with mostly second hand bits and bobs - and I'm modernising it)

501 wasn't exactly cheap - my Dawes Horizon was about £250 in 1990 with a Galaxy about £80-£90 more expensive. You might be talking Raleigh Airlite but it would be a 300 or a 400 - one of the pricey ones.

To the OP - as I said on Percybiguns thread, your best bet is probably to source second hand wheels on Ebay. There are millions of suitable wheels on there and if you are lucky they might have good tyres on them too.

Best alternative place for advice are the Retrobike Forums. People are often selling the right sort of wheel on there as well.

craker

I can't see the photo for whatever reason... I swapped out the wheels on my Raleigh when they got a bit thin about the rims; I bought a 7 speed hub off ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190723293382, unbolted the freehub and replaced the 9 speed freehub on my spare wheelset. (NB It's probably worth noting that both hubs are Shimano, if you get a nine speed wheelset based on a different hub it's probable the freehub wont swap out).

Easy peasy, shiny new 32 hole Mavic rims look far too good for the rest of the build.

percybigun

Rolf F wrote:

SecretSam wrote:

Oh, good grief not another one...try the Commuting forum, a couple of people on there have bothered with this

It's a cheap and cheerful bike from the 80s, it was cheap when it came out and is really nothing special - think the standard of a boggo Airlite from Raleigh now

So don't spend a fortune on it, just because it's an old steel frame doesn't mean it's any good!

(PS: FWIW, I'm doing up an old 531 frame (full 531, mind) with mostly second hand bits and bobs - and I'm modernising it)

501 wasn't exactly cheap - my Dawes Horizon was about £250 in 1990 with a Galaxy about £80-£90 more expensive. You might be talking Raleigh Airlite but it would be a 300 or a 400 - one of the pricey ones.

To the OP - as I said on Percybiguns thread, your best bet is probably to source second hand wheels on Ebay. There are millions of suitable wheels on there and if you are lucky they might have good tyres on them too.

Best alternative place for advice are the Retrobike Forums. People are often selling the right sort of wheel on there as well.

Agreed, the record was £250-300 in the 80's (alot of money back then), and there was about 10-20 heavy/basic/slower bikes beneath it in the raleigh range.

I get people with modern £700 bikes who are very surprised how light my reynolds is.

Drumlin

SecretSam wrote:

So don't spend a fortune on it, just because it's an old steel frame doesn't mean it's any good!

To be honest, that was my first thought too. This sort of bike is perfect for use as a commuting hack, but once you start buying nicer more modern stuff for it the costs can quickly escalate to a point where you'd have been better off buying a new bike in the first place. And watch out for rust too, I once spent lots of money upgrading a steel tourer only to find within a year the paint bubbling from internal rust.

George_T_Harris

percybigun wrote:

Very cool bike! And a bargain price.

The decals sometimes crop up on ebay, otherwise i use a local signwriter who makes replica decals from photo's /dimensions in vinyl, he is pretty cheap.

I have a similar wheel dilemna with my two 80's raleigh reynolds 501 bikes, to avoid wasted purchases i'm putting one bike in a bike shop to get a new rear wheel fitted, then i'll copy whatever the shop does for my other wheels. Similar to you i just want budget alloy 700c rims which are half decent. I'll let you know how i get on.

Thanks mate yeah do let me know!

rolf_f

percybigun wrote:

Agreed, the record was £250-300 in the 80's (alot of money back then), and there was about 10-20 heavy/basic/slower bikes beneath it in the raleigh range.

I get people with modern £700 bikes who are very surprised how light my reynolds is.

Actually, I got my numbers slightly wrong - my Dawes was £350 list in 1990 and the Galaxy £450. Annoyingly, if I'd got a Galaxy it would have still been worth £450!

Drumlin wrote:

To be honest, that was my first thought too. This sort of bike is perfect for use as a commuting hack, but once you start buying nicer more modern stuff for it the costs can quickly escalate to a point where you'd have been better off buying a new bike in the first place. And watch out for rust too, I once spent lots of money upgrading a steel tourer only to find within a year the paint bubbling from internal rust.

Actually, I think you are very wrong here. Not only do a lot of these old bikes have a lovely smooth ride compared to modern ones, in the long term the costs do not escalate. As long as you don't spoil them by turning them into something they are not (ie modern bikes) they are really cheap. Initial costs can mount up but almost never to the point that you'd have been better off buying new.

Eg I bought an unused Suntour XCE rear mech for the Dawes a while back (really excellent quality - far better than the original and better made than most modern mechs) - £15 with a similarly mint front mech. Front shifters - again can be had in fine condition for a tenner. Brake levers? Well you won't need to buy any replacements of those as they are totally indestructable. A thick 7 speed chain lasts for years. Even expensive chainrings are half the price of modern Campag. And so it goes on.

I love my expensive bikes but I love my old steel bikes too.

Drumlin

Rolf F wrote:

percybigun wrote:

I love my expensive bikes but I love my old steel bikes too.

I don't disagree, a quality steel frame in good condition is worth spending money on.