Raleigh Kellogg's For commute.Restore or not restore??
Newcastle_Pete
Posts: 11
Hi Everyone,
Long time lurker, first time poster.
Hopefully this is in the right section - I had this in the 'Workshop' section but I think that's more for stuck seatposts etc so I've moved it.
I'm just after a bit of advice on whether or not I should restore this Raleigh Kellogg's Pro Tour I got the other day.
The decals are shot and there's a little rust (not too bad) but other than the wheels (possibly only one of them) and tyres, everything seems original.
I know there's no money in these but I bought it as my daily commuter to replace an ageing mountain bike / BSO so I don't want anything too snazzy as its going to be locked up in the city centre all day / some nights.
It was advertised as having a broken rear axle and a ceased qr rear skewer. It was also pointed out that the rear derailleur was bent and the back wheel wonky.
When I got it home, I checked the above issues and it appears that there was no way to get the qr to bite due to rusting but with a bit of wd40 this was resolved and the rear wheel now sits and spins true.
The derailleur on the other hand did have a slight bend to part of the metal bits that holds the jockey wheel but that straightened out by hand and the gears had not been set up correctly.
The bike now rides 'as is' but due to the slight rusting and cheapness of replacement parts I was thinking about a respray and replacement decals but I really hate the yellow and white scheme and the decals seem to be hard to get hold of (there is a forum member that restored and upgraded one of these and actually bought a spare sticker set but these were sold some time ago)
Plans are at the very least to strip it all down, clean, grease, oil etc and stick it back together but I'm not sure whether to put a little cash into it to ensure I get years more out of the frame and buy a couple of authentic replacement parts. I am struggling to find a plastic raleigh shifter for the down-tube though.
I'll post some pics below.
All suggestions welcome.
I do have the selle royal white seat but I was checking to see if the post had ceased- obviously it hadn't.
Top tube decals
Original bars
Sachs huret / snapped plastic raleigh shifter
Weinmann levers
Weinmann 507s cleaned up ok - these we're black with grime when I got the bike
Maillard skewer - still rusty but I can get a new one for a few quid. Also not a great pic.
Long time lurker, first time poster.
Hopefully this is in the right section - I had this in the 'Workshop' section but I think that's more for stuck seatposts etc so I've moved it.
I'm just after a bit of advice on whether or not I should restore this Raleigh Kellogg's Pro Tour I got the other day.
The decals are shot and there's a little rust (not too bad) but other than the wheels (possibly only one of them) and tyres, everything seems original.
I know there's no money in these but I bought it as my daily commuter to replace an ageing mountain bike / BSO so I don't want anything too snazzy as its going to be locked up in the city centre all day / some nights.
It was advertised as having a broken rear axle and a ceased qr rear skewer. It was also pointed out that the rear derailleur was bent and the back wheel wonky.
When I got it home, I checked the above issues and it appears that there was no way to get the qr to bite due to rusting but with a bit of wd40 this was resolved and the rear wheel now sits and spins true.
The derailleur on the other hand did have a slight bend to part of the metal bits that holds the jockey wheel but that straightened out by hand and the gears had not been set up correctly.
The bike now rides 'as is' but due to the slight rusting and cheapness of replacement parts I was thinking about a respray and replacement decals but I really hate the yellow and white scheme and the decals seem to be hard to get hold of (there is a forum member that restored and upgraded one of these and actually bought a spare sticker set but these were sold some time ago)
Plans are at the very least to strip it all down, clean, grease, oil etc and stick it back together but I'm not sure whether to put a little cash into it to ensure I get years more out of the frame and buy a couple of authentic replacement parts. I am struggling to find a plastic raleigh shifter for the down-tube though.
I'll post some pics below.
All suggestions welcome.
I do have the selle royal white seat but I was checking to see if the post had ceased- obviously it hadn't.
Top tube decals
Original bars
Sachs huret / snapped plastic raleigh shifter
Weinmann levers
Weinmann 507s cleaned up ok - these we're black with grime when I got the bike
Maillard skewer - still rusty but I can get a new one for a few quid. Also not a great pic.
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Comments
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If its only for commuting turn it into a fixie or single speed, frame has some nice period graphics and patina so would look awesome. I've got a vintage Peugout I fixie'd as too many parts needed replacing to warrant the outlay.
Awaits getting shot down by everone over the age of 40...
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Forks look a bit bent backwards? Does it steer and ride non handed OK?0
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Sorry about the apparent delay responding to these. I did post a response earlier but it hasn't shown up.
In response to the fixie idea - really I want to have gears on my commuter. My fixies for fun.
Regards the forks - it rides like a dream - rear bearings need sorting tho. I didn't notice the fork but when I get home I'll be checking it out so thanks for that :-)0 -
No worries trek_dan, I'm over 40 and agree with you
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Right - checked the forks -those are fine. must have been the angle they were at when i took the photo.
I've also decided to keep it this god awful colour. I'll give it a service and retouch the paint on the rear drops - although I want something low key and unstealable(ish), I don't want it to look too trampy, plus the paint will at least give a little more protection against the elements.
However, when I went to remove the rear derailleur to get rid of the rust on the rear drops I was confronted with .........a rivet?
Does anyone have any experience of derailleurs being riveted straight to the dropouts? I assume I'll just have to drill it out?
Cheers
Pete0 -
trek_dan wrote:If its only for commuting turn it into a fixie or single speed,
Yuk no! (I'm over 40!) - no need to turn it into a shadow of its former self by making a horrible fixie out of it. Parts are cheap. Don't look for a replacement plastic shifter - just get a pair of whatever Raleigh used on the next model up. Won't cost much and will be nicer.trek_dan wrote:frame has some nice period graphics and patina so would look awesome. I've got a vintage Peugout I fixie'd as too many parts needed replacing to warrant the outlay.
Awaits getting shot down by everone over the age of 40...
Yep - it's not a godawful colour by any stretch - OP just needs to get used to it! Might be worth looking at whether it could be lacquered though as is to minimise rust if it is to be commuted on. These are 501 which means that the stays at least might be a bit more vulnerable to corrosion than if it was a full 531 frame.
As for the rivet - I think you would have to drill it out. I suspect that the derailleur hangar thread got stripped and the solution was to rivet it on. It shouldn't be a big problem if this is the case. You can get a frame saver device - here as a whole kit http://www.mountainbikecomponents.co.uk/items.asp?CategoryID=144&Name=Frame+Savers+and+Fixing+for+Dropout%2FHangers which should fix that problem. Of course, you don't buy the kit - you go to a proper bike shop that can still use drills and get them to sort it for you.Faster than a tent.......0 -
Just noticed this thread and thought I'd share my old Raleigh Kelloggs. Mine was in a sorry state . Recognised it had no real value so decided to get it powdercoated. Replaced the chain, saddle, bar tape, brake pads. Created some new decals, printed on my home printer then lacquered them to protect the inks. Actually rides really well after a good service of all the bearings etc...Sorry about the photo not conforming. I'm not using it at the moment as I have another road bike but it does have gum wall tyres that look the part. The shifters were shimano but metal not plastic and the weinmann brake calipers are black. Looks like I don't have the original fork either.
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Hi Rolf F - Thanks for the info. I've got a day off work today so I cleaned out what I thought was a rivet and it is a actually an Allen bolt with the remnants of the clip from the missing plastic cover stuck in it so the derailleur is now off.
I'll take the derailleurs apart and give them a good clean today and maybe do the same with the wheels, crank etc.
The frame is literally covered in grease - no idea how or why so I guess that's making it look in much worse shape than it actually is - if I can get everything stripped off the bike today and the weather's ok tomorrow I'll clean the frame up and touch up any bits that lack paint, I think I've got some primer kicking around but might have to mix a match for the yellow and then shoot some clear over the top.
The colour is starting to grow on me so we'll see how I feel after everything's cleaned, re-greased, touched up and reassembled.
I've cleaned most of the rust off the rear skewer with the WD-40 / tinfoil method and its looking much better now but it is quite badly pitted. More importantly its functioning much better. I think I'll still order a new one to match the front as it looks immaculate and if I do choose to do a complete respray further down the line I really do like the look of them.
I'll also have a look on Fleabay and the likes for some Sachs levers from this era.
All in all though, I'm actually getting happier with it the more I work on it and realise how little actually needs doing to it. My expenses on top of the original purchase have been nil so far and considering I thought the back axle was broken along with the derailleur I've already made a saving
I do need to buy a jockey wheel though.
I also meed a crank puller, chain breaker and one of those rear cassette removal things but I've needed those for 3 years so I think it really is about time I bought them and they aren't just for this bike so I can't really attribute the costs to it. 0 -
Hi beardytwo, digging the bike. Looks really nice and clean - it would get nicked straight away from my city centre!
Your kind of swaying me back towards the powder coating option now though. In the time it takes me to degrease the frame and prep the rusted areas, prime, paint, lacquer and sand the areas that need doing I could have had the frame blasted and 2 step coated with a rock hard finish.
Couple of question for you though:
Did you keep the original Sachs mechs on there?
Did yours have a fixed cup BB. I think mine does but I haven't taken the left side apart yet.
If so, was it a pain to remove?
Also, do you have any more pics you could post please?
Cheers
Pete0 -
Hi Pete,
Couple of more picks that I managed to find. Like I say Gum wall tyres. The Blue Conti's were what I had lying around at the time.
The mechs on mine are Shimano. Again not sure if these were changed or Raleigh changed them for another years model? The Hubs, Skewers and Cassette are Sachs Maillard.
The BB was perfectly serviceable although I seem to recall a bit of a pig to remove. It was cup and cone but I couldn't be bothered with the hassle so replaced with a Shimano UN54 for £9. This works fine with the Stronglight Cranks.
Chris.0 -
Thanks for the pics and info. It looks great with the blue treads on.
You say you made your own decals? That's something that I started looking into when i first thought about restoring mine but there's a lot of mixed info online.
A lot of people seem to have tried it but with varying success rates. For some the ink just faded really quickly even with uv resistant lacquer shot over them but I guess that's down to the ink and printer. As I understand it there are also only certain printers that can produce metalic finishes ( was this an issue with the raleigh logo on your seat tube?)
I have a friend who works for Epson UK so I can probably get whatever kind of printer is needed to do the job but what kind of printer did you use for yours? Was there any specific ink you used and are they water slide or vinyl?
So many questions! :?
Cheers
Pete0 -
No problem with the questions Pete. If I didn't want to help I wouldn't have bothered to post. I used an Epson R1800 which is a photographic quality printer so the inks are less likely to fade. The decals were printed on to special adhesive vinyl for printers although water slide is supposed to be good aswell. I then lacquered them before I cut them out. You can get clear or white depending on what you want. It was a lot of faf in photoshop but worked out ok.0
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Marvellous. I've got a couple of stylus printers so I'll give it a try if I go the restore route. At least that way I can touch up the paint properly and then reapply the decals. I'm lucky that there's enough of the old ones left to photograph to reproduce and I have a few of the 501 decals somewhere.
I do have one last question though :-)
Are the white panels on your frame powder coated, painted or decal?
I ask as I've always liked the idea of panels ( fancied a British racing green kind of colour frame with off white / cream panels) but all of the cycles I've seen have had the panels sprayed on. My powder coater seemed confident they could do multi colour without a 'step' in the finish but if it can be done with a decal that seems like less of a faff.0 -
Panels were created by the decals. The vinyl was white. To achieve an old English white or off white maybe difficult with inks so perhaps better the powder coater does it? Would look really nice though. If you search for the images there is quite a lot out there including the made in England decal (I changed this to the St George Flag).
Chris0 -
Cheers for that Chris. I think I will just get it powder coated the one colour for now and maybe put some low key raleigh decals on. The ones that look like a handwriting sort of font. I washed her down to see if the lack of grease would improve the appearance but it hasn't really so powder coatings the way forward methinks. If I fancy a change up maybe next year or something I might have a go at printing my own.
I keep losing track of the fact that this was meant to be a cheap commuter with little to no money spent on parts! The powder coat I can justify to protect the frame though.
Thanks again for your help
Pete0 -
Beardytwo wrote:Hi Pete,
Couple of more picks that I managed to find. Like I say Gum wall tyres. The Blue Conti's were what I had lying around at the time.
The mechs on mine are Shimano. Again not sure if these were changed or Raleigh changed them for another years model? The Hubs, Skewers and Cassette are Sachs Maillard.
The BB was perfectly serviceable although I seem to recall a bit of a pig to remove. It was cup and cone but I couldn't be bothered with the hassle so replaced with a Shimano UN54 for £9. This works fine with the Stronglight Cranks.
Chris.
Cracking job...0 -
Hey Pete,
If you were doing a set of decals and I wanted a spare set from you, what would you charge me?
I have one of these from 1988 and am thinking of restoring after reading this thread...
Cheers0 -
Hi. As long as you aren't in a hurry, If I do any you can have a set for the price of the vinyl and postage which will be coppers I'm sure. I've asked my mate about inks and he reckons the ones I have as well as the printer should be ok but I'm not convinced. :?
I've photographed the decals but I'm also going to try and remove them with a bit of heat so they can be scanned in and touched up. I think I'll be doing mine a different colour scheme but it was always my intention to keep a digital copy of these should I ever wish to change them back.
If the physical prints don't turn out too good at least I can just wing the file off to a professional to print 0 -
I think you may have hit on a niche market there! It seems a lot of people are trying to locate those decal sets!
Any chance you could give me a shout if they turn out ok as a resto of my pro tour may now be on the cards and i'm definitely in the market for a set 0 -
Pete, make sure you post some progress piccies. I'd be interested in how you get on. Thanks for the complement RideOnTime. Was a nice little project for an unloved bike.0
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Steve - yes, if they come out ok I should be able to run another set of.
Beardytwo - I will stick some pics up as I progress.
I've been super busy since Friday so have got nothing done other than mess up the handlebars.
I slid them out of the stem with no issues so I could get in there and give them a good clean with a bit of the old T-cut to show off the embossed raleigh made in England bits and they came up like a mirror. So far so good.
Unfortunately, when I slid them back through I managed to get a nice big gouge through the made in England one. Marvellous. It shouldn't be a problem to sand out but it's still a pain in the hole.
One step forward, two steps back. :-) At this rate the whole thing should be reduced to a pile of bent and broken steel with a couple of shiny bits by the end of summer!
I was hoping to strip the BB and chain wheels down and give them a quick once over but they seem to be riveted together?? Might just be my dodgy eyes. The front looks like a bolt:
And the back looks like a big ass rivet:
I know it was possible to get strange looking rivets that looked like Allen key bolts on the front but would just spin round on some of the halfords style cycles but I don't want to mess on with these if they're the same sort of thing. One of them looks pretty chewed up like someone's had a go a it with a spanner. I've only ever dealt with the Allen bolt kind.
Ideas anyone?0 -
If the rear fixing is a rivnut type it shouldn't spin and it looks like it might be. Can't see why you would bother having a hex head if its not designed to be undone. Unfortunately it looks like my chain set is different as it has the standard Allen key jobs.0
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Good to see another classic on the roads.0
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Hey Pete - any more photos to share?
I'd love to see how the restore is progressing.0 -
OK - I talked about getting logos some time ago, but now I've gone and dragged this bike up from my old home place to my own home...
So here it is in all its glory....
A few things that are not original....
Dia Compe Blaze Calipers and levers - with concealed cables underneath the bar tape.
FAG sealed bottom bracket - actually has plastic threaded cups...
Wheelset - bought off Halfords - I think they were cannibalised bike from a bike that had a wheel upgrade - and they still have the reflectors, along with a 7 speed block / cassette.
Gears are only working on friction shift now.0
