# Road Bike Restoration!



## Jeags (11 Jan 2021)

Right, thanks to the lovely chaps in the 'Beginner' section, I have been advised to start a thread here detailing me (a complete cycling novice), restoring an old road bike I was given. The main thing I want from this is to get it to a ridable state and use it this spring/summer hopefully to gauge whether I want to pursue road cycling as a hobby in the future (and most likely buy a new road bike). I won't repeat much from the other thread linked below, but in summary, tyres are an older size - 27inch 7/8", but were new before bike was stored so look okay. Rims need cleaning up and rear needs trueing. Probably won't be the best fit for me, but hopefully a starting point enough for me to make my mind up.


> https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/tyre-sizes-help.270641/page-2



Joe


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## Ajax Bay (11 Jan 2021)




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## Jeags (11 Jan 2021)

Ajax Bay said:


> View attachment 568454


aha, forgot to upload those again.


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## Gunk (11 Jan 2021)

If you feel confident my advice would be to strip it back to a bare frame


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## Jeags (11 Jan 2021)

Yeah, sounds like a plan. Give the frame some TLC. When I went for a quick spin up the road, I found the gearing to be unnatural being a lever system on the frame itself. Was that standard a while ago or has it been modified? Wondering whether I should see if I can adapt it and bring them closer to the handle by buying a kit? Or on the other hand, may keep it as original as possible. Hopefully I'll get some advice on here for stuff like that!


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## houblon (11 Jan 2021)

It could be fun restoring it. You might have trouble finding decent tyres though, and those are steel rims so the brakes won't ever be as good in the wet as modern ones on aluminium rims. Stay away from Llanberis Pass when it rains :-)

Gear levers were always like that till about 1990something. You can indeed buy levers that mount on the bars, they combine with the brake levers. Not cheap though, and likely not compatible with the rear gears...I guess it's 5 or 6 gears? Converting would cost more than the bike's worth so you're probably best off restoring it to its former glory and riding it till you decide if it's the right size for you. 

You'll love it. Then you'll get a bike that fits perfectly and you'll love it even more. 

Good luck, any bits you need ask here, someone's bound to have one


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## Gunk (11 Jan 2021)

Jeags said:


> I found the gearing to be unnatural being a lever system on the frame itself. Was that standard a while ago or has it been modified?



In the olden days the levers were on the down tube.


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## Jeags (11 Jan 2021)

Ace, looks like a full restoration is in the mix then. I like the metallic purple on it at the moment so looks like I'll be riding in the purple rain!


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## IanSmithCSE (12 Jan 2021)

Good morning,

The gear levers look in a slightly atypical position to me, mine are further up the down tube, closer to the head tube.

Maybe the previous owner was taller and found them easier to access in that position, but as you are new to downtube shifters it may be useful to know that moving them would be a reasonable thing to do.

Bye

Ian


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## T4tomo (12 Jan 2021)

Gunk said:


> In the olden days the levers were on the down tube.


Even once combined gear and brake levers we ubiquitous, certain riders (cheating basteward Armstrong amongst them) often preferred to use a downtube friction shifter for the front derailleur. You can get the cage exactly where you want it and prevent any rub as the chain moves up and down the rear sprocket.


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## fossyant (12 Jan 2021)

I'm just refurbishing a Ribble 653 from the early 90's. It still looked great, but I fancied a colour change and sorting out a little bit of surface rust. 

Get out the degreaser and give all the components a good scrub when 'off' the bike.


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## Gunk (12 Jan 2021)

Here is one I’ve just completed, may help.

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/1982-claud-butler-531-majestic-project-10.269399/


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## SkipdiverJohn (14 Jan 2021)

Gunk said:


> In the olden days the levers were on the down tube.



What do you mean olden days? My drop bar bikes are like that and they are only 36 and 34 years old!


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## jowwy (14 Jan 2021)

SkipdiverJohn said:


> What do you mean olden days? My drop bar bikes are like that and they are only 36 and 34 years old!


but your bikes are from the olden days......


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## T4tomo (14 Jan 2021)

SkipdiverJohn said:


> What do you mean olden days? My drop bar bikes are like that and they are only 36 and 34 years old!


One of mine is too, its also 34 years old! I offered it to my nephew as a station hack when he was down with me the other summer, he took one look and said he'd take the heavier mountain bike, it looked more familiar. To be fair drop bars were new on him too.


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## SkipdiverJohn (14 Jan 2021)

Not many youngsters seem to ride drop bar bikes these days, most prefer horrible draggy low rent suspension MTB's.
When I was young, if you wanted to arse about and show off you rode a Chopper or Grifter. If you were serious about being able to go further afield than just a couple of miles you rode a "racer" - even if it was just a basic 5-speed hi-tensile one with steel wheels like my Raleigh.


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## CanucksTraveller (14 Jan 2021)

SkipdiverJohn said:


> Not many youngsters seem to ride drop bar bikes these days, most prefer horrible draggy low rent suspension MTB's.
> When I was young, if you wanted to arse about and show off you rode a Chopper or Grifter. If you were serious about being able to go further afield than just a couple of miles you rode a "racer" - even if it was just a basic 5-speed hi-tensile one with steel wheels like my Raleigh.



True that. I had a Raleigh Grifter then a Raleigh Burner, and once I was in my teens I wanted to go on longer rides and I got a Peugeot of some sort... (me on the right below, sorry, bad quality 80s pic). The teens near me are all doing long wheelies on huge Carrera MTBs, none of them seem to be on road bikes. Just gone out of fashion I think.


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## SkipdiverJohn (15 Jan 2021)

Where was the picture taken, the brickwork of the building behind has something of a Northern look about it? Liverpool, Manchester?


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## CanucksTraveller (17 Jan 2021)

SkipdiverJohn said:


> Where was the picture taken, the brickwork of the building behind has something of a Northern look about it? Liverpool, Manchester?


Yes it's Manchester, good spot! That was my school (built in 1887) and you're right, there are a lot of Victorian buildings in the North West that had that red brick and yellow terracotta look.


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## SkipdiverJohn (18 Jan 2021)

CanucksTraveller said:


> Yes it's Manchester, good spot! That was my school (built in 1887) and you're right, there are a lot of Victorian buildings in the North West that had that red brick and yellow terracotta look.



I thought it might be, as the favoured brickwork of Victorian London was yellow stocks. Red brick is far less common here, and tended to be largely restricted to expensive areas or landmark buildings.


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## Gunk (27 Jan 2021)

CanucksTraveller said:


> True that. I had a Raleigh Grifter then a Raleigh Burner, and once I was in my teens I wanted to go on longer rides and I got a Peugeot of some sort... (me on the right below, sorry, bad quality 80s pic). The teens near me are all doing long wheelies on huge Carrera MTBs, none of them seem to be on road bikes. Just gone out of fashion I think.
> View attachment 568797



A Peugeot Premiere HLE and a Raleigh Eclipse. I restored one of each last year.


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