brake and gear upgrade

[auroradlj9]

i have an old raleigh calypso- which i like very much.

but i have been having problems with the rear brakes they are center mounted caliper brakes what would you recommend for a replacement. i don't have the mountings for disc brakes or v brakes.

another thing that will be an upcoming winter project will be the upgrade from 5 speed. i think its a free wheel and i think i have room for 6 speed but no more than 7, what would people recommend for the teeth combination.

i know a lot of shops would recommend buying a new bike but this bike is steel and sturdy and would rather spend money on maintaining a well built frame IMHO than buy new that after reading some reviews don't last long.

 

[Tim Hall]

Cheapest upgrade for the brakes is a set of decent pads. I like koolstop salmons. The next thing is to fit dual pivot calipers. You'll need to know the depth of drop to make sure the new ones fit. There's a school of thought that changing to "aero" levers has a performance benefit as well, due to better mechanical advantage.

 

[raleighnut]

There isn't much option to change the rear brake but new pads (koolstop Salmon) should help, also think about changing the rear brake cable for a stainless steel one, those reverse cabled calipers mean that water gets in very easily and corrodes the cable taking energy/effort away from a pretty marginal set-up at best.
As for freewheels, you'll have to take the bike into a shop to discover how many cogs will fit onto the axle you have, but you can just take the wheel in though. You will need to get a shifter as well to match the number of gears that the block has on it. should be do-able for about £25 but I'd also change the chain (under a tenner)

 

[the snail]

I don't think it's worth trying to upgrade. The brakes are very long drop, not sure if you could get better replacements. If the gears are indexed then you will need new shifters as well as gear components, possibly new wheel, derailleur, maybe bend the frame to fit more gears in. Your bike is worth very little, and these sort of bikes are easy to pick up for next to nothing - you should be able to find something similar with better more modern components - e.g. 3x8 gears, v brakes - for well under £50 I would think.

 

[auroradlj9]

thanks for all the replys i like i am going to look at the dual pivots and changing the cable and levers.
thank you raleighnut whom i am guessing likes their British built Raleigh as mush as i do you have offered some useful advise about the rear cog.
as to changing the bike why would i want to change a bike i love. i have a bike that is dual shocked v brakes and 21 gears the problem is its heavy and i cant carry it when i need to although its younger it has more rust on it than my Raleigh and really not a nice bike to ride, i have too many problems worrying about crossing the chain so thank you but no.