Raleigh Record Ace 1982

[Sterba]

I recently rebuilt a 1982 Raleigh Record Ace. It looked pretty much as it left the Nottingham factory, with some signs of wear and tear. I can attach some more photos if anyone is intersted in seeing how the job progressed?

In 1982, club cyclists were often rather snobby about Raleighs, since they were standard bikes, not made to measure for the owner. Raleigh had sought to address this image problem by acquiring Carlton, later bringing production of these hand made steeds into the main factory. The quality rubbed off on the mass-produced frames. More of them used 531, the lugwork became finer, the fluted tops to the seat stays were attached more carefully, Campag-like ends appeared. By 1982, the Nottingham-built Raleigh Record Ace was a fine road bike, well-equipped with Campag, Mavic, Weinmann and some in-house components, all in lightweight alloy.

I am a steel-frame chap, but I am not so hung up on the original equipment that came with them at that time, so I have modified the bike to meet my current needs. I hope this won't upset the purists out there?

Now I am not sure if this is Ilkeston or Worksop, what do you think?

 

[AndyRM]

Chain looks a bit slack.

 

[PeteXXX]

More of a Spoke issue I reckon!

 

[AndyRM]

More of a Spoke issue I reckon!

You're looking at brand new Gossamer Aero Spokes there pal. Incredibly light and nearly invisible to the naked eye.

 

[Sterba]

Here is the before shot. As you can see, this is a nicely proportioned 23" frame. In 1982, the rear brake cable still ran along the top tube, and down tube gear levers were the norm. The gear cables ran under the bottom bracket, but in a cable housing made without a plastic coating, as the corners are quite tight. The clearance is still for 27 X 1.25", but the wheels it was supplied with are 700 X 28mm, which created a brake drop issue during the updating (see later). The Brooks Professional saddle has a lovely patina and the mudguards are in a golden green that nicely offsets the frame colour. The fluted tops of the seat days are a Raleigh signature, nice enough to be copied on a Condor Superbe I have seen. More about the components coming soon.

 

[apb]

Nice work!

i can't see the original picture, looks like a broken link.

I too am a fan of steel frames but not the original components and i think with Raleighs, because they are quite common, purists don't get to hung up on a Frankenstein concoction.

If i regret one thing about my custom build, with a raleigh frame, it was i didn't research enough about the frame (i.e. age/ bottom bracket threading). I think this and budget lead me to choose poorly when it came to the bottom bracket. Because the shell was 68mm i assumed the frame was maybe early 90's and would take a modern bottom bracket. I now have, with regret, a threadless bottom bracket in the bike after trying a stronglight and shimano threaded. Did you have any issues with such an old frame?

 

[Sterba]

You haven't missed anything, only two pics shown so far.

The BB casing took a standard English threaded 68 X 107 Shimano JIS square taper sealed bearing/axle unit, purchased on-line from the usual supplier. No probs with that.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

Here is the before shot. As you can see, this is a nicely proportioned 23" frame. In 1982, the rear brake cable still ran along the top tube, and down tube gear levers were the norm. The gear cables ran under the bottom bracket, but in a cable housing made without a plastic coating, as the corners are quite tight. The clearance is still for 27 X 1.25", but the wheels it was supplied with are 700 X 28mm, which created a brake drop issue during the updating (see later). The Brooks Professional saddle has a lovely patina and the mudguards are in a golden green that nicely offsets the frame colour. The fluted tops of the seat days are a Raleigh signature, nice enough to be copied on a Condor Superbe I have seen. More about the components coming soon.

I have a May 1982 RRA from new. Brooks weren't the original saddle, they were brown suede covered, made in Italy, unbranded but very comfy and I still have it somewhere. The original BB is Tange traditional standard British thread of 118mm JIS that delivers a suitable chainline with the Sakae Ringyo Custom 52/42 chainset. Mine certainly came with an Ultra 6 freewheel on a 120mm rear hub, and they definitely had 27 x 1 1/4" rims. My brakes weren't the original Weinman 605 single pivot calipers because they were considered slightly iffy for a laden bike even then and were swapped by the shop before collection for Mafac 2000 racing centrepulls. I had to swap them for long drop dual pivot calipers when I modernised the wheels to 700c. These bikes were sold as "sports tourer" (hence mudguards and eyes) and I bought it for LeJoG. Mine is now just under 10kg despite being a 25". Nice bike!

The original 82 brochure pages below might be of interest to you:

Below from the 83 catalogue:

Below from 84 catalogue:

 

[Sterba]

Thanks for showing the catalogues. Like you, I expect the original owner of this one asked for a few mods before he took delivery. The Brooks saddle seems to have had the same amount of use as other items, so could well have been fitted from new. The wheels on this one are a step up from standard, very fine Mavic rims, D/B but not stainless spokes, and Campag Gran Sport L/F Q/R hubs. No brake hoods, which might have worn away with use, and thick foam handlebar covers, which were probably a later fit. Clearly, the Weinmann 605 brakes can cope with both 700c and 27" rims, but they couldn't stop a rice pudding sliding down a drain.

 

[Cycleops]

The L/F hubs are an odd fitment as they were out of fashion by that time. The thick foam handlebar grips are "Grab-on" from the US. Nice bike.

 

[Sterba]

So, with apologies for the delay, here is the rest of the story about the conversion of my Raleigh Record Ace. First, here are the components I took off. The bike was completely dismantled. The bits were a mix of famous brands and minimally-branded items, likely made for Raleigh by SR in Japan. The brochure kindly shown earlier by RRAfromnew gives better details. All of mine are in pretty good condition, more or less a complete groupset. The freewheel is a 6-speed and the downtube levers are not indexed. The cranks are lightly scuffed by toestraps, although the bike didn't come with pedals. Front and rear derailleurs are Campag Gran Sport. Weinmann 603s. The fluted seatpin appears in the 83 catalogue, although the frame was made in the previous year, I guess it took a while to build.

Here is what happened next. Apologies to you purists, but this has turned it into my ideal bike. The stem is still a bit high, but I start at that level and then gradually reduce it, to avoid scuff marks. Shimano flat bar levers are very easy to use and give great pull. Shimano 7 speed clicker on the right and 3 speed on the left, simple and effective. Alvio 7 speed derailleur at the back and nondescript Shimano front changer I happened to have lying around. A triple Sugino XD600 chainset with Stronglight (prob made by Sugino anyway) alloy rings (bought from Spa Cycles in Harrogate, a very good chainset supplier). The rings are 30/40/50. Actually, other examples of this chainset I have bought, with Sugino rings, have a slightly better fit than these, while here, the area of the ring next to the bolt doesn't quite match the spider. A GBP10 handlebar suits me, the winged, bolted-on rubbers cost twice that! A GBP10 alloy stem is fine, although you have to cover up the hole for centre pull brakes with the computer. The brakes are Tektro, 339 at the front and 539 at the back, where the 700 wheels in a frame designed for 27 inch wheels required the long drop model. Dual pivot brakes are so much stronger than the old ones. These have a particularly wide QR, allowing easier wheel removal. GBP10 seat pillar is 27.2. Saddle is a leather Terry Liberator gel, very comfortable. Rackbag by Author in Prague. Rack found on a skip and straightened up in a vice, new rear light fixed in a way that makes it difficult to nick. Quite difficult to fit, as it has to share the mudguard eyelets (so, long bolts) and had to be clamped to the frame, as there are no brazings for it on the seat frame Headset original, covered in anti-rust solution. BB is new Shimano cartridge 68/107. Wheels are the original Mavic/Campag Gran Sport LF. Mudguards are the original matching golden green ones. The biggest problem was switching from a 14-28 six speed freewheel to a 13-32 seven speed item. I had to put a 2mm spacer on the axle so that the chain would clear the frame end. That meant re-dishing the wheel slightly to keep it on the centre-line. Lots of broken spokes later (despite liberal doses of WD40), replaced with the correct double butted items, I finally managed to true it up in the new position. Difficult but worth it, as I need granny gears to get up my local slope. Tyres new Conti Contacts 700 X 28, lots of comforting tread and in my experience very good at resisting punctures. I run them at circa 100psi. Pedals by MKS, exact copy of Campags of that era, toeclips also copies, of Christophe. Finding a double cable-stop for the gear cables at the top of the downtube meant some rumaging around, as these are rather expensive if you want to buy a newish one.

In a word, just right for me. I hope you like it.

Any questions, or just no interest?

 

[raindog]

You've made a smashing job of that. Love it. Well done.
(hope you didn't chuck that Gran Sport rear mech away, though!)

 

[Sterba]

Thanks for the kind words. All original parts kept, in case one day there is an economic argument for restoring the bike to its to original condition, not something I am currently planning to do, though.

 

[biggs682]

nice job done well

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

Shimano flat bar levers are very easy to use and give great pull.

......

The biggest problem was switching from a 14-28 six speed freewheel to a 13-32 seven speed item. I had to put a 2mm spacer on the axle so that the chain would clear the frame end. That meant re-dishing the wheel slightly to keep it on the centre-line

.....

Any questions, or just no interest?

Do you have the model code of those Shimano brake levers? I would imagine they have to be vintage canti brake levers to deliver the right cable pull - I think few if any modern flat bar brake lever can work with calipers.

I suspect your old freewheel is an Ultra 6, 27mm wide rather than the 31mm of a typical 6 speed freewheels nowadays, or else you wouldn't have had to mess with the hub/dish since modern 7 speed freewheels are only marginally wider at 32mm. I am unsure is there is a great demand, but those Ultra 6 are rare nowadays.