Smackhead Express - Raleigh Routier

[Teamfixed]

Don't know if this has been suggested already but it's screaming out to me.... fixed wheel, saddlebag work bike.

 

[wafter]

That's a good job!

I put together a singlespeed bike at low cost and the temptation is always to make it better, but I wanted it to be a knockabout bike that I wasn't afraid to lock up outside shops (a) because it would be less tempting to steal and (b) because it wouldn't be a big financial loss if someone stole it anyway. So, I don't think you should spend much more on it, except... perhaps to replace the wheels? (See below! )

I nearly got killed when I was 13 riding my bike to school. It had wheels like yours. I was late for school and went whizzing down a hill in the rain towards traffic lights at the bottom. The lights changed to red as I approached but nothing much happened when I braked on my wet chrome rims! The cross traffic had already started moving when I accidentally jumped the red light. The drivers coming both ways spotted me and braked hard so I had a gap to squeeze through... Don't trust those wheels in the wet unless you have some kind of modern brake block that actually works on slippery chrome!

Thanks

As per my previous post I agree about the spending - in fact I have a stark reminder of this in the form of my ofo; which despite costing me nowt initially now owes me a little over a ton and if I sell it (to be replaced by the Raleigh as a utility hack) I suspect I'll struggle to get back what I've spent.

Ta for the thoughts about the brakes - funnily enough I was only thinking last night how, while being acceptable in the dry they'd probably be a bit of a nightmare in the wet. They occasionally elicit mild terror on the 10% ish descent into the city and any more wouldn't really be appreciated!

While I have a spare set of ally rims salvaged from another bike I'm reluctant to use them as the hubs are tatty and I don't really want the hassle / scope for cock-ups of re-lacing them. I will at some point strip and rebuild the hubsand maybe just try dropping the rims on complete (they have an apparently compatable 5-speed freewheel as well ) although I think the slick 40mm tyres will probably struggle to clear the rear mudguard given the issues I had with the knobbly 32mm efforts currently on there..

Also I'm impressed by how these steel rims have held their trueness so far (especially having taken such a beating) and I'm not sure how much I can expect from a set of cheapo Chinesium rims off a battered, stolen, abused budget hybrid..

I'm not sure what the existing pads are made from but they look like some sort of felt material.. bargain-basement rubber replacements appear pretty cheap and I'm currently considering either a set of four Jagwire blocks for a fiver which apparently have good reviews, or if I end up placing and order with Planex X for other stuff two pairs of Jobsworth blocks (either socket cap bolt or acorn nut fitment) for all of £2.80 for two pairs after their promo discount has been applied.. obviously lower costs are always welcomed but the Jagwire ones look more period correct and I can't find any reviews for the Jobsworths.. as always I'd welcome any thoughts on either if anyone has any

My only remaining concern is that replacement fully-rubber blocks might be less accommodating of imperfections in the rim in comparison to the current fuzzy-felt items.

Sometimes the grease gets into the thread so it’ll keep coming loose, clean the threads thoroughly and If you stick a tiny blob of Blue Loctite on the bottom nut of the headset it’ll stay tight, don’t use too much as you don’t want it dribbling into the bearing race.

Thanks - I'll see how it goes but it might come to that! I guess in any case I really ought to have it all apart again and properly grease both upper and lower races now I've got some decent moly grease in my possession!


A little more progress was had today; thanks to the bike offering a welcome route of procrastination relative to some more important tasks I should have been doing

As previously mentioned the bars have taken a bit of a beating; the RH side being bent downwards, rearwards and twisted clockwise (when viewed from the RHS). I was musing last night over how I might remedy this and today got busy with a breaker bar, levering the bottom rear of the drop outwards against the top rear of the stem (with a bit of padding to protect the latter). This has straightened the downward bend a fair bit but it's still present to an extent. I also had a go at addressing the bends in other planes, but it's difficult to restrain the bars appropriately to apply enough force.

In addition being ally I suspect all the deformation has caused them to work-harden; the upward-bending at first going fairly easily then pretty much resolutely refusing to go any further - suggesting it'd need a lot more force and may risk breakage and I suspect I've probably got them about as good as I can.

All the talk above about not spending any more money notwithstanding I have noticed a seemingly lovely set of Nitto flared "Randonneur" bars at an apparently fantastic price (approximately 14 packets of pork scratchings and not far off what I'd pay with postage for a set of used originals from ebay), so might plump for a pair of these with the justification that they could go on the vintage steel frame / modern groupset road bike I definitely don't intend to build in future...

 

[wafter]

There's no reason why even replacing the wheels needs to cost much. I found a well abused aluminium framed Ridgeback hybrid dumped in some bushes last year. It was in a right state, and not worth getting roadworthy again, but I did salvage a decent enough pair of alloy 700c rims and another couple of odds and ends off it all the same.
That said, I still run a 3-speed roadster and a hack Raleigh Pioneer on steel rims without issues. No, they don't stop too great in the wet, but since I don't enjoy cycling in the rain anyway, I'm not going to be riding them in the wet to begin with - unless I get caught out by an unexpected shower. In that case I take it easy and remember the limits of the stopping power. One day years ago I got drenched visiting a relative with a house at the top of a very steep road on a 3-speed, and it was still raining when it was time to go home. Rather than risk a no-stop at the T-junction at the bottom I just walked down the road pushing the bike and got on at the bottom. The rest of the journey was on the moist side, but otherwise uneventful. You just ride according to the road conditions and the type of machine you are on.

Ta - as above I have a set of such wheels but have my reservations..

Don't know if this has been suggested already but it's screaming out to me.... fixed wheel, saddlebag work bike.

Nup - tbh I think fixed wheel bikes are the work of the devil so I'll definitely be keeping as many gears as I can! Saddlebags would be good though and it's definitely going to be put to work as a utility bike.. "work" is pushing it a bit though since i don't currently have a proper job..

 

[Teamfixed]

True.... "doing the impossible with the unrideable"

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

My Raleigh Royal has Randonneur pattern alloy drop bars, perhaps unsurprisingly being a touring bike. I find them very user-friendly, although I hardly ever use the drops themselves. The last time I owned a drop bar "racer" prior to the last couple of years I was still a teenager, so it's hard to make direct comparisons, but the Randonneur pattern certainly seems to work for me. Not sure I'd necessarily replace a perfectly good set of "normal" drops mind you, but if replacing damaged ones or converting from flat bars, it's certainly worth giving some thought to the shape profile of the drops you intend to use. They aren't all the same and don't all feel the same to ride with.

 

[wafter]

My Raleigh Royal has Randonneur pattern alloy drop bars, perhaps unsurprisingly being a touring bike. I find them very user-friendly, although I hardly ever use the drops themselves. The last time I owned a drop bar "racer" prior to the last couple of years I was still a teenager, so it's hard to make direct comparisons, but the Randonneur pattern certainly seems to work for me. Not sure I'd necessarily replace a perfectly good set of "normal" drops mind you, but if replacing damaged ones or converting from flat bars, it's certainly worth giving some thought to the shape profile of the drops you intend to use. They aren't all the same and don't all feel the same to ride with.

Aye; I like the flared bars on my CdF and think I prefer them to standard drops.. looks like the Nitto bars might no longer be on offer though - perhaps it's a cosmic signal to curtail my spending..

 

[wafter]

A bit more done today..

After recently straightening / trueing the front wheel (and "correcting" its dish based on measurements between the rim and either side of the fork) I noticed that the centre of the tyre's tread was noticeably offset to one side of the brake caliper mounting stud when viewed from the front, which somewhat twisted my melon.

First I suspected bent forks but there was no issue with wheel alignment / parallelism. I checked to see if they were twisted by viewing their crown relative to the dropouts from above; again everything aligned properly. Last thought was that the caliper's mounting stud was bent - highly likely considering the witness mark on the frame from where the nut on the caliper had hit it in the past; while the gap between the caliper and fork crown seemed to taper from one side to the other.

In a rare fit of pragmatism, before reaching for the mallet I removed the caliper to inspect the stud, which appeared pretty straight. With the caliper and guard out of the way it was easier to eyeball the wheel's position; which looked pretty damned central:

Seemingly the only possibility left was that the caliper mounting hole was pished in the fork; which turned out to be the case when poking a screwdriver into it and checking extremes of movement.

Handle pushed to far right of bike (just about central):

Handle pushed to far left of bike (clearly on the wonk):

Re-checking the fit of the caliper stud in the hole revealed a reasonable amount of waggle room, so rather than try to correct the hole with a file (and risk creating a corrosion initiation point) I crossed by fingers that I could better align the caliper by skewing it over to one side when tightening its retaining nut.


Since I'd got this far it would have been rude to have not given this area a clean and re-grease the headset bearings as I'd planned to at some point.It was a bit filthy so I figured it deserved some attention..

Out came the fork, everything was cleaned and the paintwork of the fork and head tube waxed.

One for @SkipdiverJohn - not too bad for your standard gas pipe...?

Unfortunately the paint on the dropouts has taken a bit of a beating, but I can't complain for a 33 year old freebie. Next time I refit the wheel I suppose I should get some grease in this area to keep the corrosion at bay:

The removable bits of the headset bearing (minus the cups still pressed into the head tube) - in order from top to bottom (left to right, top to bottom).

I cleaned a lot of dried grease out of the cups but left it on the bearing cages as it wasn't hurting anything and probably afforded some additional corrosion protection should any water get in there.

Each bearing assembly was packed with moly grease and the whole lot reassembled. I also added some moly to the wedge on the stem, which (rightly or wrongly) looks like a really nice quality Japanese item:

The front area looking a lot more presentable for my efforts:

(Ctd. in next post)

 

[wafter]

Before refitting the brakes I gave the caliper a quick cursory clean without stripping it, and took some corrosion off the (remarkably made in Japan!) Cateye reflector before waxing it for some protection:

While the mudguard was off it also got some attention. I tweaked a couple of shallow creases in its edge with an adjustable spanner and addressed the partial plastic coating remaining in some areas:

I'm not sure what the crack is with this tbh - best guess is that it was there to protect the guards during shipping and was never removed (either in error or to try and preserve them during use).

Either way, now only about 40% of it remained, it looked tatty and was promoting localised rust where it had lifted and was retaining water, so it had to go. I peeled off what I could (with the aid of some heat from the cooker's gas ring) and removed the remaining residue (from the bits I'd removed and in other areas) with some degreaser, before giving the guard a wash and wax.

I forgot to take another shot of the guard in isolation as I was in a bit of a rush by this point, but here's the front end all back together... having refitted the brake cable retainer in the correct location (which it wasn't initially).

Time will tell if the caliper alignment is any better, but it looked more central during the quick look it got before I went out


Finally, a shot of my nice shiny head badge:

There are still many jobs to be done; having seen what can be achieved with the front mudguard I'd like to give the rear one the same treatment; although this will doubtless be a bit tricky as the bolt at the BB is pretty convincingly seized.

I need to replace the chain and try to get to the bottom of what's causing excessive drivetrain noise in one gear, as well as stripping and re-greasing the rear hub - but this will have to wait until I've source and appropriate 14mm cone spanner.

I also want to replace the felt brake blocks with some rubber items in the hope of improving the pretty dismal braking, as well as probably re-wrapping the bars once I'm certain I'll be keeping them (colour? I'm thinking black as I'm not a fan of the while and retro-chic brown will probably look a bit busy with the rest of the colours already present)..

Finally I'm tempted to remove the bike's stickers (possibly with the exception of the "genuine gaspipe" one on the seat tube. While I generally prefer to keep things original I hate the later "Neighbours title sequence" font used for the branding, as well as the slightly patronisingly market-y "town and around" text on the seat tube.

The stickers are also a bit tatty in places too. On the one hand I like to keep things original, on the other I think it'd look a lot nicer (although potentially more expensive and thievable) with them removed. Can anyone force themselves to care enough to give an opinion?

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Very impressive for such a cheapo project. Given that you want a low-thief attraction factor to facilitate worry-free casual use I would resist the urge to go OTT. Just stick to giving it a basic clean up and lube overhaul, and preserving bare frame steel against corrosion.
The Routier was a modest spec level bike and if you get too carried away, you'll soon end up spending more on tidying it than it will ever be worth, once the coronacycling fad subsides and normal used bike market values return.
If you find yourself really bitten with the old steel Raleigh bug, I would be just patiently keeping one eye out for a cheap 531 framed bike to come on to the radar. I waited quite some time for my Royal to show up, and passed over a lot of expensive examples in the meantime but eventually I got what I wanted for not a lot of dosh. A Randonneur would have been the holy grail, because of the all-531 frame and the paint colour, but I'll settle for what I've got.

 

[wafter]

Very impressive for such a cheapo project. Given that you want a low-thief attraction factor to facilitate worry-free casual use I would resist the urge to go OTT. Just stick to giving it a basic clean up and lube overhaul, and preserving bare frame steel against corrosion.
The Routier was a modest spec level bike and if you get too carried away, you'll soon end up spending more on tidying it than it will ever be worth, once the coronacycling fad subsides and normal used bike market values return.
If you find yourself really bitten with the old steel Raleigh bug, I would be just patiently keeping one eye out for a cheap 531 framed bike to come on to the radar. I waited quite some time for my Royal to show up, and passed over a lot of expensive examples in the meantime but eventually I got what I wanted for not a lot of dosh. A Randonneur would have been the holy grail, because of the all-531 frame and the paint colour, but I'll settle for what I've got.

Thanks! I agree about the approach although don't begrudge it a few quid on essential / maintenance items as long as I can remain fairly confident that it'll remain serviceable as it's worth more to me as a hack than it's modest financial value

Sadly I'm aware that cleaning / tidying will probably increase its desirability to thieves, however I can't help myself I'm afraid.. I certainly don't plan to spend a lot of money on showy additions.

Tbh I have been keeping an eye out for nicer 531-framed bikes; however this is really pointless as I'd not want to subject anything really nice to daily hack duties and I couldn't really justify / store one otherwise. I'm tempted to replace my CFRP road bike with a highish end Raleigh frame with modern components, however this would be a currently-unjustifiable indulgence and would hinge on finding something that hits that perfect balance between being worth saving but equally fair game for a non-original conversion.

I'm still getting the hang of all the '80s Raleigh models; I've come across both the Royal and the Randonneur - the latter apparently still commanding very good prices!

 

[Reynard]

If the stickers are tatty and you don't like them, then take them off.

I've done precisely that on the Raleigh MTB that I'm currently doing up as a winter bike, and it made the frame look a whole lot nicer. Though I have left the small one on the seat tube that just states "Raleigh Max 15, Nottingham, England."

P.S. Late 90s graphics are even worse

 

[wafter]

If the stickers are tatty and you don't like them, then take them off.

I've done precisely that on the Raleigh MTB that I'm currently doing up as a winter bike, and it made the frame look a whole lot nicer. Though I have left the small one on the seat tube that just states "Raleigh Max 15, Nottingham, England."

P.S. Late 90s graphics are even worse

Thanks - I might just do that

I hear you on the graphics - how's the paint? I've downloaded a few Raleigh catalogues and it's interesting to see how indicitive of an era the bikes are from their styling. Some proper neon-over-white horrors in there from the '90s IIRC!

 

[Reynard]

Thanks - I might just do that

I hear you on the graphics - how's the paint? I've downloaded a few Raleigh catalogues and it's interesting to see how indicitive of an era the bikes are from their styling. Some proper neon-over-white horrors in there from the '90s IIRC!

Paint is pretty good actually. There are a few chips and scuffs plus a bit of paint loss under the chainstays and on the dropouts, but it's survived remarkably well, considering. I'll just go over the bare bits with some clear nail varnish - no one will see them unless the bike is tipped upside down.

I was dealt the worst possible hand with the graphics, as it's a junior bike (I know, this gal is a bit undertall), and those tend to be more flamboyant on the paint job side than the equivalent adult bikes. So a light cadmium red bike, with navy, dayglo orange and acid lime green. Sunglasses time and then some... The bike is from 1998 btw.

Before (flash has muted the colours some, but you get the idea):

After - well, the almost bare frame:

I think it looks a lot better as a plain frame, don't you? I did a bit of nosing around, and the bike also came in a bright green with yellow and orange graphics. I think I prefer the red.

P.S. I love the mix of burgundy and cream on yours. It's cleaned up really nicely.

 

[wafter]

Paint is pretty good actually. There are a few chips and scuffs plus a bit of paint loss under the chainstays and on the dropouts, but it's survived remarkably well, considering. I'll just go over the bare bits with some clear nail varnish - no one will see them unless the bike is tipped upside down.

I was dealt the worst possible hand with the graphics, as it's a junior bike (I know, this gal is a bit undertall), and those tend to be more flamboyant on the paint job side than the equivalent adult bikes. So a light cadmium red bike, with navy, dayglo orange and acid lime green. Sunglasses time and then some... The bike is from 1998 btw.

Before (flash has muted the colours some, but you get the idea):
View attachment 541006

After - well, the almost bare frame:
View attachment 541007

I think it looks a lot better as a plain frame, don't you? I did a bit of nosing around, and the bike also came in a bright green with yellow and orange graphics. I think I prefer the red.

P.S. I love the mix of burgundy and cream on yours. It's cleaned up really nicely.

That looks like a nice little score for a kid's bike (which as we all know usually see the worst neglect / abuse) and I agree it looks so much better without the stickers (and really tidy too for the work you've evidently put in). Graphics designed for kids in the '90s were never going to wear well but the colour looks pretty nice in isolation

Glad you like mine - I love the colout too and FWIW I think the paint makes it look a lot more expensive than it was (the white head tube echoing the Randonneur of the same era which - by current used prices - is worth about four times as much).


I've made some more decent progress on the Routier today. After deliberating for ages over where to source a chain I bit the bullet and went for the more costly but conveneint, known quantity of one from Decathlon (which is just down the road) for eight quid.. bringing the total spend to a little shy of £30 so far.

The short trip was made on the Raleigh and typified by oppressive heat and humidity, the bike making an array of perplexing and concerning noises, and the overwhelming desire to issue a firm backhand to the muppet stood next to me in the bike bits aisle whose face mask coverage was limited to only his chin - wtf is wrong with people?

Because the bike was an unknown quantity I elected to size the chain using the accepted method rather than simply relying on cutting it to the same number of links as the one that came off; a learning experience as I've only ever replaced chains on bikes I've had from new so not needed this process.

I followed the first bit of this Park Tool video; revealing that my chain was clearly too long.

Not much forward RD cage displacement on the big/big combination..

... while the cage was folded right back on itself on the small/small sprocket setup:

In addition to this less-than-ideal orientation the chain was also very sloppy with next to no tension.

I played about folding the chain to simulate a shorter length than the 114 links fitted; suggesting that losing two link pairs / four links total would be about right:

However, as previously measured the chain has worn to about 2% oversize; which in terms of length is the equivalent of having a little more than two additional links / one link pair. I elected to fit the 114 link chain as-received and once sure probably remove one link pair to give 112 links remaining.


I was reassured to have my suspicions confirmed that Decathlon's chain is a re-boxed KMC item...

...which after unpacking was chucked into a jar of paraffin, given a good shake and left to sit to remove the sticky factory packing grease while I got on with other bits of the job.

The unfeasibly greasey chain was split and removed, the rear wheel pulled out and the bike precariously propped up to allow access to the drive components; which were saturated in water-based degreaser, left to sit for a while, scrubbed and rinsed. This process was repeated numerous times until the 30-odd years of caked on grease and grit had been removed as best as possible. Only one paragraph to describe; a couple of messy hours to complete in real life.

At some point during the above process the new chain was removed from the paraffin, drip-dried and chucked in a pan of wax / moly powder mixture on the hob and left to cool; turning occasionally

Once the drive components were "clean" (and the resultant spatter removed from the rest of the bike as best as possible) it was all reassembled with the new waxed chain; confirming that the replacement was indeed a bit long so a link pair was pulled to bring it down to 112 links total.

I'm generally really pleased with how it's turned out - the extreme RD positions now look a lot more acceptable (if still a little sloppy in the small/small combination; not that I'm likely to use this), and the transmission parts so much cleaner

Tbh I don't really think the pics really convey how much grime was removed from the chainset and freewheel; thankfully this won't be a problem in future thanks to the lovely waxed chain

I found the RD to have a fair bit of slop in its mounting and jockey wheels, although thankfully this doesn't appear to affect performance.

Given the chain wear and array of nasty noises I was a bit concerned that I might encounter slippage with the new chain, however a quick lap or two round the block proved this to not be the case (at least so far). In other great news I reckon the number of sinister sounds eminating from the drivetrain have decreased by maybe 75% which is great

(Ctd. in next post)

 

[wafter]

In addition to the headline job above I re-aligned the (increasingly tatty) saddle so whipped out the seatpost clamp bolt and gave it some with the steel wool; the (I suspect) stainless bolt coming up really nicely (having just written that I've remembered that you probably shouldn't use mild steel wool on stainless!) but the flaky-chromed nut didn't enjoy such a remarkable recovery, unfortunately..

Finally a couple of shots from the front to show the bars as they were as received (bent) and now after some abuse with a breaker bar (less bent):

I think I can live with them like this, although in addition to the RH of the bars still being bent downwards slightly, the RH shifter also appears to be mounted low on the bars. To move this (as has to be done) means partially re-wrapping the bars and an enticing opportunity to replace the tatty tape (and spend more money to make the bike more tidy-looking and hence attractive to thieves..).


There are still plenty of jobs to do but I'm pleased with today's effort as it's alleviated the anxiety about causing more damage through continued use with the old chain, it's a crappy messy job out of the way and has given me renewed hope that with a bit more work the bike should prove serviceable for many years so is worth putting the time and few quid into