Refurbishing a 1971 Raleigh Record

You might be asking the question whether it is worthwhile to put all this work into a heavy 1971 10 speed Raleigh Record bicycle. The answer is definitely not. However, this was my first racing style bicycle so for me the answer clearly is yes. This bicycle has taken me up, over and down the mountains in western Pennsylvania. There were bicycle tours with heavy panniers in Nova Scotia, New York, Connecticut Wisconsin and other states. There have been many century rides near and around Champaign, Illinois. For years I commuted to work on this bicycle in Washington DC braving heavy traffic and clueless drivers. Today this bicycle is still on the road.

This bicycle spans several generations of bicycle technology development. The original 1971 model was manufactured entirely in Europe with all European components. The frame, forks and seat were made in England. The crankset, stem, derailleurs and freewheels all were made in France. Finally, the brakes were made in Switzerland. The first replacement parts came from Suntour made by Maeda Industries in Japan due to the superior designs of the Japanese components at the time. This was followed more recently by Shimano components made in Singapore and China. Thus, both this 1971 Raleigh Record and the bicycle industry have seen many changes during the last 40 years.

The text picture at the end of the video is from 1970 Raleigh manual found on Sheldon Brown's website. It appears that 1971 is not available, but there were only minor changes between the two years.

Music Clips: Joe Pass, "All the Things You Are" Virtuoso Album; version is from Community Audio on Creative Commons.

Audio Assistance: Chris Barnes. See his websites below.
http://www.thendusr.com/

Useful Sites for History of Classic Bicycles.
http://www.yellowjersey.org/
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/articles.html

Update:

To see a picture of this bicycle 5 years after refurbish, click on attached link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglasbarnes/6190705398/in/photostream

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Raleigh
• Bicycle
• Repair
• biking
• cycling
• bike
• howto
• Raleigh Bicycle
• Raleigh Bike
• Classic
• Bike
• Refurbish
• Bike Repair
• 10 Speed
• Suntour
• Shimano
• Weinmann
• Nervar
• Nottingham
• Huret
• AVA
• Stem of Death

[barnesdf2]

There is but it may take several adjustments. I assume you want to go through in progression on the small chainring and then switch to a high chainring and do the same for it. Buth this would require changing both the front and the back gear ratios. If you just want a lower gear, then just swap the old sprocket for one with higher tooth counts, but this also may require a derailleur switch. Both Sheldon Brown and Yellow Jersey have information on this.

[barnesdf2]

You are right. The old Raleighs and Peaugots were really classics, and except for the frame were made from the same parts. I am still amazed at the performance of the Weinmann brakes. It was quite an investment at the time, as adjusting for inflation the price surely was well over $700-$800. But they last forever!

Stay tuned as I will be doing a step by step series on on refurbishing my wife's classic 10 speed which has mostly original parts on it.

[quilope]

@emomagica Yes, absolutely! I just got my hands on a mid 70's Grand Prix and put a Sugino XD700 on it and it works beautifully.

[anas7810]

i just got this bicycle from my boss .. change it to fixgear but still keeping the classic look .. most of the parts is totally steel .. and very difficult to get most of the classic alloy parts ..

[haloguy420]

nice job on the bike bro, looks great.

[emomagica]

@barnesdf2 I love older road bikes, but I hate their gearing. Is there anyway to put a compact double on an older bike?

[Noodles37UK]

What's the hype about carbon anyway? Lol! I have Specialized Allez, everyone's impressed, and I live 3 floors up, so the lightweight is a mercy at the end of a long haul. But a good old fashioned Peugot or Raleigh...