Raleigh Royal Audax / Randonneur

lovely bike, thought it looked good with the black seatpost and wheels too.. what are the mudguards, stainless?

Thy're Alu ones, however they're getting replaced.

Cool thread and bike. I'm sprucing my track bike up and will do a similar thread.

i look forward to seeing it. I found it quite pleasurable to document all the little changes and history.

Anyway he's my solutions to the problems so far.

[*]The bars aren't compact enough.

This is an easy fix I've got some Bontrager SSR VR-C bars;

http://www.evanscycles.com/product_image/image/154/ad7/e4b/66354/product_page/bontrager-ssr-vr-c-handlebar.jpg

As seen on my other bikes; Jose & the Leader. They're really good bars, as you can tell because I've put them on three of my bikes.

*[]The transition between the levers and bars isn't flat enough so hurts my wrist.

• Levers are still a bit narrow my my taste.**
  
  

I've tried to get a smooth transition like with my other bikes but the Tektro levers just aren't the right shape. This means new levers, So i'm looking at SRAM S500s':

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0037/3982/products/SRAM_S500_BRL_large.jpg?102053

or Cane Creek SCR-5 levers:

http://www.pinkyeti.net/bikes/colnago_master_pista/images/cane_c1.jpg

The SRAM one don't seem to be in stock anywhere with the silver lever, so I might give the SCR5s' a punt, they're also about £15-20 cheaper.

[*]With my hands on the tops of the levers I'm over stretched.

I've dug out a shorter stem and given it a re-polish so this should be fine.

[*]Seatpost is cheap crap.

Doctor P. did me an excellent deal on a Nitto S83

http://thumbnail.image.rakuten.co.jp/@0_mall/sidecar/cabinet/product/57395_s83_01.jpg

should be perfect/

[*]Mudguards are a bit flimsy and the mounts are poor.

Gone for the best, Gilles Berthoud Stainless Steel Mudguards.

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/images/products/medium/Gilles-Berthoud-gilles-berthoud-700c-stainless-steel-mudguards-short-IMG18776GILLES_L.jpg

[*]Tyres, which very tough, give quite a hard ride thanks to the inflexible sidewalls.

I've got some 32c Panaracer Pasela Tour Guards' in 32c. Hopefully they will give a better ride as they're more flexible, also the gumwalls will look good.

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/images/products/medium/Panaracer-panaracer-pasela-tour-guard-rigid-tyre-700-(622)-IMG988.jpg

[*]Its quite a long reach down to the gear shifters.

The answer to this problem is suntour stem mounted shifters:

http://hilarystone.com/images/sale%20images/Other%20gears/Suntour-stem-shifters.jpg

However I didn't like the lever's action, I've grown used to having the ratchet on the Powershifters. So, thanks to some fiddling and extra washers to get the ratchet to engage I've got the two working together (i'll take a photo later)

[*]Brakes are fine until you've got a heavy load, then they become much to flexy.

I've got some Tektro R538 brakes to go on.

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/images/products/medium/23901S.jpg

They tick all the boxes; Deep drop, long movement quick realise, cartridge pads, not made of cheese.
I've also drilled out the bridge and crown to accept the 8mm recessed bolt.

[*]The rack needs some kind of light mount to use with full bags.

Not 100% on what to do with this yet, there nothing wrong with my current rack so i'll probably make some kind of adaptor.