Raleigh Conversion

Hey guys, ive finnally got my dads old bike, is a raleigh clubman... nice lugs not stunning like some old frames but still nice looking, wat tips/advice can you give me a far as converting it to fixed? i would like it to be a rolling project so i can stil use it so obviously the most important thng is a new running gear and wheel set, can i use 700cc wheels on it, i think it has 27 inch wheels at the moment also is there any where where i could get deep v style rims in a wheel set for under £100 or is that just being unreasonable?
i have seen and read threads on painting frames as well, do you think i should just use the strip,prime,sand,prime,sand,color,sand,color,sand,coulor,sand clearoat? just with spray cans?
and if any body wants and old old raleigh parts
then give me a shout as i plan to replace it all however nice the campy down tube levers look... and before i get told how shit raleigh parts are, ive been told and i think some of this stuff is allright considering that its still working after all this time, any idea how old it is its a deep crimson with scroll like writing on it?
1 last thing, should i get a carbon fork? and use a quill adapter?
ans to keep cable routing to a minimum what do you think of using a norml stem and drilling a hole in the forks and running the brake cabe down the steerer and then having the cable come p to the brake, would it work? i have enough clearance for a brake cable?

Thanks for any help guys
mike

http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/catalogs/Raleigh82/6_Clubman_and_Rapide.jpg

its the the top one...

mike

1. how old is it?
   2.do you still have the original bottom bracket?
   
   

if the answer to 1 is quite, and the answer to 2 is no- worry because your project just became a lot more expensive.

otherwise read sheldon. he is a god, and may he rest in peace.
http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html

ok, I don't think you'll have a problem then.
If it has all the campy on it, don't rip it off, sell the thing whole- and start with the funds you will suddenly have gotten

how much would i get if all of the campy was sill on it? in round about terms

i would have to check its been arround for a while and some stuff may have been replaced,

thanks for the quick reply
mike

That I don't know.

I think you're looking at '83 or '84 at a rough guess year-wise, I used to drool over bike catalogues when I was a bairn until a BMX jones replaced it.

In terms of selling it (presuming the one on ebay at the moment ain't your one) I think a very very clean Clubman fetched about £200 a couple of months ago on ebay but I think it had a bit more campag than this catalogue model.. I'd rate it if you didn't sell the whole lot and kept most of yer Dad's old bike and did it up without losing those (I think) classy paint job and decals. Just my twopenn'orth.

looking at the pictures again it could be a little bit earlier than that, I think the decals went a bit more minimal still until they exploded in an orgy of tackiness from '87 onwards. I blame Thatcher and Boy George.

As dale always says, you'll get more money if you brake it up. but if you're doing that you might as well sell everything and keep the frame... that is sort of sacrilege though.

for god's sake alex. it's "BREAK" not "BRAKE".

looking at the pictures again it could be a little bit earlier than that, I think the decals went a bit more minimal still until they exploded in an orgy of tackiness from '87 onwards. I blame Thatcher and Boy George.

Do you really want to hurt me?

Hi Guys,

I'm new to all this. Been a Keen cyclist all my life though.

Just got hold of this bike

http://www.thegatefilms.com/e2a7_1.JPG

I was wondering if anyone had any tips on making it a freewheel or fixed wheel bike?

any pointers for sourcing parts, etc would be very helpful.

cheers

tip one decide on free or fixed or both

Ok Fixed. Or both if it doesn't cost too much.

That's nearly a decision...

new hub.
free wheel on one side fixed on the other. called a flip flop hub.

sweet i Like the sound of a flip flop hub.

Could i use the current rims on this bike. Or would i need to buy new ones? Also Crank, could i modify that?

I just want to get the basics at the moment. Then Spend more in the new year.

thanks

Take a read of Sheldon Brown

depends can you remove the inner ring on that crank. if you can andyou can get the chain line right you can use it. rims look fine to me unless you want to join the masses and go deep V.

Great Stuff. I'm not doing any work this afternoon.

do the gears work on the bike?

Then its freewheel already! If you only need one gear then dont change it.

Those will most probably be pressed chainrings. Get yourself a new chainset and BB as well.

oh and flatten that seat off. man that looks painful

the most important thing in converting a raleigh is, when you have finished, to log on to PRENDAS CYCLISMO and buy a TI Raleigh cap.

just converted an old 531 raleigh on the cheap. the frame cost £21 - bad ebay listing, collect only. paint looked shit in photos, but is lovely metallic glittery respray. wheels are old, had them lying around. bars and stem i already had, but were about £20. rest of the parts are dirt cheap. can't have cost more than £100.

was going to use the biopace chainset, but didn't realise that was a mega bad idea. kept cranks, swapped outrings for a 39t, 14t on the back - quite a big gear.

i guess it's the polo bike i never built, now it's my beater/pub bike. it's amazing how cheap you can do it, and there are bargains on the bay, still.

let's have a beater/polo thread.

thats a nice pub bike been trying to do the same but keep getting bumped on ebay or the frames are too small. cool. nice budget build.