80' Raleigh Stratos beater project

Afternoon all,

I rescued this bike from my friends garden. It had been found behind 20ft of brambles after he purchased the property recently.

I've always wanted an old bike like this to cruise round on so I don't have to leave my ££££ mountain bike outside shop/pubs etc.

So I want to turn this into a true fixie. I'm not one to be seen to follow fashions but these bike look a lot of fun. I come from a bmx/mtb background riding mainly park/street/trails. I rode brakeless on my bmx for well over 10 years so the idea of having no brakes is no problem.

Anyhow,

Here she is - 1980's (no sure what year if anyone can help with that?) Raleigh Stratos as I got it -

I've now completely stripped the bike down and found out I'm basically going to have to replace everything apart from frame, forks and stem.

Now I have a few questions about parts I need and which will fit etc.

Headset - can I get a 1'' sealed headset to replace my current one which has open bearings?

Bottom bracket - after taking it out I've found the thread inside the frame isn't very good, I heard you can get replacement BB's which clamp against them selves rather than screw in. Are these any good? If so, which one?

Wheelset - after taking the tyres off I found a load of rust on the rim which has gone through some parts of the inside wall. So these need replacing. Is it worth just changing the rims or getting a whole new set? I would rather have sealed units and I will need to change the rear hub for a fixed hub anyway.

I'll leave it at the for now. I'll post some pics up of how the frame etc. looks now after a clean up

Cheers

looks like quite a project!

tange sealed 1" headsets are pretty solid

as for the bb you are talking about try this its down towards bottom of page, VO grand Cru Threadless BB. no idea if its any good, but i've always found VO to be good quality.

if you have the budget getting some new or at least second hand wheels isn't a bad idea. plenty come up on here for a good price

Looks allright........ :) almost all there.

Is that the original drop bar brake levers ?

Anyways, strip it down and clean up everything first, see whats useable still.
From there it looks like a chainset/chain/sprocket/ss freewheel and new wheelset, if going ss then new brake cables and new pads and it could be rideable.

Got a similar bike a Tempest from 82, surprised at how good and useable a condition a lot of it was in, had to scrap the steel drop bars and chromed wheels as rotten, got mine rolling again for about £120, bulk of that was new double fixed wheelset, i think the previous owner had pumped the headset and bb full of marine grade grease which a pain to scrape off paid me back with keeping the headset and BB in useable condition.
Can't beat a game of hedge bike find russian roulette :) might be a complete scrapper or nice little runabout, funnest bike i have had, even raced it a few times.

Cartridge Bearings Headset
http://www.bikeplus.co.uk/p/38762/BBB-ThreadAround-1-Headset
Theadless BB
http://www.bikeplus.co.uk/p/47132/YST-Threadless-Cartridge-Bottom-Bracket

Bikeplus are near my work, great shop that always seem to stock plenty of random stuff.

Wheels, entirely worth replacing as once you take the rims off the spokes will be fit for the bin too, something off the shelf will be cheaper than using the old 80s hubs. Are the wheels 700c or 28 inch? You might need long drop brakes if you are fitting some.

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm not going to be fitting any brakes to it once finished. I'll only be using it to get around town every now and then, it's mainly for a bit of fun.

I think the wheels are 700c although the old tyres said 630 x 32. Will a 700c set fit??

Here's how it stands after a clean up -

I'm quite liking the ratty paintwork and stickers although it was tempting to repaint it. I figure, the shinier/nicer it looks, the more likely it is to get nicked.

I've got a bargain old SR custom crankset on its way to me as well as pair of pedals. Nearly got a set of drop bars sorted as well.

I love the simplicity of a fixie, can't wait to ride it.

700c will fit fine, they are slightly smaller than 630 i believe they are 622mm.

Awesome, that gives me a lot more options then. Thanks for the advice

Try and run old steel bottom bracket cups through the shell. It maybe that the
threads just need cleaning out - use plenty of grease/lube. This may save you the expense and hassle of buying a threadless bottom bracket.

Re bottom bracket threads: every frame I ever bought needed chasing the bb threads. My LBS charges 15 euros for one, 25 for two frames at a time... I've always done this because it lets me fit cheap, trusted and tried shimano bottom brackets with square taper spindles. YMMV, but this might actually be the easiest solution rather than getting exotic BB stuff.

Seconded Smolders. I always use shimano square taper brackets on all my bikes.
They're smooth and reliable and give many miles of hassle free riding. When it comes to builds, often my first instinct is to think that expensive must be good. Experience has taught me the reverse of this. Keep everything as simple as possible. Life's too short to fiddle around with bike stuff for what are negligible gains!

Great advice on the BB guys. Spoke to my local shop and they said they will do it for £15 and they have the right tap to do it. Result. Now just source the rest of the parts.