Raleigh All Steel Bike restore or not

[DarkNewt]

HI All,

I am restoring a raleigh all steel bike below I would rather leave it original as much as possible, i don't mind the rims not being perfect chromed the only thing I was going to do was:

1. rechrome the brake levers. - bought replacement brake blocks
2. Finish the cleanup of mudguards - add new leather mudflaps
3. already purchased new key for fork lock
4. already purchased new sturmey archer battery pack to match original
5. looking for a period saddlebag - (Carradice)
6. Looking for the right pump (currently researching what would have been sold with it)
7. looking for the right rear reflector replacement
8. strip service axles and hubs

The paint is very good few scratches but as far as I am concerned I like the idea that it looks used but in good condition... What do you think ladies and gents? My plan is to do the Eroica on it next year, and toying with the idea of a le-jog on it too?

leave as is?

[gaz]

Looks very much like the All-Weather (Model 5) in the 1935 catalogue, although the dropouts suggest yours is more recent.

DSCN1452.JPG

As for restoring it, whatever floats your boat.

[landsurfer]

Leave it alone.
It is in superb condition for a bicycle of this age.
It has the patina of age so sought after by collectors these days.
Take it to EROICA style events and 40's Festival weekends and just enjoy it ....
"Its a cracker"... As my uncle would say in his broad Belfast accent .....
Join us on the Wimps LEJOG next June ....

[djnotts]

1950s? SA hub should give the date. I had a nice one a few years ago - rode nicely, but braking is at best interesting! Is the chaincase complete - often missing the little sliding "hatch". Certainly leave it as much "as is" as possible.

[DarkNewt]

Leave it alone.
It is in superb condition for a bicycle of this age.
It has the patina of age so sought after by collectors these days.
Take it to EROICA style events and 40's Festival weekends and just enjoy it ....
"Its a cracker"... As my uncle would say in his broad Belfast accent .....
Join us on the Wimps LEJOG next June ....

Hi not heard of the wimpls lejog - any details that would be great!

[landsurfer]

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=112068

Group of gentlemen of various ages ... LEJOG June 2017 ... Via the flattest practical route ......36 pages .... enjoy the read .... but most importantly ...Join Us !..... we even have our own Strava page ....

[Alan O]

Ooh, that's lovely.

My instinct would be similar and I'd want to keep it as original as possible - you don't see bikes that old in such good condition very often.

And it's great that you're planning to do some serious cycling on it.

[DarkNewt]

BTW I had a look for the serial number the only one I can find is on the seat post tube stamped 172 H - nothing on bottom bracket etc..

anyone have a clue from this?

[reohn2]

BTW I had a look for the serial number the only one I can find is on the seat post tube stamped 172 H - nothing on bottom bracket etc..

anyone have a clue from this?

I think it's a 1970's model
It's in great condition I'd leave it as is, just give it a good service and ride it

[DarkNewt]

BTW I had a look for the serial number the only one I can find is on the seat post tube stamped 172 H - nothing on bottom bracket etc..

anyone have a clue from this?

I think it's a 1970's model
It's in great condition I'd leave it as is, just give it a good service and ride it

it has some paint loss in areas you can't really see, I think i will clean and clearcoat them to protect and just do the bits I have mentioned. I had a look on Sheldon's site and a few others can't see anything relating to my serial number. The real find was a guy on ebay who makes the replacement keys to order.

I know I am lucky to find it like this, the previous owner stopped cycling covered it in grease and hung it in an entry between his house and next doors, TBH looking at the pedals (there's still bits sticking out of the rubber moulding as if no wear from new) I don't think it has actually seen much riding, saddle is mint and unusually the lens on the light is almost perfect - handlebar grips are grimy but no sign of wear.

I am going to do whats necessary to protect it but as most seem to agree and my feeling is that a little "used" just makes it even more worthwhile. If I had the frame stripped and repainted I think I would regret it

[Heltor Chasca]

Beautiful

[DarkNewt]

I am no closer to a definite date on my bike, however from the hub it shows it is a dyno 4 marked FG - which according to the sturmey archer heritage page dates the hub as 1948!

the only frame identification is on the seat tube marked 172 H - checked all the serial number sites and nothing like it, however there's a forum post about 3 letter id and they conclude that the frame was a tooling run - used to check the tooling was correct before a production run and aparently subject to more rigourous testing - so possibly interesting heritage.

[Brucey]

the FG hub was fitted to those bikes from ~1948 until the early 1970s. The rear hub will have a date mark on it. If you can show photos of the hub that may help.

This particular model remained largely unchanged for a long time. However there were in fact numerous small changes to the appearance and specification of the parts used.

I definitely wouldn't bother to restore it BTW, it just needs to be cleaned up and ridden.

cheers

[DarkNewt]

the FG hub was fitted to those bikes from ~1948 until the early 1970s. The rear hub will have a date mark on it. If you can show photos of the hub that may help.

This particular model remained largely unchanged for a long time. However there were in fact numerous small changes to the appearance and specification of the parts used.

I definitely wouldn't bother to restore it BTW, it just needs to be cleaned up and ridden.

cheers

thats the plan I took it for a short ride last night everything works as if new (apart from the lights but checked the dynamo and it's producing power - will fix wiring when the new battery tube arrives).

[cycleruk]

Sometimes serial numbers were stamped on the rear dropouts.
Great find.