Spares for France

[Brucey]

If an axle appears to fit and run smoothly is this a sufficient check or are there factors that could destroy the bearing even if it seems to fit and run?...

there is 'smoothly' and then there is 'smoothly'. I have described what checks are necessary when transplanting an axle in this thread;

http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=59209&p=500306

cheers

[NUKe]

She is going to France, its not that far away, they love bicycles, and are generally willing to help, worst case is she needs a wheel and block, any half decent local bike shop will help, if the locals at the side of the road don't do first. The most essential tool she will need is a smile and a smattering of French.

I'd pack here the essentials tools for tyre removal a chain breaker and quick link puncture repair outfit and maybe the Spare tyre. If al else fails she can get the train home

[wjhall]

The bike has since completed a couple more continental tours, plus intensive local use, but I now hear that it has fractured at the down tube – head tube joint. So possibly the answer to my question about spare axles should have been: “There may be a notorious stress raiser in the rear axle but many other things could crack so don't bother about it."

A 1985 Raleigh Royale has been brought into use as a replacement, but I expect this will be for local use and there will be a procurement exercise for a new touring bicycle.

So my question can now be generalised to:

In the current new 'pseudo-classic' touring bike market what component level incompatibilities should you be aware of?

(For example, the Raleigh appears to have the Raleigh bottom bracket, which I would not know where to seek a replacement for, with the increasing development of new proprietary specs I suspect there could be equivalent modern incompatibilities.)

This relates to Western Europe so the 700C/26 inch debate is probably not part of the issue.

[Barrenfluffit]

It's not easy deciding when to change to 700c as it always involves discarding some part used components.

I replaced a 27" wheel when the screw on freewheel failed and was impossible to remove. This was a mistake; I should have gone straight to 700c. However I did replace the centre-pulls with a calliper capable of handling 700c's. It's a cascade of expense but better to grasp the nettle and get everything is to a current standard.

I had a 27" tyre failure in france and the bike shop in Poitiers could not locate another tyre of this size. Many methods were tried to stretch a 700c tyre but it just didn't work. The only answer was to buy a new wheel from whatever stock the shop had; fortunately it was decent but we had to spend an afternoon sorting it out. A new wheel for the sake of a tyre is kinda pricey.

[hamster]

Provided the retro-modern bike has a square taper bottom bracket and external cup headset you will probably be fine.

It's the profusion of outboard bottom and press-fit bracket types and internal / zero stack headsets that are the main problem areas.

[531colin]

..........

A 1985 Raleigh Royale has been brought into use as a replacement, but I expect this will be for local use and there will be a procurement exercise for a new touring bicycle.

So my question can now be generalised to:

In the current new 'pseudo-classic' touring bike market what component level incompatibilities should you be aware of?

(For example, the Raleigh appears to have the Raleigh bottom bracket, which I would not know where to seek a replacement for, with the increasing development of new proprietary specs I suspect there could be equivalent modern incompatibilities.)

This relates to Western Europe so the 700C/26 inch debate is probably not part of the issue.

1985 bike won't have Raleigh's special [rude word removed] size bottom bracket thread....Sheldon Brown will probably list when they stopped that particular unforced error.
Front canti studs will probably be the old spacing of about 65mm rather than the current 80mm, this means you need to source any replacement front brake carefully.
Rear dropouts will be spaced for a narrower wheel than the current 135mm touring bike (MTB) stuff. A steel frame is easily re-set.
inch threaded headsets are easily available, stems also