But I managed to take off everything except the front crankset, the chain, and the bottom bracket.
I didn’t have all the tools necessary to strip the bike down entirely that first night. This era Raleigh model was also fitted with stem mounted shifters (the worst kind ever) – so those came off right away too. Same goes for the old stem and brake calipers. Getting the brake levers off, along with the front and rear reflectors was just a matter of getting the bolts to budge. I was able to rip the foam off the bars in about 40 icky pieces. None of this was a surprise since the bike had seen roughly 20+ years of central New York swings from summer temps to winter temps inside an uninsulated garage. The foam wrapping on the handlebars was hard and flaking away.
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After all if you keep the old stuff on it, you’re not going to learn how to build a new bike.Īs you can see, the rubber and sidewalls of the tires had deteriorated beyond repair, and the rims were rusted out. But I wasn’t keeping anything original on it, just keeping the frame. All in all, it was about what I expected. I had talked with my parents via phone a few times as they were getting the bike ready, and had remarked how hilariously the tires pretty much disintegrated when they were rolling it out to the truck, and everything else was kind of frozen in place. When the box arrived I was very excited to see what I was in for. But the frame is what matters so the bike made it’s way from its old home in Syracuse to its new home in Houston. Turns out the frame was in excellent condition, though the rest of the parts had certainly seen better days. She obliged and I asked my dad to check out it’s condition, and if it was worth it, to ship it down to Texas from New York. So I asked my Aunt if I could have it for a project. It had been hanging in the garage for probably over 20 years.
It hung, unused (except for me periodically), in the garage then and still did now. I recalled riding my Aunt’s old Raleigh when I spent summer days at my Grandparent’s house.
After getting a taste of working on a bike myself by swapping out the handlebars and stem on my Cross-Check, I knew I wanted to learn more about bike maintenance and eventually putting one together as a project.