The Process

To get to Version 1.0, my first step was to take off the kick stand and the back rack. Then, I loosened the seatpost bolt and yanked the seatpost out. This was extremely difficult because (I think) the seatpost is 2 mm too small and the frame has been bent too much to hold the seat post. More on this below.

Unfortunately, I rip the Brooks saddle in this process (the leather turned out to to be very delicate). I decide to throw it away. I wasn't careful enough. I feel bad. Next time, I'll take the saddle off before trying to pull the seatpost out.  I'm disappointed because I was looking forward to riding on the saddle. I've never had a Brooks saddle, but I've read that they can be very comfortable. I'm skeptical. By how they look, I don't see much comfort, but then again Brooks has been manufacturing saddles for a long time.

I then take off the derailleurs, the cables, the shifters, the brakes, the brake handles, the handle bar tape, and the peddles. I leave the chain and the crank on. With soap and water and tinfoil I clean all the bits and pieces.

Yes tinfoil - this video taught me how to remove rust and clean bicycle things - geeky, but very, very helpful. Fortunately, while there is some rust, there is not nearly as much rust as Ryan's Super Course and my bicycle does not have pitted chrome.

The Raleigh Heron, Nottingham, England. So Regal, So Colorful

I take off the front fork and in the process I loose a bunch of ballbearings. I feel bad. I must be a poor mechanic; not careful enough, not focused enough. I worry that the ballbearings are rare and I won't be able to replace them.

After reading Sheldon Brown, I feel a little bit better. He tells me that I need to put 25 x 5/32 inch loose ball bearings into each race of the headset. I learn that 5/32 inch bearings are not rare. The headset parts seem well-made. Everything fits together cleanly and works. I guess Raleigh knew about steel parts and its good to know that ballbearings have names. I imagine: "What are your ballbearings? Mine are called 5/32 inch."

On Sheldon Brown's recommendation, I replace the AVA "death stem" with a stem that I have in my box of spare parts. Interesting discussion on the AVA stem can be found on bike forums.

I clean the parts as best I can. I wonder "how much time should I spend?" Should I get out a magnifying glass? I could spend more time but decide not to. I oil the moveable bits and pieces. Everything seems to work. I buy new cables and cable housing and put it all back together. The eyelet thingies on the frame for the cables and the brake hardware worked beautifully.

Notice the two eyelet thingies on the top tub near the stem for the back brake cable.  Beautiful. It makes the cable go straight. I can't help but wonder "How was the extra welding work justified? Was there a fight? We only need one. No - two. Marketing advantage. No - one. Cheaper."

Two Eyelet Thingies on the Top Tube for the Back Brake Cable

The steel rims needed to go. I have some old 27 inch rims from a Panasonic Sport bicycle (mid eighties maybe) that I found on a driveway nearby with a FREE sign. These wheels have aluminum rims but the hubs are steel. Anyway, I put them on the frame and it all fits. I am pretty sure that the back frame spacing is 120 mm.

I tighten stuff up, and go for a ride. And, the bike feels good. Its bouncy but not too bouncy. When riding somewhat fast, at perhaps 23 mph, it feels even better. It's stable. It's smooth. It just seems to want to keep going. The derailleurs work quite well.

The center pull Weinmann brakes, however, are terrible, and I can't figure out how to use them well. I can't modulate the application of pressure, and my braking does not feel controlled. Basically, the brakes are either on or off. When the front one is "on" I worry that I'll fly over the handle bars. When the back one is "on" the wheel tends to lock up. Not much fun. I change the break pads but that doesn't seem to help.

I give up on the Weinmann brakes and buy a pair of Tektro R559 Long Reach Road Breaks (Silver, 55-73mm) for about $50.00. These brakes are dual pivot, side pull brakes. While I'm disappointed that I don't get to use the Raleigh's center pull hardware, which I think is beautifully designed, I have found these brakes to work very well.

The Front and Back Dual Pivot Side Pull Brakes

Back to the wheels. The original steel wheels were heavy and evidently braking on steel is not so good. I noted that the freewheel is an Atom freewheel and I did not have the correct freewheel remover, so I figure out which one to buy and order it (Park Tool FR-4).

Interestedly, you need to remove the axle before you can use the freewheel remover. Once I get the freewheel off, I put the axle back in. I put the wheel on my truing stand. Then, I put some penetrating oil into each spoke nipple and take the spokes out. I do the same for the the front wheel. No idea why, but I saved the spokes and the nipples and I put them in my box of parts.

Liberated from the spokes, I clean the hubs. Then, I clean and repack the bearings with grease.  Sheldon Brown tells me that a tenth of a turn on the bearing cones can make a big difference, making the cones too loose or too tight.  I try 5 or 6 times on each hub to get the right tightness. I also remember someone telling me many years ago "a little play is better than no play."  Still, I'm unsure if the bearings are too tight or too loose.  My cone wrenches seem too loose for the axle locknuts on the Super Course.  This requires me to anticipate the effect of the tool - there's a kind of indirection because the wrench does not fit so well with the locknuts.

Careful inspection of the front hub shows that the flanges are aluminum but the bit in the middle that attaches the flanges is a different material.  In other words, the front hub as two flanges that are somehow pressed into the middle piece through which the axel goes.  The back hub, on the other hand, is one piece of aluminum.

I buy four new rims from Niagara Cycle: Sun Alloy Rim 27 x 1" M13 Polished 36 Hole Presta Valve (about $20.00 each). The extra rims were insurance against me breaking one, and I've found that it is satisfying to have a few extra parts around, hidden away waiting for some project.

Twenty-seven inch (630 mm) wheels seem suited to the Super Course. Could I go with 700C (622 mm) wheels? Yes, I do believe that I could.  But, something seems aesthetically wrong with that move. That changes the bike too much; a whopping 8 mm. I note the contradiction: I felt it acceptable - though not great - to put on those new side pull brakes.

I measure and remeasure the hubs and once the rims arrive I measure and remeasure the Effective Rim Diameter. I plug my measurements into a spoke calculator and it tells me that I need 54 x 295 mm spokes plus 18 x 293 mm spokes. Each wheel has 36 spokes and I'll go with 3-cross lacing.

Should I trust my measurements? I do and buy DT Swiss Competition Double Butted Spokes (2.0 mm - 1.8 mm - 2.0 mm) and brass nipples (about $120.00). Those spokes are also 14/15/14 gauge spokes; that is, 14 gauge is 2.0 mm and 15 gauge is 1.8 mm. Go figure.

I build the wheels. While I have trued wheels - at least I have tried to true wheels - since I was a 13 or 14, these are my third and forth wheels that I have built from scratch. I learned to build wheels last year from this utterly clear book: The Professional Guide to Wheel Building by Roger Musson. It's brilliant. Maybe ten years ago I read The Bicycle Wheel by Jobst Brandt. While I was inspired by the engineering theory, I wasn't able to absorb more than some general concepts. Musson's book, on the other hand, compelled me to work.

For wheels #1 and #2 (Mavic Open Sport, 700c, DT Swiss Competition Double Butted Spokes, brass nipples, Shimano 105 hubs), when I first took them out for a ride they pinged and tinkled. The spokes were wound up. They were twisted with tension. As they pinged the tension was released, so Roger Musson explains, and the wheels came a little bit out of true, which required re-truing. Since getting the pings out and re-truing, the wheels have been solid and comfortable. I ride them most every day. Given this experience, I had some confidence that I could build wheels, #3 and #4, for the Super Course.

For wheels #3 and #4, my major goals were, first, to get good radial trueness with the careful use of my nipple driver (for me, easier said than done, Roger); second, to avoid spoke wind up while making the spokes quite tight; and, three, to try to equalize the tension of those 36 spokes. (Its slightly more complicated.  On the back wheel I actually need to equalize the tension of the 18 spokes on each side. For the front wheel, true enough, the goal is to equalize the tension on all 36 spokes.) I think I was able to achieve these goals and the wheels are of descent trueness. I think they are pretty good. Still,  I do wonder: What is the weakest link?

I think it might be the hubs and the steel axles but I'm uncertain about how weak that link might be. Or, perhaps even with these old hubs, the weakest point remains the rim which I understand to be under tremendous tension. I don't know. I also wonder: How well do these 40+ year old hubs roll compared to more recent hubs?  How much theoretical and practical inefficiency do these old hubs cost me? Was it silly (or stupid) to build new wheels with these hubs? Or, are the hubs quite reliable, with long lives ahead of them? I have no idea. Perhaps, I should have asked someone.

The Front and Back Wheels

I bought two Continental Gatorskin 27 x 1 ¼ inch tires (32-630 mm) and I've been experimenting with tire pressure, inflating them in the range of 50 and 80 psi. For a fascinating discussion of tire pressure see All About Tire Inflation by Frank Berto.

What kind of tubes should I use? I had some 18-23 mm tubes around so I used those. This, however, was likely a mistake. I think the narrow tube size in the 32 mm tires does not go together - too much stress on the tubes. I need to figure out what kind of tubes would be most suitable, perhaps "cyclo-cross tubes," but I'm unsure what those are.

Excellent information on 27 inch tires is available here: Myth Busted "Thee are very few options for 27 inch tires." Thank you, again, Ryan. I am particularly interested in how the Schwalbe HS 159 tires (32-630 mm) and Kenda K161 tires (37-630 mm) might work. Something to perhaps consider in the future.

At this point in the "re-build" - if I may call it that - I took the bicycle out a few times and I like the ride. The wheels are firm but forgiving. The 32-630 mm tires are very comfortable (on my regular bike I ride 23-700C or 25-700C tires). The brakes work. My position on the bicycle feels good. I think I have plenty of room for fenders.

I inflate the tires to 75 or 80 psi. Then, I jump some curbs. I ride down a fairly steep rough gravel path and then lock the back brake and skid. I ride hard over bumps and on rocks. I check the wheels and they remain solid. As far as I can tell, they haven't changed a bit. Like I said, Roger Musson's book is brilliant.

What about the drive train?  I decide to replace it, mostly because I need better gearing.  Given my style of riding in Seattle, the 44/52T steel chain rings are shall we say "not so good."

So, I bought a new chain, a Sunrise 5-Speed Freewheel 14-28T (about $15.00), and the Velo Orange Threadless Bottom Bracket (about $60.00). For cranks and chainrings, I bought the Velo Orange Grand Cru 110 Fluted Double Crankset, 34/48T. The crankset was on sale (about $140.00).  The Velo Orange stuff is beautiful to look at and to handle.  It just seems to work, like the Super Course steel.

I note that if I can push a 48 x 14 (gear ratio 3.4) at 100 rpm I'll be going about 28 mph. That's plenty fast. Do I need a higher ratio? Probably not. Coasting down Simonds Rd NE or Juanita Dr NE for a little bit will be fine - in any case, the speed limit is 35 mph. I also note that 34 x 28 (1.2) will easily get me up Norway Hill, since most days I ride easily enough up the hill in a 39 x 24 (1.6) and some days a 39 x 21 (1.9) is fine. Will 39 x 18 (2.2) ever be a suitable training gear for Norway Hill? I doubt it - I'm getting old.  See the Gear Speed Chart.

I went with an axle spindle length of 118 mm because I read someplace that 118 mm typically works with the Velo Orange crankset.  Apparently, how the crankset interacts with the axle is as important as the shape of the frame. Good to know that.

On the basis of this article, I decide to buy 172.5 mm crank arms. (My regular bicycle has 175 mm crank arms.)  I imagine that I'll be spinning for sure on the Super Course.

The Velo Orange Crankset and the Threadless Bottom Bracket - Beautiful Stuff

To my relief, the Sunrise 5-Speed Freewheel fits onto the hub snuggly. I had feared that the threading on the "made in France" hub would not match today's ISO standard of the "new" freewheel. I worried that if I put the freewheel on I would strip the delicate hub threads and ruin my efforts on the wheel. Evidently, my "made in France" hub uses the ISO standard or is compatible enough that I don't notice.  Sheldon Brown discusses these matters. Still, I wish I knew more about threads and how to measure the "pitch" and "width" and whatever else needs to be measured.

I put penetrating oil on the cotter pins and followed this superb video, which taught me how to safety remove the pins without wrecking the frame or bearings.  I had a good time cutting the wooden block and drilling a hole in just the right spot. (Thank you Karen for the lovely hand drill. So many uses.) It worked and I got the steel crank arms off.  I put the wooden block back into my box of parts. Maybe I'll have a future need to deal with cotter pins.

On to the bottom bracket bearing cups. With more penetrating oil and by carefully using a crescent wrench I was able to get them both off.   I read that taking the right cup off can be very challenging and was reluctantly prepared for a trip to Recycled Cycles but I was able to get them both off quite easily. I think the trick was the very fine penetrating oil, since the edges of my big crescent wrench are pretty beat up.

Next up: The threadless bottom bracket. I watched this video five or six times. It took me a while to figure out what tool I needed (Park Tool BBT-9). I bought one of those and some Blue Loctite (I had sticker shock on that stuff). Visualizing the video, I tried it. It looked easy and it was.

Then, I put on the new crankset. I needed to buy a big allen key and I learned about "self extracting" bolt thingies for putting the crank arms on the axle.  Unlike the crank arm extractor, which I understand, I don't understand yet how the bolt thingies actually work but they do.

When I put on the new chain everything seemed to line up well enough. Phew - it worked.  I think to myself "I think I got lucky. How could all this stuff come together and work?"

I rode the bike a few times and it felt really quite good and I started to get to know its characteristics.

The shifting was excellent on the front derailleur. Even when the chain fell off, and it has fallen off a few of times, it was easy enough to get it back on the rings with the shifter. While it was bit rough on the back, it worked.  I get all five gears, but the 34 x 14T doesn't work so well. Too much chain flopping around. Perhaps with a little more adjustment to the back derailleur and a little more skill with the index shifters I will be able to master this 40+ year old derailleur. Here are the relevant pages for adjusting the "front changer" and the "rear derailleur gear" from the the Raleigh handbook. I suppose the Campagnolo gear went on the higher-ended bicycles. (I like the typography and the layout.)

From 1970 Raleigh Owners Manual (http://www.kurtkaminer.com/HB_70handbook.html)