My latest bicycle project is a green 1968 Raleigh Sports. We have this great resale center in town and I troll through their bicycles fairly often to look for projects. “Big bikes” are only $20. I restored a 1968 Schwinn three speed for my daughter this summer (purple, her favorite color no less) and I found this green, mostly rust free Raleigh a few weeks ago.
My plan is to fix this up as my “townie” bike. I also want a bike to ride the Calumet trail and my road bike, with its skinny tires is not very well suited for that task. The original Brooks 72 saddle was dry and splayed out so I took it off and am trying to treat it and get it back into shape. I treated it with some beeswax based leather stuff and have it clamped down to try and bring it back into shape. So far it seems to be working.
I disassembled the bike this weekend and will start cleaning and reassembly soon. I need to overhaul the bottom bracket and the headset, but don’t have a proper bottom bracket lockring spanner so that will have to wait a bit. I am going to flip the North Road style handlebars upside down and can’t decide at this point if I am going to re-grip them or try taping them. Taping around the three speed shifter seems problematic.
I’ll need to replace the tires, cotters, grips and that’s about it. The rear fender stay screws are missing so I will most likely have to drill them out or tap them since they are a non-standard Raleigh threading.
If you’re interested in repairing or restoring old Raleigh three speeds, there is no better resource than Sheldon Brown’s excellent, “Servicing English Three Speeds“. Harris Cyclery, where he is parts manager, also has a good selection of hard-to-find parts for your project.