RogerGarrett
Member
This is a short story about my wife's 1962 Raleigh Ladies Sport Bicycle that her dad gave her at age 8. She has told me it had 1000s of miles on it, all the way through grade school, jr. high, high school, college, and she was riding it at age 28 when I met her. We have moved four times since getting married 23 years ago, and, despite the bike being in bad shape and not very ridable, she has remained stoic about keeping it to ride again some day.
This past fall, I decided that I would restore the bike as a birthday/Christmas gift. The idea was to have the bike shipped somewhere and have it done correctly. I ended up having a local shop take it apart and carefully bag and store every part. I then brought it home in pieces and completely cleaned and degreased every part. Some of the parts looked brand new (crank, handlebars, bottom bracket assembly, hand grips for the brakes, etc., and others needed to be replaced (chain, brake cable, original style tires, brake pads, etc.). The chainguard, fenders, and frame were all to be repainted by a shop called CyclArt. I later decided against this company. They were overcharging and were very unpleasant to deal with.
Found a guy up in Wisconsin who specializes in English bicycles - especially Raleigh (he has a ton of them for sale) and he agreed not only to repaint, but to do all the mechanical work. He was able to replace bearings and replace the hubs, repack the headset with new bearings, and the rims were trued (only one was slightly out). Turns out it was a good choice - he knows every inch of the Raleigh bike - and he had lots and lots of parts which he sold to me at no markup.
I had to look very carefully to find the exact decals that were on the bike. A repaint would destroy the old ones. Found a place in the UK - Nick's Decals - and he had them all. Also - the paint looks more blue now - but there was a strip of the upper most part of the fork that had been covered by the headset, and it was the same color blue. The ulgy faded aqua you see in the before pictures is what sun and weather did to the bike over a 46 year period. The paint match is correct - it was called Venitian Blue. I also found two brochures - one that came with the bike and the other a general brochure for 1962 - both on eBay in mint condition. Bought those and included it. After finding a correct leather seat (identical to what was sold on the bike), an identical pump for the frame (one came on it but she lost it years ago), I picked up the bike last week. What great fun to see the look on her face when she saw it - completely different bike than what she had - it looks brand new! She immediately got on it and left for 30 minutes of riding. One of the best surprises ever. I expect a leather saddle bag is in order for Mother's Day, but it will have to wait for now
It snowed 5 inches today, so she can't ride - but it is sitting in the living room waiting for a clear day. I guess the garage is out now.
Here are a few pics. The first ones are "before" and the last ones are "after":
This past fall, I decided that I would restore the bike as a birthday/Christmas gift. The idea was to have the bike shipped somewhere and have it done correctly. I ended up having a local shop take it apart and carefully bag and store every part. I then brought it home in pieces and completely cleaned and degreased every part. Some of the parts looked brand new (crank, handlebars, bottom bracket assembly, hand grips for the brakes, etc., and others needed to be replaced (chain, brake cable, original style tires, brake pads, etc.). The chainguard, fenders, and frame were all to be repainted by a shop called CyclArt. I later decided against this company. They were overcharging and were very unpleasant to deal with.
Found a guy up in Wisconsin who specializes in English bicycles - especially Raleigh (he has a ton of them for sale) and he agreed not only to repaint, but to do all the mechanical work. He was able to replace bearings and replace the hubs, repack the headset with new bearings, and the rims were trued (only one was slightly out). Turns out it was a good choice - he knows every inch of the Raleigh bike - and he had lots and lots of parts which he sold to me at no markup.
I had to look very carefully to find the exact decals that were on the bike. A repaint would destroy the old ones. Found a place in the UK - Nick's Decals - and he had them all. Also - the paint looks more blue now - but there was a strip of the upper most part of the fork that had been covered by the headset, and it was the same color blue. The ulgy faded aqua you see in the before pictures is what sun and weather did to the bike over a 46 year period. The paint match is correct - it was called Venitian Blue. I also found two brochures - one that came with the bike and the other a general brochure for 1962 - both on eBay in mint condition. Bought those and included it. After finding a correct leather seat (identical to what was sold on the bike), an identical pump for the frame (one came on it but she lost it years ago), I picked up the bike last week. What great fun to see the look on her face when she saw it - completely different bike than what she had - it looks brand new! She immediately got on it and left for 30 minutes of riding. One of the best surprises ever. I expect a leather saddle bag is in order for Mother's Day, but it will have to wait for now
It snowed 5 inches today, so she can't ride - but it is sitting in the living room waiting for a clear day. I guess the garage is out now.
Here are a few pics. The first ones are "before" and the last ones are "after":
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