Record Sprint and 105 Groupset

Hi everyone, just joined up after dreaming up a crazy/potentially expensive idea... Just had a Ribble email with a great offer for 11-spd 105 groupset for £300 - and as I love a bargain, have started thinking about doing up my beloved old Raleigh which has been gathering dust (hope not rust) since the gear lever snapped a couple of decades ago. (In the days before the web, sourcing a new one was NOT easy...)

The idea of a complete overhaul has been at the back of my mind for a while and I'm prepared to buy new wheels for it too - but what I'd like to know is: is a complete 105 switch possible? Am at work now, and offer ends today, so can't check the bike, but I assume I'll have to adapt hub spacing (seen a DIY method on Sheldon Brown). I can't see any reason why brakes and gears won't change over - so the main question is, what's the score with the BB? Presumably the one supplied won't fit, so what would I need to do to make the chainset fit?

I know there are cheaper ways of doing this, but like I say, I love a bargain and the 105 could make the bike truly great...

Re:

It can be done without too much effort. The DYI hub spacing will work. New wheels will likely be 700C so if your bike had 27" wheels, brake reach could be an issue. For gears you'll need some cable stops to replace the downtube shifters. External bottom bracket cups will screw into your frame and the 105 crankset then inserted. You will be enjoying a modern drivetrain on a trad. comfy steel frame.

Well, I've only gone and done it... Got home and measured hub spacing as best I could and it looks like there's only 5mm to find, front and back, if I was to put on my old Bontrager RaceLites (which are probably too worn to be safe). Never thought of checking wheel size though, but should be able to find some that will fit the brakes without TOO much trouble, if they are indeed 27s (is circa 1989) which I suspect they are.

Had a good look at the frame while I was there - there is some heavy rust where paint has flaked but looks as though some KuRust should sort that out. So I think a full respray is in order - and I notice you can get the decals online too, though not exactly the identical ones for my spec.
Thanks for the cable stop input too - forgot about that so added them to basket.

Once all that's done, probably worth looking at new handlebars too, perhaps seat post as well...

So this is all adding up to quite a big/exciting/daunting job... Still not convinced I'm gonna be able to manage, but in the back of my mind is the fact I'm buying a near £500 group set for £300, so if the worst comes to the worst, I can always bung it on eBay and with any luck make a bit of a profit on it...

Which RS do you have?

By 89 they had 700c wheels

If its the 'space shuttle' variant then PM me as I can point you in the direction of pukka decals as I have a NOS set, and have had new ones made from them by someone!

Oh, and get some pics up, we all love pics!

Record Sprints always had 700c wheels.

Front wheel spacing is too small on RRS as standard, even with the normal hubs you need to pull the fork wide to get the wheel in. No harm doing it on the back wheel, either.

If this is a 1983 or one of the Aerospace Contour bikes with all the gold, I wouldn't bother doing a full 105 groupset swap.

Just rear hub, cassette, dérailleurs, and some indexed downtube shifters. Koolstop brake blocks will improve braking no end.

Would work out massively cheaper and you'd get to keep the gold. That's what makes these bikes desirable.

Compare prices on ebay, they seem to go for £150 more than one that's had all it's unique parts removed. Plus, honestly, the sticker set clashes like mad with modern parts.

Pictures?

Well, I must admit, I woke up this morning and I'm not quite so excited/convinced I did the right thing ... But, I think I'll still go ahead with it, nevertheless! I do like the idea of doing a complete overhaul/update, leaving only the frame original - really improve the weight/performance and get the best of both worlds. No plans to sell it either, so no desire to keep it stock.

I think it deserves it, really - when I was riding 200 miles a week or so on it, it was my only form of transport, and I was so broke I could hardly afford to keep it maintained with new tyres etc etc - so it deserves a bit of TLC now that things are financially much (well, a bit) more favourable...

Can anyone recommend a suitable set of modern handlebars btw?

Anyway, MrW and Bats - thanks for the input. Hope wheels are 700s then, but it's not the Aerospace Contour (I assume that's the official name of the pseudo-aerodynamic version)? I started off with that one - bought it off a mate after he'd had it for 6 months and a few months later the headtube started cracking just above the bottom lug. The warranty only covered original buyer so he took it back to the shop for me and gave them my number - cue me answering a phone call half-asleep a few weeks later: "Hello, is that Mr Young?" "Er, eh, what?... Oh yes, yes it is, sorry!" "Your bike's ready to collect sir..."

Can't remember the reason now but for some reason they had to give me the ordinary round tube black frame - and had stuck the original pale blue/green forks back on it which I then had to spray to match... So it's just the basic black with no gold other than what's on the decals. Aside from that pale blue/green and the black did the RRS come in any other colours? I already have two bikes that are black and seeing as I have to respray, it might be an idea to do summat different - but in keeping with tradition...

Will try and take a few pics tonight or at the weekend before I take the wire wheel to it - heartbreaking, but needs to be done...

Interesting...

The Record Sprint never came in anything other than black, so the blue/green forks suggest something different (when the original frame cracked was it black, or was it blue/green?)

Pictures of it as is should help solve the mystery!

Re:

Yeah, the bike was originally a uniform colour, so only became black on getting the replacement. When I say blue/green, I mean a constant fairly wishy-washy sort of colour, not part-blue and part-green, if you know what I mean. Long time ago now, but I think it was something like this... Might show up when I start rubbing down to respray it.

That's strange though if RRS was only black - wonder if the original frame was another model entirely and for whatever reason they upgraded (or downgraded) me. Wouldn't be surprised if I still have some form of receipt gathering dust somewhere that might shed some light on it. But in the meantime, if anyone knows which aero styling model had that sort of insipid colour shown above, would be good to know!

Were/are any of the components Gold on the original bike?

If not, then it 'might' have been a Raleigh Quasar, which was similar to the RRS:

http://www.bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalo ... l84_07.jpg

This was pale blue with shark grey aero shading

Key pointers to it being a Quasar would be the 'aero' handlebars (they slope forward) and the sakae pedals which had a self righting mechanism that mean even with toe clips fitted they were always facing upwards.

The Quasar was only available for a few years, so a broken frame later in the bikes life would normally mean a replacement was something of similar standing from the range.

Re:

YES! That was it! A Quasar! My memory's getting shocking - I was talking to a guy at work y'day about the potential 105 upgrade, but for the life of me couldn't remember the name of my lovely old bike until I did a bit of googling and then arrived here. So there was no chance I was gonna remember the name of the Quasar, really... So that explains the lack of the gold components you mentioned then - assume they'd switch all the existing ones over (the handlebars certainly look the same anyway).

So if the Quasar was only available for a few years, wonder if the cracked headtube was a common problem? I must admit I was disappointed to get an 'ordinary' replacement after flirting with aerodynamics... Definitely felt slower anyway!