Raleigh Courier to SS

I hope this is the right section to put this in.
My wife bought me this bike. I dont know what, but something told me to get it and it just appealed to me.

It is now in bits in my shed as I have completely stripped it down ready to be made into a single speed bike.
I am unsure wether I will put bullhorn or drop handlebars on it. If bullhorns, I will put the bar end brake levers on it.
I have bought new brakes for it. Shimano Tiagra dual pivot, front and back and a racing saddle. The bike frame is in very good condition, as is the mudguards and chainguard. The steel wheels are getting a bit rusty around the edges, but it is a 3 speed sturmey archer. The paintwork is metalic either grey or a blue. In one light, it looks blue, in a different light, it looks grey. It has dynamo lights, front and back (now in a box and not to be replaced) that worked well on the rear dyno hub. The hub was a Dyno 4 Four four speed sturmey archer (1950) but with a 3 speed SA lever changer. I have asked the seller to replace the wheel with a 3 speed one. I getr the wheel delivered tomorrow. I am also buying a pair of 26" alloy wheels as I am going to have the weight right down on this bike.

It is a 23" frame (18 - 23 steel) 1986 and I have been told it is a Raleigh Courier.

That is a nice looking bike.

However, a couple of points to note:

1. You will probably find (unless you are very lucky) that your new brakes won't fit. The drop will be wrong; you won't be able to move the pads low enough so they match up with the rim.
2. There are different sizes of 26" wheel. What most bike shops will call a 26" wheel is the mountain bike size and quite a bit smaller than this. If you're getting new wheels, better to fit the larger 700c ones and have more choices with rim and tyre.
3. The front and rear spacing on the axles is different to what you can buy now. Raleigh used smaller axles than modern bikes have, so you'll have to file bits away from the fork to make a modern wheel fit.
4. The diameter of a modern road handlebar will be wider than would fit in your stem. You need a new stem and handlebar.
5. No matter what you do, it will still be quite heavy. People associate heavy weight with poor quality and that isn't fair in the case of these. But it is still made of heavy plain guage steel, with steel parts.

It's a nice, useful bike as it stands, and perfectly engineered for the job it was designed to do.

Honestly? Making it into a singlespeed won't make it a better bike to ride. If you want a lightweight singlespeed/fixed gear, better to start with something better suited to the task.

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Thanks. I might just end up putting the bike back to as it was. I am getting a pair of 26" alloy wheels single speed from a 1980's bike but I am thinking of putting 700c wheels on as I know they will fit b ut with thin tyres as ones I have on another bike have 700 x 45 tyres. Too fat for the mudguards. This bike is in very good condition, but I am still thinking of putting drop handlebars on from a vintage racer. I dont like the ones on it. I am also still thinking of putting a cotterless BB and chainwheel on it though. I hate (and always did in the 70's) cotterpins. I will look for long reach breaks for it as the ones on it are horrible. Original 70's - 80's, but they groaned and squeaked when I tried to stop on a test ride.

I might put these wheels on it from another bike that I am selling, if it does not sell. These are what I have tried on the bike and they fit without mudguards but need smaller tyres. They are Schurmann alloy rimms on Shimano alloy hubs.

The handlebars are the ones off the Raleigh Courier.

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check the size of the bottom bracket as the early Raleigh bikes had a different size from british std .
you will probably find it will be 70mm and 26tpi instead of 68 mm and 24tpi or similar for the 3 spd bikes.Just had same with two bikes I'm doing (old Raleigh tourist/carlton of unknown type) and found the best way to convert was going for a threadless bb and about 20 minutes with a file .they sell on fleabay/amazon for around £17-20 .

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If it's using 26x1 3/8" wheels, aka 590mm, then new alloy wheels are available (Bobbin and several others use them) but won't be in every bike shop.

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I agree with the others this isn't really the best base bike for what you want to do. Personally I'd leave as is and rebuild restoring it to it's former glory or sympathetically modernise replacing all steel parts with alloy (apart from the chain guard and mudguards which I'd leave in place.

I did something similar with this shopper http://m.stallioncycles.co.uk/site/mobi ... rk=fw#2303

(There's a thread on here somewhere but searching on my phone is painful)

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Thanks for the tips. I think I will just restore it back to what it was originally. I want different handlebars on it though as the ones on it are uncomfortable. I have cleaned and regreased all the bearings and put the forks, headset and BB back on. The chain is so dirty and oily, I think I will just buy a new one. I have bought some Shimano Tiagra brakes but they dont fit the chrome wheels. They will be put on another project I get to rebuild. The mudguards and chain guard are going back on and I will put an alloy rack on because the original, although same colour as the bike, is very heavy.

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Restore it and get ya self to Bakewell for Eroica, youll meet me and the Mrs on ours

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Beautiful bikes you have there. White walls really set them off. I love that colour as well. Mmmmm. Got to get mine back on the road pretty soon. Thanks for the pics and inspiration.