Raleigh Winner freebie project

Johnny Ragwort

Dirt Disciple
So, this happened on Thursday. I work for a small brewery and Thursday is my delivery day, when I potter around the Forest of Dean in a van delivering beer. At one point I went past a house with a pile of stuff on the driveway, obviously destined for the tip. Atop the pile was an elderly road bike, so I stopped and knocked on the door to ask if I could have it. (Admittedly, I was hoping it might be a forgotten gem with a 531 frame, but never mind.) Yes, absolutely, they said, so I'm now the proud owner of an ancient and very dusty Raleigh Winner. Here it is, as found ...

Steel wheels and seatpin. Even the hidden part of the stem is steel. No wonder this thing is so heavy.

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Sachs Huret derailleurs, under all the dust and cobwebs.

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The famous "gas pipe" 18-23 tubing :LOL:

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Steel chainrings! Not seen a bike fitted with these for years.

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So there it is. It's never going to be the world's best bike, but it was free and I've got most of the bits kicking about to make it rideable again. I love bringing stuff like this back from the dead! I don't really have a use for it, so once it's finished I'll probably donate it to a local charity who sell cheapie bikes.
 
Bottom bracket and headset stripped, cleaned, greased and reassembled; none of it showed that much wear and it's all good to go again. I was going to fit a Shimano cartridge BB I've got knocking about, but I decided to go with as much of the original stuff as I can, a decision aided by the fact that I couldn't shift the right hand bottom bracket cup. Crankset and derailleurs cleaned. Coke is marvellous stuff. Obviously I wouldn't drink it or anything, just as I wouldn't drink any other rust remover. Next up is brake refurbishment.

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Suggest you completely dismantle the rear mech to clean individual items as they’ll look better
 
Nob":11xo69nf said:
Suggest you completely dismantle the rear mech to clean individual items as they’ll look better

Done that. To be honest, it's a bit past its best and I'm thinking of making it into a fixed wheel bike now.
 

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