Raleigh Europa 1979 - Project (With lots of Photos)

KidDynamite

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Hi All, :)

I bought this Raleigh Europa 1979 bike like a month ago, the bike was in a bad state. As a road bike I owned a Raleigh Milk like 10 years ago (also restored it myself), but this one was more looking forward to restore it.

From the information I got from the net and another forum resulted that the bike is a Raleigh Europa built on December 1979. The serial number starts as NS902.

Changed the factory colour as I really wanted to copy the Raleigh Corsa paint job, but now decided that I will leave the bike as a one colour job.

This is the state of the bike as I got it and the results so far :)

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After only one ride I began to strip off the bike to start my project.

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After the stripping of the parts after a few days started to remove the paint from the bike.

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Had to change fork and stem as they were very badly corroded and got stuck, both the fork and the stem are Raleigh :)

Transfered the bike to another garage and started applying the first under coat:



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Started the spraying of the bike and applying lacquer

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Currently still wet sanding and polishing the frame and also restoring the parts.

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Bought new cabling, bearings and other bits and also both new Tektro RL340 black levers :D

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And arrived also the bar tape .. Deda Blue

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Still more work to do on the bike but hopefully in a few days time will be back on the road :D.

Hope you all like my project and continue to follow up with more updates :)
 
Was there no sign of the original "Europa" raleigh team colors? I don't remember them coming in anything other than the red / black / yellow.

It was the team colours that made them easy to sell.

My recollection of them was a Carlton frame with wrap over seat stays, crespera lugs, brazed rear centre pull and a yellow head tube. The Europa also appeared as a different (raleigh) frame with different bits and a black head tube...... Keeping the Europa brand name.

Lot of work there :D

Shaun
 
Hi Spokesmann,

Thanks for the comment :D, will keep you posted for sure.


Hi Shaun,

Yep, As per the previous owner and a few paint left on the bike, the bike was red.

I also found the shop from were the bike was sold (as the previous owner told me) and the guy at the shop informed me that it's an Europa frame. :)
 
That's the kind of attention to detail I like to see, strip the calipers to clean and polish :)

Looking good, and Malta is a great place to be restoring a bike.
 
Hi Robbied196, thanks for the comment :), I am now really looking forward for my second ride on the bike, this time will be a much better ride then the first one for sure :D.

This week aligned both wheels and also both a new black isca selle saddle with a small white touch / wording on it.

Hopefully tomorrow or next week will buy new tyres and maybe start to reassemble the bike. I will be looking for "all black" tyres.

Any other suggestions are very welcome :)
 
Just goes to show you don't need 753 and Record for an interesting build! Look forward to seeing the finished article, personally I wouldn't go for all-black tyres, I'd put amber walls on it.
 
Thanks Rich34 for the comment, much appreciated :)and also thanks for the suggestion. This morning I will continue to polish a bit the frame as I really want the bike on the road as soon as possible now :)
 
Today I received the speedometer, it was a worth speedometer from the bay, and really turned out to be a worthed part.

Pics to follow up :)
 
Hi All,

Back with some updates and more pics :)

The bike is coming up really clean and as expected.

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Yesterday I taped the handlebars, it was the first time I every taped a handlebar, but overall came up really well also.

Still have some more progress to be done, any comments are welcome :)

Thanks.
 
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