Late 70's/Early 80's Raleigh Esprit

hbutler

Retro Newbie
I got this locally a few days ago, needs plenty of work as i dont think its been used for a while. The gears dont move, brakes are poor, saddle is split, rear wheel bucked.

Im not quite sure where to start as i dont have much experience working on bikes, ive maintained my mountain bike for years, but never stripped it and replaced a BB or anything.

Any tips, ideas would be great

Cheers, Henry
 
A pic i took earlier

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Being a newcomer to bike restoration (see pic) I'd tell you it's extremely rewarding to be riding around on a bike which, by rights, would have been consigned to the scrapheap. At the same time, it's very easy to get carried away and spend a small fortune. Even just keeping my eyes peeled for ebay bargains I found it was so easy to get side-tracked. Oh, and if you're replacing the forks, make sure you buy a one with a long enough steerer!!

I'd say strip it bare, clean everything to within an inch of its life, see what works (and what doesn't) then spend wisely - mine took about 3 months to do, on-and-off, but I must have the biggest smile in cycling when I'm out on it.
 

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That looks great! I can imagine its pretty satisfying saving a rust bucket like mine. Ill have it in bits soon enough once i get the time off work. Before i start do i need a different toolkit to a normal mountain bike to get all the bits off? Ive heard Raleigh bottom brackets are a bit random

cheers
 
Looks great Henry! It's nice to see another old Raleigh fan, they are great to restore and ride. The bottom bracket should not cause you any problems, and there are plenty of people here happy to help. Just to state the obvious check out the Sheldon Brown website if you have not done so already. Looking forward to seeing this all polished up, I reckon you need another mudguard as it would look better with than without in my opinion!

PS check out Sheldon guide to wheels, you will have that buckle out in noi time!
 
Thanks for your comments, i hadnt heard of that website, so thanks for the tip :D

So i got my first day off to attack the Raleigh yesterday, Ive stripped most of it down to the basics now

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What i can only guess are original tyres

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Ive identified i need to replace the front and rear deraileurs. The brakes seem to be ok, just needing new blocks and a bit of adjustment. Ill update when the new parts start turning up
 
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