1985 Raleigh Competition

Thanks again everyone! Didn't expect such a positive response!

Thanks for the link to the bar tape, I'll grab some for when the inevitable happens and the white gets dirty!

As for the chain stay protector, I paid the princely sum of £2.50 inc P&P from ebay!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251632838553?

What a fantastic result for your first resto. Looks great.

Now. What's next?

Thank you for the link

That is a lovely bike with super colour scheme. Great job.

Picked this up last month. Changed the bartape (to white ribbon) and tyres, swapped the missed matched brakes for some nice Shimano 600EX, re-instated a Suntour Cyclone ii front mech and hit the saddle with a suede brush. All is looking fairly good except for the back-to-front right simplex shifter sitting where the left cyclone shifter should be. I'm hoping to track one down before impatience forces me into the costly arms of vintage parts dealer. If anyone has one knocking around please PM me! Oh, I'm also after a SR pedal dust cap but that's less important...

Now, the only other problem is where something has scratched or corroded an fair-sized area of chrome from the forks. My plan here is to remove the surface rust and patch over the bare metal with a piece from one of VeloBitz's chrome effect chain stay protectors - they're good quality and thin enough that it shouldn't be too visible. Are there any reasons why this is bad idea? I'm new to road bikes (vintage or otherwise) so any advice would be very welcome.

cheers

nonowt

*sorry about the sizing and order of the pictures - it's the best i could get 'em.*

oh! one more newbie question - what is this braze-on for?

thanks!

Great to see another one getting a new lease of life!

The only other '85 one I've seen was a very sorry looking one at the Eroica Britannia. As for the question about the forks, I don't have an honest answer for you - I've just put some clear nail varnish over the spots on mine, but that's on the inside and barely visible. There's a Cyclone shifter for 9 quid on Ebay, but it's RHS - if you put your requests in the wanted section you might get more luck..

And that little tag on the seat stay is to hang your chain on when you take the rear wheel off.

Thanks!

Looking at them online the '85 seems like a tasteful pause between the cool but still slightly 70's iridescent green '84 and the full-on 80's teenage bedroom wallpaper look of the '86!

I put a request on the wanted page for the shifter with no joy as yet (although that's how i got the correct front mech). I'll hold on a while longer - i'm sure one will turn up. ..i was secretly hope this post might help as this section gets a bit more traffic than the wanted page.

ah, chain holder - that makes sense! ta.

I went ahead and covered over nasty scrape with a patch made from one of Robbied196/Velobitz's excellent chrome effect chainstay protectors. I'm pretty pleased with results... not invisible but a lot cheaper than re-chroming!

That's really good - great idea and execution.