Help - Reg Harris and Raleigh Sport frames

Hi - I have a Reg Harris bike that is need of some TLC. Never done restoration before - I am looking to get the frame resprayed - will all the details be decals? If so where can I get hold of some?

The Raleigh frame I think is dated 1956 (Sheldon Brown). It is also going for a respray. The build I am not sure which way to go - period components or modern day equivalents.

Any photos of completed restorations of these bikes is appreciated.

Thanks - Stephen

Reg Harris bike.

Hi bro,

do you have pics of the bike?

Roadking.

Pics please x2!

Reg Harris pictures

Sorry new to the forum - tried posting pics but too large a file. Will try again.

Try the pics again, I think you need at least 2 posts.
Before spending, research Reg Harris on Classicrendezvous.com.
You will find that Reg had absolutely no input into the ordinary Raleigh bikes, he was just employed by Raleigh because his name was universally known in the UK.

If you have a Raleigh Lenton, some of the later 1950's had 3 tubes 531, but otherwise were popular schoolboy transport. If you must restore a bike why not go for a 1950/60's handbuilt lightweight. The Raleigh has 26 threads per inch head set and bottom bracket, which are difficult, while almost any other british bike of the age was 24 threads per inch. The rear forkends were 5/16 inch slot to take the almost standard Sturmey Archer FM (4 medium) with wing nuts.

Look forward to the pics.

It sounds like you've established that it's a 'Reg Harris' model Raleigh that you had, but Reg had his own line of bikes in the 60's after he'd left Raleigh following the reorganisation after the TI merger. The headbadges are very distinctive so you'd know right away.

For decals for both Raleigh and Reg bikes, try here:http://www.hlloydcycles.com/

The comments on headset and BB standards are correct, but as Sheldon points out here, since Raleigh owned such a large proportion of the UK bike industry at the time it was as much a standard as the BSC used elsewhere in the UK. There's a lot of good info there about interchangeability and rebuilds. He notes that a lot of these parts were extremely durable and so may require no more than new bearings and grease.

Cheers,
Gareth.

Reg Harris pictures

Hopefully

Great headbadge.

Looks all doable too. A very nice old machine. Look forward to more images of the rebuild.

Re: Reg Harris pictures

Wow! That changes the game a bit! I'd assumed from your original posting that you had two Raleighs, one a Reg model and the other something else. This is a lot more interesting!

Take a look at this page for a couple of lovely Reg Haris restorations. I would guess that there would be some nice pics in his autobiography too, though I haven't read it. Perhaps someone here has it, and can comment?

You can try H Lloyd for decals, as per my previous post. I'm pretty sure I saw some Reg Harris ones in there and not just the Raleigh-Reg ones. Having said that, from what I can see the current decals are in reasonable shape, as is most of the paint. I would be inclined to try to restore it first rather than assuming it needs a respray from the beginning. Once you have the worst of the rust off (drive side chainstay looks to have the worst of it) then you can try to find a reasonable colour match, If you're not happy with it afterwards you can always choose to go the respray route.

Regarding 'as-is' restorations, take a look at some of Spokesmann's projects to see just how well old bikes can come up with reasonable effort from the owner.

Cheers - and good luck!
Gareth

justridecycles":1kyqj0no said:

Hopefully

Click to expand...

Looks like a Reg Harris made in Macclesfield early 60's, not Raleigh.