Changing gearing on Raleigh Sprint

west coast worker

Retro Newbie
Hi,

I am the proud owner of a 10 speed Raleigh Sprint, 80's vintage - absolutely love it but the gearing is quite high for our Welsh hills and my ageing knees (54/42 on the front if I've counted them correctly), was thinking about maybe putting 52/39 chainrings on and a 6 speed freewheel. I put a compact on my old Peugeot which helped, but I don't think I need to go that far on the Sprint. Any thoughts or advice gratefully recieved.
 
Oh OK, don't worry I can think stuff out for myself, its just nice to chat sometimes, maybe my bikes a bit proletarian for this forum, or maybe it was just a dumb question!
Hello anyway, and nice to find a site where older bikes are appreciated.
 
Not at all! Some of my best bikes were pig iron.

It ought to be fine.

But would it be cheaper to fit a new block instead?
 
Cheers!
I've got a Shimano Sora compact crank set to hand, and that will give me a nice new hollow bottom bracket as well, so I think I may go with that, but I'll probably add a new block as well, reckon it will take a 6 speed - might as well be ready for anything! Don't think the loss off the top end will make much difference to top speed as bot the worlds fastest pedaller anyway.
Good to know there's someone out there...
 
sometimes first posts get lost in the traffic!

Anyway, if its the same sprint as this one? If so, those cranks are 110 BCD which opens up the world of just about any size chainring you could desire, keeping the black and gold theme as well as the Sugino GT cranks.

Then, you will be able to fit a wider ratio screw on freewheel allowing further drops in ratios for the welsh hills.

And finally, if its the 501 ovalised tubing Sprint, that is a very underrated frame!

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Wow, nice looking bike, mine looks not disimilair, but its the light blue paint job, and the cranks are marked Raleigh Custom. Its only an 18-23 frame I'm afraid, though it doesn't seem that heavy to my admittedly uneducated
senses.
 
west coast worker":192cacqq said:
Wow, nice looking bike, mine looks not disimilair, but its the light blue paint job, and the cranks are marked Raleigh Custom. Its only an 18-23 frame I'm afraid, though it doesn't seem that heavy to my admittedly uneducated
senses.

ah, you chainset may be 116 bcd which limits your chainring choice
 
Count the number of teeth on the big cog on the freewheel. They come with a number of different ratios and if you pick one with say 14-28 (or if you think there's enough clearance on the derailleur try a 14-32) the 28 should give you a bit more leverage on the hills. You might find that you don't even need to change the front one.
 
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