1954 Lenton Sports build thread

[pwebb]

Lol! I didn't realise it was a 26" machine originally.
I had a Lenton of some flavour aeons ago, and I was sure it was a 27". However, in the mists of time, it's possible I've mis-remembered.
I do recall the forks were 1" "Raleigh", so need a 1" x 26 tpi (rather than the more usual 24tpi) headset. I *think* it was also a special Raleigh thread on the BB too.

I can confirm the headset and BB are not BSA sized, remarkably, the BB was aok with just cleaning and re-greasing, I have fitted new cotter pins to the cranks and the BB spindle was not unduly worn where the cotter pins fit so happy with that, the chainring teeth run very close to the chainstays, I am surprised at such close tolerances. Biggest headache is going to be cable routing, might take several attempts.
I had to cut the handlebar in two to free it from quill stem ( was fused solid) so have gone for some moustache style nitto flat bars instead. I replaced quill with a more modern upright stem as I dint want the original heavily corroded stem to get stuck in the steerer after I managed to remove it.