Raleigh Record Ace

I took the rear derailleur off today, then cleaned, greased and rebuilt it. Worth the effort I reckon, it looks decent. Whilst it was off I got to read the complete serial number, as expected it’s a 1982 model.
 
Over the last few days I’ve done a little more tinkering. The shifters and band were removed cleaned and fitted back on.

A few dirty jobs followed, the chain was cleaned, as expected it’s not the original Suntour but it cleaned up well enough. The chainset was removed, split and cleaned, one of the chainring bolts wasn’t biting enough so I swapped the lot out for some clean Sakae stamped bolts I had laying around. The bottom bracket was next, nice clean bearings and races emerged from the generous volume of gunk, the cups and locking ring came up lovely too. All back on the bike now with the correct caps fitted.

I had a nice Sugino seat binder rattling around in a glass pot so I swapped it with the one on the bike, there was nothing wrong with it but I thought why not. While I was at it the post was slid out, cleaned a little, greased and refitted.

Next up will be the pedals, brakes and wheels. The pedals and brakes don’t need much more than a clean but the wheels need a bit more love. The freewheel needs a full strip, clean and rebuild (if I’m lucky), I think it’s just gummed up but let’s wait and see. I quite enjoy working on these though, so I’m looking forward to it. The usual work on the hubs and rims is required, they spin nice, quiet and smoothly, they are just caked up with old grease. A pair of Nornandy luxe Competition hub decals have been ordered. The front is missing, I’ll try to keep the original rear in place. I guess I’ll have to rub the spokes down the best I can and live with the result.

I unearthed a clean pair of Sakae toe clips a while back in a box of spares in the garage. If the fitment is right I’ll marry these up to the SR pedals, probably with brown Christophe straps to match the Velox cloth tape that I already have.

She’s coming together!
 
The Campy front derailleur arrived today, so I set to work stripping it down and cleaning the clamp section I wanted to use. It didn’t take long to realise that everything except one bolt was cleaner than the one I have, so I’m using the replacement and I have swapped out the tarnished bolt. A light film of grease where needed and it’s all back together and feels nice and snappy. I’ll fit it back on the bike later this evening.
 
The brakes were removed, cleaned and rebuilt today. A very light polish brought back a bit of shine on the arms. I had a spare black cap for the two nuts on the front caliper, so I popped that on along with an 8mm nut for the qr mech on the rear brake, that was missing too. They look good back on the bike and are now complete. I’m most likely going to change the colour of the cable outers. I’ve seen them with brown on and that looks nice, I have some grey Weinmann outers and I think that may be the original colour, can anyone confirm that?

A decent brown Iscaselle Tornado saddle appeared on eBay and I couldn’t resist putting in a bid. I won the auction and it was delivered today. That went straight on the bike. I liked the old Brooks it had on it but the Tornado suits it better I reckon. I believe the Team Replica 12 and Road Ace 12 in the Raleigh range of 1982 had a Tornado saddle, so a bit of an upgrade for the RRA. It’s in better condition than the listing pictures would have you believe.I think it’s older than the bike, it has the cloth like stickers which says 70’s to me but what do you guys think?
 

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New old stock brown Sturmey Archer cable found cheap on eBay. I think I’ll be able to get the length required for both brakes from the outer which is 65 inches long. It’s touch and go but let’s see. If not another seller has the same cable for sale in brown too. Hopefully this will be the last purchase on this little project 👍🏼
 

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