While I was building Tomi a bike I realized that this would mean that I needed a bike too. Tomi would want to ride to the store together, the park, ect. Unlike Tomi’s bike, I didn’t need to go searching for one, I knew what one I would fix up. My Dad’s 1962 Raleigh Sprite:
As you can see from the above picture, it had been sitting for awhile. Probably 12 years or more. A little history on the bike is that my Dad got this in 1962 when he was 13 years old. It is a 10 speed using a Campagnolo Gran Sport friction derailer system. It has a 22.5 inch frame, which is a little short for me, but not bad. The saddle is a Lycett B15 Sparrow.
I remember my Dad riding it with my sister, Mom and I when I was a kid. Of course, once I got my drivers license, bike riding was out. So the bike languished at first in the garage, then in the old playhouse in the backyard. Once I knew I needed a bike, this is the first one that popped in my head. Not only because of my long standing mantra of never buying new vehicle’s, but also for the history.
There was nothing mechanically wrong with the bike, it just needed a really good cleaning and a tune up. So I set myself upon it, the results of which will be detailed in pictures later. I really wanted to keep the bike as original as possible, but a few things had to be swapped. First were the consumables. Tires, brake pads, handle bar grips. The tires I replaced with Continental Ultra Sport’s, the pads with Shimano R50t’s and white Bontrager handlebar wraps to match the original brake cable housings. I was lucky enough to be able to recover the brake cable housings, which I was afraid would be too brittle.
I wavered back and forth on whether or not to try and restore the extremely rusty original wheels. Finally I decided to just replace them when new steel ones. A consequence of this decision was that I needed to get the five speed free wheel gear cluster off the old wheel. I was unable to and none of the bike shops I took it to could either, even resulting in one shop rounding off their tool! So I had to get a new gear cluster, which was disappointing.
To clean the bike I striped it down to just the frame and crank. I went over the whole thing with Brake Kleen and got all the dirt and grime off of it. And there was a lot! It took two whole cans of Brake Kleen. Next I used rubbing compound on all the chrome and polished the frame. Finally I waxed everything. Doesn’t sound like too hard of a task, but it took me a couple of days to really get it good and clean. The results speak for themselves though.
The saddle was another item that I wondered if I should replace. It was 50 years old, dry and cracking. I went online to see if I could find a replacement, only to find that Lycett had been bought out by Brooks decades ago and a replacement Brooks saddle of the same design was nearly $300! Even good used ones on eBay fetch over $100. That was a bit out of my budget. So I spent a few hours really rubbing in saddle soap on both the top and bottom and polishing the rails. The result is a very supple saddle. I’m not sure how comfortable it is, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.
It was a very enjoyable experience to bring the bike back to something of it’s former glory. So now, onto the pictures!
Cleaned and ready to ride!
Really cool, and shiny, badge on the fork.
