2 Free road bikes

[us56456712]

My neighbor's son gave me 2 road bikes he dragged home from University a few years ago. He saw my garage full of bikes and donated them. He said they came from the dumpster at the end of the term and he put them in his car when he graduated and put them in his parents basement. He was home for a visit and wheeled them over to my garage. One is a Raleigh and the other is a Peugeot. The Raleigh is very light but has been painted so I don't know what type of tubing it has. It looks like a small frame from the size of the head tube but has a very high bottom bracket so it is bigger than the Peugeot. I wonder if it is a cyclocross frame? The Peugeot is from the 80s as it has foam grips and square reflectors. There is no prominent model written on it but it has a small decal that says Record Du Monde. It has a Stronglite crank, MAFAC brakes, French stem and a steel rear wheel and alloy front wheel. The Raleigh has Rigida French rims so I might swap those over to the Peugeot. Any information on these bikes would be greatly appreciated. I will save the Peugeot and ride it. I need more info on the Raleigh before I decide but it could be a very light road bike if it's not a cyclocross frame.

Raleigh head badge and bike

Excellent rims and tires.
Peugeot



Raleigh rims

 

[Bicycle808]

Neither are cross bikes; i suspect your Raleigh is Dutch (Gazelle) built....Nice score, for sure

 

[Walker]

Peugeot is late 60's.

 

[us56456712]

Neither are cross bikes; i suspect your Raleigh is Dutch (Gazelle) built....Nice score, for sure

I asked around an everyone agrees with you. It is just a difference in the two brands road geometry. So, that now that I know that the Raleigh is a road bike I will build it as a single speed town and country bike instead of junking it. I will build a rear wheel or put spacers in an existing rear and alter the dish a little. A Nexus 3 speed coaster would also be nice. I don't have a nice 3 piece crank and chain wheel for a 3 speed in my junk though, so that will only happen if I can find the parts. Then probably put old mountain bike bars on it with a slight rise. I have this stuff. It will take it to my cabin for easy single track, jeep trails, gravel and pavement excursions. I have another bike like this there and can easily ride 15 miles on these varied road services. In sand I have to walk it. These bikes are a lot of fun for this type of riding. The Raleigh frame is cool as the seat stays wrap around the top of the top tube instead of ending under the seat post (look at the first picture). It has beautiful intricate lugs.

 

[Bicycle808]

Yeah, your Raleigh appears to be a mid- to late-70s Gran Prix, which is great f i'm correct b/c the threads will be standard rather than the proprietary Raleigh/ Whitworth stuff. These were great bikes with nice geo and cool lugwork, but they were a little heavy. FWIW, old cyclocross bikes with lugs and canti-posts are worth a fair amount of money, more than most of the ubiquitous "10speed" road frames f the same vintage....

 

[Bicycle808]

http://s186.photobucket.com/user/8P... Build/1977RaleighGrandPrixBuild_030.jpg.html

 

[us56456712]

http://s186.photobucket.com/user/8POT/media/Raleigh Grand Prix Build/1977RaleighGrandPrixBuild_030.jpg.html

That is a big frame if it has the same high bottom bracket as mine. I am 5'9" and the one in my picture is just a hair too big for me. The Peugeot fits perfectly, but appears to be the larger frame based on the heat tube size. I learned something, "measure it" just don't look at it. I always assumed all old road bikes had very similar geometry so I just eyeballed them. Too bad I gave a shed full away two summers ago, including a Bottecchia, as I assumed they were too small for me. I never even stood over them, Dah! It does look like the same frame.

 

[horsefarmer]

So, that now that I know that the Raleigh is a road bike I will build it as a single speed town and country bike instead of junking it. I will build a rear wheel or put spacers in an existing rear and alter the dish a little. A Nexus 3 speed coaster would also be nice. I don't have a nice 3 piece crank and chain wheel for a 3 speed in my junk though, so that will only happen if I can find the parts.

I have 3 bikes now with SA 3 speeds and love them (when the shift cables are adjusted properly).
Seems like they are around esp for Brit bikes, any reason you wouldnt use for the Raleigh?

 

[us56456712]

I have 3 bikes now with SA 3 speeds and love them (when the shift cables are adjusted properly).
Seems like they are around esp for Brit bikes, any reason you wouldnt use for the Raleigh?

The 3 speed uses a different chain than the chainwheels and 3 piece cranks I currently have.

 

[us56456712]

It has been snowing non stop for 3 days now. Not hard though. Now it is cold, windy and snowing and it is going to get colder and snow for 4 more days. I don't think we will get more than 1 or 2 feet out of the whole 7 days. We are 50 inches below our long term average so that is good. Near Lake Superior where I am the long term average snowfall is 130 inches a year but inland and it higher elevations we get over 300 inches. I went for a walk and it was so cold I kept ducking into stores to warm up. My face was purple and I couldn't feel my toes. I stopped in the local bike co-op and they were having a winter sale. I got a well preserved old Fuji with a huge frame for $40. For some reason I run into a lot of old Fuji's up here and they are all huge. No one wants them, so I buy them cheap or people give them to me to strip. The co-op had a lot of adult bikes, many very clean ones at only $15. The Fuji has straight alloy rims with quick release hubs, new tires, and a 7 speed Megarange gear cluster. I am going to strip the huge Fuji and move the parts over to the Raleigh. The Megarange will be used on a Klunker I plan to build someday. The BB threads on the Raleigh are indeed British ISO as Bicycle 808 said; I hand screwed in a BB cup to make sure.

 

[marius.suiram]

You are lucky! At the bike Co-Op in Cleveland they are selling all kind of junk bikes, incomplete and rusty for 75$ and up.
This Fuji is going here in spring/summer for 180$ at least. I had a 25" Gran Tourer last summer sold for 200$ not even so nice.
You need to be a little patient for the tall guy to show up.

 

[marius.suiram]

I think your Peugeot is better than an entry level. The Stronglight crank set, Simplex SX 610 rear derailleur are nice components.
You should measure the seat post tubing diameter.
If is 27.0 mm should be a Reynolds 531, but I don't think so.
I think it should be an early 80's made, but not sure

 

[us56456712]

You are lucky! At the bike Co-Op in Cleveland they are selling all kind of junk bikes, incomplete and rusty for 75$ and up.
This Fuji is going here in spring/summer for 180$ at least. I had a 25" Gran Tourer last summer sold for 200$ not even so nice.
You need to be a little patient for the tall guy to show up.

I was a little patient on the last one I had, even offered it for free. I dug up names of local tall road bike guys and no one wants these here. I even took it to all 4 local bike shops to see if they knew anyone who wanted it and no dice. I have had your comment on this forum before but you just can't give them away here. This bike was traded in at the local bike co-op because it was too big for the rider and he wanted a smaller bike. They have had it hanging all summer and just wanted to get rid of it. They are having a fire sale now, much cheaper and nicer bikes than the local thrift stores.

 

[us56456712]

I think your Peugeot is better than an entry level. The Stronglight crank set, Simplex SX 610 rear derailleur are nice components.
You should measure the seat post tubing diameter.
If is 27.0 mm should be a Reynolds 531, but I don't think so.
I think it should be an early 80's made, but not sure

It's 25 mm. I want a fluted SR one to replace the steel one. Ill have to keep my eyes open. I removed the post and it came out easily and is not scratched or rusty. I wonder if it is original? There is no decal that indicated anything at all about the tubing. I agree that it is a nice bike. I will put a vintage Ideale saddle on it and the fluted seat post. I might end out with a $100 in both bikes. There is never a free bike, but they should be real nice for the money.

 

[horsefarmer]

US56456712,
After you pull all the components off these tall bikes, is there any market for the bare frame?

 

[us56456712]

US56456712,
After you pull all the components off these tall bikes, is there any market for the bare frame?

No, too expensive to ship so I just toss them in the volunteer fire department scrap drive heap. I have 7 frames at home and camp now that I am trying to decide what to make with them. Some I could cut up an weld into something else. I might so that. The large Fuji frame might go to a friend in Sault Ste. Marie who has a large Fuji that has a very worn frame. He is also missing a brake lever. I might go visit him and switch his parts to the blue Fuji frame.

 

[rickpaulos]

The oval head badge on that Raleigh is the 1960s style. By 1970 they were using the heron cut out shape. It was Raleighs best seller for many years. The Gran(d) Prixs were made in many countries: Ireland, England, Canada and in the Raleigh owned Gazelle plant in the Netherlands. I assembled many hundreds of them, sold them and change out the crappy plastic simplex ders and just horrible ribbed tires. The tires were so squirmy, getting around a corner wasn't a sure thing. And yeah, the bb could have 28tpi threading or standard 24 depending on which factory it was made in.

I also assembled and sold Peugeots. Yours is not the bottom of the line, those had all steel parts with cottered cranksets. Like some companies, they did not put anything on the frame to tell which model it was. Just the brand ma'am. I bought 3 Peugeot uo8s mixtes for my sisters. French bikes were really popular with the ladies. I bought a Raleigh Gran Prix mixte for my mom. Mom is still riding it at age 85. Her Raleigh is now 40. Those 3 Peugeots all wound up in the scrapper over 25 years ago.

Rick

 

[us56456712]

Neither are cross bikes; i suspect your Raleigh is Dutch (Gazelle) built....Nice score, for sure

I started to strip the Raleigh frame. The whole thing appears to be chrome plated with the fork ends and chain stay ends showing chrome. I don't know if the lugs were chrome or painted as the stripper works slowly and poorly in 15F weather. Most of it had greenish paint with bronze/yellow around the bottom bracket and seat tube top, but that might be more spray bomb or undercoating? The head badge is the Raleigh Carlton type. I can't find a serial # but it has a lot of different spray bomb on it. I screwed in a standard BB, seemed to fit but I didn't go in that far so perhaps it isn't standard British ISO? I'll have to try that again before I go any further. I wonder what this bike originally was and when it was built, the serial # would help, if I can find it. Any ideas?

 

[rickpaulos]

The Serial number may be on the seat tube.

If you have a thread gauge, (cheap an useful to have) check the bb threading. 24tpi or 28tpi. The diameter is the same for both and Raleigh used both. 28tpi mostly on the lower end and and older bikes.

There were a few fully chrome Raleighs. I don't think they were normally imported. Could have been brought over by someone on their own.

Rick

 

[us56456712]

The Serial number may be on the seat tube.

If you have a thread gauge, (cheap an useful to have) check the bb threading. 24tpi or 28tpi. The diameter is the same for both and Raleigh used both. 28tpi mostly on the lower end and and older bikes.

There were a few fully chrome Raleighs. I don't think they were normally imported. Could have been brought over by someone on their own.

Rick

Thanks for your reply. I am still working on the paint removal. It's a gooey mess in the low temps. Removal is spotty. I am using course steel wool, a steel brush and a brass brush. The frame has a lot of aftermarket stickers on it, 3 don't seem to be loosened by the aircraft paint stripper and two of these are chrome, so that confused me. What I though was chrome looks like it is a sticker. The rear triangle is chrome or mostly chrome as is the front fork. The original color is bronze over a green base coat. It has the Raleigh Carlton head badge. The frame seems light to me, but there are only 4 braze on cable guides. No braze ons for the down tube shifters or water bottle, like they went half way? The "Chop Shop" sticker on the front fork isn't affected at all by the paint remover and I guess that will have to be heated and scraped off. What a mess. I hope it is something I can throw my existing parts on as I like the frame. A sand blaster would be nice to use in the cold. Modern two part filler primers take care of any scratching from the blasting. No one does sand blasting here except the tombstone company, the heavy equipment repair place ao the powder coater. You are on your own for stripping.