Raleigh sprite 27

[idiotboy]

Been into old bikes and on this forum for about a year now but just learned how to post pics Sunday (thanks Jerry ) my girlfriend found this thing at a thrift shop for ten bucks and gave it to me cuz none of the parts fit her coaster brake bikes I put it in the shed for months then finally dragged it into the cellar to drink beers and stare at it and I finally have a vision for it. Here's what I've got

. And this is kinda sorta where I'm going with it...

minus the skeleton dude got it disassembled

. Got the headset and bottom bracket parts soaking in simple green , gotta get some vinegar or wood bleach for the chrome, more to follow.....


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[Wildcat]

Cottered cranks!

 

[idiotboy]

British technology at its finest!! Here's a pic of the not quite patented Idiotboy Engineering cotter removing device

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[LukeTheJoker]

Nice! I see you use the same method for removing cotters as I do!
Looking forward to watching the build happen.

Luke.

 

[bigred407]

Nice! What finish are you going for? Rust or O.G. paint?

Also, for the look of the one in the pic, would you get away with flipping the original handlebars?

 

[idiotboy]

Keeping the original paint, it's not too bad under the dirt and grime, besides Raleigh calls the color "coffee" and I like coffee so it stays I'm gonna use these bars

they're almost flat, just a slight curve before where the grips would go, gonna try them flipped


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[idiotboy]

I picked up this seat at the New Hampshire swap meet last year and couldn't decide which bike to put it on, I think it might look good on this one...

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[LukeTheJoker]

You have some really nice parts to go on there!

Luke.

 

[Wildcat]

Those old Raleigh's had paint that was pretty good quality. A good cleaning and waxing will probably bring out the shine in the coffee.

 

[idiotboy]

I degreased the bottom bracket area and washed the frame today, gonna hit it with some rubbing compound, did a test spot and it shined up nice! Also got some wood bleach this morning and have the chrome parts soaking


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[idiotboy]

Got the headset cleaned and greased

bottom bracket greased and adjusted

and sprockets cleaned up, I like the look of the big one better so...

after that I got caught up in the assembly and didn't take any more pics, now it's test ride time


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[idiotboy]

Mostly finished, gotta come up with some spacers for the chainring bolts to get the chain line straight but other than that I'm calling it done . Wheels are 700c coaster brake from junky rusty bikes, the orange ones were on sale color combo kinda reminds me of the 73 Z1, if I decide its too much ill just paint em a more subdued color. Thanks for the encouragement!!

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[LukeTheJoker]

Nice choice on the chainwheel, that looks awesome!

Luke.

 

[idiotboy]

Nice choice on the chainwheel, that looks awesome!

Luke.

Thank you sir!


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[The Renaissance Man]

Looks good! What did you wrap the bars with?

 

[idiotboy]

Looks good! What did you wrap the bars with?

Thanks! It's fake wood grain cork bar tape. Ten bucks from niagara cycle


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[Wildcat]

Looking very good! Can you flip the cog to get good alignment on the chain?

 

[idiotboy]

Looking very good! Can you flip the cog to get good alignment on the chain?

Thank you! I took the spacers that were in between the 2 original chainrings and put them between the chainring and the spider, worked great


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[bigred407]

She's come out really nice. Great blend of old & new with the LOUD fixie wheels !! Excellent work.

 

[idiotboy]

Thank you!


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