krza:
Raleigh Grand Prix
In 1979, my dad bought this bike for a hundred bucks from a guy he knew who needed some quick cash. My dad claims that in the day, the bike was the hot shit, a bona fide European racing machine with a quick and stiff steel frame. My childhood is filled with memories of this thing- I remember family bike rides in which my dad piloted it with a kid on the back in the bike seat (aaah, the 80’s…), and I specifically remember my dad insisting that it came with the family when we relocated from Flint, MI to Hood River, OR.
I found the bike sitting- with no wheels on it- behind a shed on my parents property, collecting rust. I told my dad I wanted to restore it, which he quickly agreed to. The excitement of restoring a vintage bike- one that holds quite a bit of sentimental value in my mind- was kind of powerful.It turns out that restoring a 35 year old British racing bike is far more difficult than one would assume. The parts are all very specific, and the bike was more or less seized up into a state of one-ness, with rusted steel melded to aluminum oxide-encrusted aluminum. Much penetrating oil, elbow grease, brawn, mantle, and (rubber/plastic coated) hammer usage was necessary to break the old warbird down to a frame-only state. But, tonight I managed to successfully get it broken apart, and I proceeded to take the majority of the parts to the bench grinder/wire wheel to do some clean up. After some bearing replacement, copious amounts of grease, some polishing, and some nice new white bar tape and cable housing, the bike is looking new. I still need a wheel set and a seat, but it’s almost done. I decided to re-build it to a single speed, since the process is far cheaper and easier than a 10-speed build, so hopefully I can find a single speed wheel set for a few bucks within the next few days. I’ll keep you all posted.
Sweet frame, dude. Good luck on the project. Definitely worth the effort.
