Hello and Welcome, My brother-in-law called one day to tell me about this Raleigh he spotted at a Thrift Store 30 miles from here. It sounded promising. I called the store and talked the manager into holding it for me. When I saw it I was excited. What a find! a 1980`s Raleigh Technium 460 in original condition. It was a little grimy and appeared to have been stored for a long time. But over all, it looked great!
Below: The Raleigh Technium 460 as I found it.
Below: The SAKAE SA crank. This is always a good place to start. What is this oily-sticky stuff they sprayed all over bikes in the 1980`s anyway? While it can be a bugger to get off, it does seem to preserve whatever it is sprayed on. The ancient Egyptians would have loved this stuff! "Stuff" was not my first word choice
Below: The Mother`s Mag and Aluminum Polish came through for me again. It it took a few times (on the bad spots) but it cleaned up nicely. It`s funny, this crank does not look like a visually pleasing design when it is taken apart.
Below: When put back together the crank takes on a totally different look.
Below: Now for the Head-Set. As you can see this also has a nice coating of "mystery grease". In all honesty, I should be glad to see it. This grimy coating has preserved many a classic road bike. These parts I sprayed-off with Clean-Streak and used the parts brush to speed-up the process.(off the bike of course) However I still had to touch-up these chrome plated pieces with a brass wheel brush.
Below: This shot shows what a nice job the Clean-Streak does on cleaning up the Head-Set. And yes I did grease the bearings. I just set them on there to keep track of them. I like to make sure the Head-Set bearings (top and bottom) do not get switched. Even if they are identical. I feel they should stay where the were broke-in. Probably not necessary, but that`s the way I do it.
Below: The Head-Set re-assembled and back on the bike. I decided to clean-up the front brake caliper while I was in the neighborhood. I took it apart and polished all the alloy parts with Mother`s. I used the bio-degradable de greaser on the plastic washers and bushings.
Below: I found these ZE' FAL water-bottle cages recently. I really like the simple design and "the look." And it`s a perfect color match for this bike.
Below: The micro-adjust seat-post I believe is original to the bike. The stock saddle was nothing special. And was in rough enough condition to toss. I have often wondered why some of the components (in this case the saddle) on otherwise nice bikes are so crappy. With the saddle it kind of makes sense. I prefer certain saddle
brands and designs. I assume most riders do as well. So why would the manufacturer invest a lot on something that will probably be replaced anyway. Oh by the way, I cleaned up the post with Mother`s.
Below: I really like this Specialized saddle. I`m also ok that is was 40% off! I found it on the clearance table at my LBS. I also like that the colors are right. And I think it looks "cracking" on this bike.
Below; The Sun-Tour free-wheel. I want to touch on this before I close for today.
Before you thread or screw the Free-Wheel back onto the hub. Make sure you lightly grease the threads. If you don`t, it will fuse itself to the hub and you will have a "hell of a time" trying to remove it. On this one, The wheel felt like it was going to fold under the pressure. I ended up servicing it (including the bearings) with the free-wheel in place. And that was a major pain in the A##.
Below: Here is a shot of the Free-Wheel all cleaned -up. It looks like I have a little more work to do on the Pie-Plate and spokes. It is possible to lubricate the freewheel on the hub. I hold the wheel with the Free-Wheel facing up. If you spin the free-wheel you will see a slight gap between the spinning free-wheel and the inner part. I just add a few drops of light oil to the gap while spinning the Free-Wheel. Slightly tilting the wheel will help the oil flow into the gap. Do this maybe 4 or 5 times with just a couple drops of oil. You should feel the free-wheel spin easier as the oil works its way to the free-wheel`s needle bearings. Then wipe off all the excess when finished.
Note: I will be posting a link in the "Video of the Week" section to a video I found titled "Cleaning Lubing and Inspecting." Check-out the nifty trick with the skewer. Very well done!
On that Happy note (: I`m going to wrap it up for today. Until next time RIDE SAFE and remember to Always RESCUE, RESTORE & RECYCLE
Cheers,Hugh
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