Upgrading old road bikes

7 Responses to Upgrading old road bikes

1. David Bishop says:

   April 25, 2012 at 3:50 pm

   I took a liking to Sheldon’s Raleigh International that is pictured on his “personal bicycle page”. I have a Raleigh Sprite 27 about 1970+ vintage 10 speed. I fell off back in Dec 2011 and all the damage I could locate so far is that the handlebar stem is bent so that the right handlebar grip is 3 1/2″ lower that the left. The problem is that the stem is bent to one side. I know that I don’t want to try to straighten it. I like the set up that Sheldon has on his Raleigh International. I would like to either have the same for not a lot of money or find a replacement stem. I like this bike and don’t want to just get rid of it. I was riding it daily for exercise in 2011 until I fell off and haven’t ridden since. I am slowly recovering from the concussion I received. I’d like to get back to riding again slowly but I need to fix the handlebar first. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

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   • John says:

     April 25, 2012 at 6:09 pm

     Any bicycle shop can sell you a replacement stem! Also, do check whether the handlebar and fork are bent — but they also can be replaced. Sorry to hear that you crashed.

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2. David Bishop says:

   April 25, 2012 at 6:45 pm

   Thanks for the reply , John. I will be dropping in to my 2d cycle shop next week. I know that the handlebar is not bent. I must check out the fork. I think it is OK.

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3. Adrienne says:

   November 6, 2012 at 5:23 pm

   Hi,
   I am really glad that someone / people are keeping this excellent resource active. Something I saw the other day made me concerned that old information was being deleted in favour of new; I’m really hoping that none of Sheldon’s original information is being removed. Can you set my mind at rest?

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   • John says:

     November 6, 2012 at 5:31 pm

     You can relax. Nothing is being deleted, although some duplicate pages are being converted to forwarding pages. Pages are being expanded and new ones are being added.

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4. Adrienne says:

   November 6, 2012 at 5:28 pm

   Oh, just had a look at this article, and not all the links work, ie one to “brakes” under updating a beater.

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   • John says:

     November 6, 2012 at 5:34 pm

     Thanks for the heads-up. We’ll check it out.

     Reply