My Neighbour was clearing his loft and found his old road bike.

Knowing my passion he has kindly donated

Retro

Where to start as I know nothing road bike wise

He mentioned 27″ wheels? Can I fit 700c? / Any STW reccomendations for compaitble wheels / chainset / BB etc

Want to keep it cheap as possible but love to get this riding again

You might need longer drop brakes for 700c wheels. There are still 27″ wheels knocking about though.

What Stever said – long drop brakes!

Is that a Reynolds badge on the seat tube?
What do the stickers say?

Stever – where can I look for 27″ wheels are they still made or just second hand?

Rusty Spanner – Reynolds 501

Stickers = Reg Braddick (a 60 year old Cardiff bike shop)

What about gearing and chainset?

Much better to go 700c – 27 could be a challenge to find. Try looking for some is Weinmann brakes with a big drop to the rim.

nice looking frame

If you are sure it’s a 27 wheel the best I have found are from single speed components. You could run a 700c too although as others have said you may need to check the brakes reach teh rim and if necessary swap for long drop models. Importantly you also need to check the rear spacing between drop outs – you may have something around 120-125mm. There are limited wheels to fit this so you’ll either have to shoe horn in a wider hub or cold set the frame wider as per sheldon brown’s website.

Although the frames are nice to ride components from this era can either be works of art or utter tosh. If its the former then i’d keep it original, if it’s the latter then i’d go single speed. if you have a new start kind of program near you they are inundated with bikes like this and have all the components coming out of their ears which they sell for buttons.

700c does give you a lot more tyre choice btw.

that blue would look cool with a polished stem,flat bars and single speed i think. From experience building up old frames with current components gets horribly expensive a bit too quick. If it’s good quality, older kit is suprisingly good once you get used to no indexing.

You can get 27inch replacement wheels from Raleigh for about £30.00 a pop.

Might be worth updating the wheels to 700c and getting new brakes if you plan on riding it regularly though.
Frame is plain cromoly – nowt wrong with that, as long as it’s in decent condition. Lots of companies still sell plain cromoly frames.

Bear in mind that you could definitely buy a nice new bike for the amount it’s going to cost to do that one up properly.

Spa cycles in Harrogate do Stronglight cranks which are cheap, very good value and will suit the bike. They’ll be able to help with cheap bits ans bobs for the rest of build too.

Fixed gear project,it’s the only way….. 😉

Thanks guys for the advice

So can of worms question, what size gear for SS / Fixie newbie used to a 2×9 11-34 spread on his mountainbikes?

That Reynolds transfer is it deffo 501? sometimes when the ‘reynolds is written through the 531 it can make it look like 501. If it is 501 it was 1982 and onwards.
IMO 700c wheels look a bugger in frames made for 27″ wheels, the gap from rear wheel to seat tube looks horrid. And the brake drops look gangly.
27″ or 27×11/4 are readilly available.

If it was mine?
Single speed it, use 27″ bolt ons. full mudguards, Brooks or looky likey, North Road copy bars like On-Ones and cloth tape. For a nice old British clubman look.
It’s never going to ride up there with modern kit so have some fun.

oldgit have you got a source for quality 27 1 1/4 wheels?

also the point about 501 and 531 stickers is a good one. Have a good look, one of mine really looks like 501 but is def a 1975 531

Venture on over to retrobike. something for more info that you can use.
27″ perfectly easy to find as are tyres.

likewise mattccm?

For quality you tend to have to buy old hubs and new rims, SJS Cycles was a good source.
I’ve got some cheap old Rigidas on mailards, and some better Fiammes on campagnolo.
Actually looking at what the OP has got for free I’d 5 speed it. A nice cottered chainset would look bonny on that, wheels and a nice Gransport mech is all that’s required.

Check whether the stem moves.

501 doesn’t ride great, I wouldn’t spend much on it, certainly not oldgit’s restoration suggestion.

I reckon that front brake will take a 700c wheel the difference is only 8mm 622 instead of 630

al that would be as cheap as you could get. Wheels/Bars/Saddle/Guards about £120

Or s/h wheels a mech and cottered chainset I’d budget £100

Edit; is that BB cottered?

A gran sport mech at that price? Cheaper around for sure!

Yes, just think it’ll look nice in a semi original state. Old Shimano is nice and very cheap. Arabesque?

42/16 is a good starting point,around 70″ gear,depending on tyre size,plus,you’re gona pick up an old crankset for peanuts with 42/52 rings….
may have a set of 27″ wheels lurking in the shed,mail me if interested?
Keef.

It’s 501, probably not butted, so I wouldn’t invest much. I have a rear fixed wheel of the same vintage you can have for postage, and a newer front wheel. Both 700c bolt on. The caliopers may drop that far, since they are old.

Hi guys
I never thought id be so excited about this new world.
What a difference a day makes
Yesterday on the new FS tweaking the suspension
Today drooling over peoples custom Fixie / SS rides and Flip Flop? hubs

I checked and indeed she is 531 not 501!

By the Way brakes are Weinnmann and rear mech Simplex?

Tektro R365 or R369 brakes have a 55 -73mm drop and are good for putting 700c wheels in 27″ frames or there are some dirt cheap Alhonga ones you can get but they’re a bit flexy in my opinion. 27″ wheels may look right but decent quality rims at a decent price are hard to find. If it is 120 or 126mm rear OLN and you want gears you can still get screw on hubs but be wary as the cheap ones have poor bearings and no sealing, also free wheels aren’t the best as lower grade these days. You can space a modern shimano road hub (e.g. Tiagra) to 126mm by removing a spacer and cutting the axle down but it will increase the wheel dish.

Rear is 120mm.
Really want to run this singlespeed now
Is this any good or should I look at individual options?
SSC

Keef YGM

Looks good.

Looking at where the brake blocks are positioned (assuming 27″ were fitted), then I think you’ll be alright with 700c as you only need to drop brake block centre line by 4mm to make up the difference!

120 OLN spacing is odd, generally older road bikes are 126/128mm and 120 is generally track spacing.

Looks like a cottered BB, so unless you have the cranks and want to use them then suggest changing them.

I’m all for older steel road bikes, one day I might join the 21st century and get something made of Carbinium Tight Anium, but until then, I’m enjoying my 9.5kg 27″ wheeled 40 year old ‘jackson

Think my Raleigh Arena is 120mm on the rear. Forks are narrow though, can’t fit a standard hub in there

Thanks STW I’m inspired!
Will update with final choices (now to justify more bike build bits to wife two weeks after new FS) 😛

Taff – Member

Think my Raleigh Arena is 120mm on the rear. Forks are narrow though, can’t fit a standard hub in there

Pictures, please!

I’d love to do a Medale or Arena paintjob on a modern steel frame, complete with shortie guards.

120mm was 5 speed and was still hugely popular around the early 80’s. I;ve got two sets of geared 120’s

S/h very good quality 27″ wheels go for about ~£80 on Retrobike. I sold a pair of MA40/Campag Record hubs in great nick on there recently. Having said that, I’d go 700c if you can sort the brakes. Spa do decent 700c wheels for just over £100. Get the rear cold set to 130mm as well, don’t piss about with 126mm.

You should be able to pick up good preloved kit on Retrobike for brakes/ders etc. There’s loads of old good stuff knocking around for not much money you just need patience.

I’m still running an 80’s steel tourer with a few modern additions. It’s my fave bike and probably has in excess of 100k miles on it.

Going to stick with the indended 27″ wheels, maybe a flip flop rear for fixed one side, freewheel on other
Spacing is def 120mm

boblo what cranks are on your lovely Tourer? liking the Silver

looks like 44t / 17 will be the fit for SS; does this sound OK?

If I had to add another cog at rear what would it be 20?

mailed you back,44/17 should be ok !

The crankset is an old Stronglight 99 double with a triple converter middle ring from Highpath. This gives me 24/36/48 and a stainless middle ring that gets most of the wear. The only original kit on it are the bars, crankset and front der.

Finally finished building her
My thanks to Keef for the wheels, crank and coffee and STW massive for all the advice
First ride tonight 😀

80’s dream

Might need some pedals or it’ll be a very short ride 🙂

Have fun.

Nice one 🙂 Currently working on a similar project with my old 80’s Record Sprint.