Bicycle Wheels and Fender Touch-Up: 1958 Raleigh Sports

I previously have discussed cleaning up bicycle wheels using a Dremel Tool, and using bronze wool. This evening, I used a metal wire brush with brass bristles. Once again I employed WD 40, and the wheels for cleaning tonight were from the 1958 Raleigh Sports. As you can see, the rims are the Westrick/Raleigh pattern and in pretty good shape. The spokes are the stock, galvanized type and useable as well.





You may notice as well, I have a relatively large cog on the rear wheel. That is a 24 tooth Sachs cog from Bike Smith Design. They stock many obscure parts and tools for old Three Speeds, and I recommend them as a supplier.

 I am experimenting with the use of a Sturmey Archer SW (Super Wide ratio, wider than the AW slightly) with a 2:1 gearing ration of 48 in front and 24 in back. I like low gearing, but don't want to go too low. Sturmey apparently recommended not going beyond 2:1.









Earlier this week, I cleaned and polished the fenders. Raleigh black paint is well-known for its longevity. It often cleans up better than expected and tends to keep rust at bay pretty well. My advice is to polish the parts before you touch them up with paint. That way, you will know exactly what your cleaned up paint will look like, allowing you to better match your touch-up.










In the case of different colors, polishing will reveal the proper hue so you can mix and match your touch-up as needed. There's nothing more frustrating than doing the touch-up, then polishing and finding out your touch-up no longer matches. With black, you're not so much missing the color as the level of gloss. You'll want to know whether to use gloss, semi-gloss, or flat black. Polish your paint will give you an idea of what you need. Usually it's gloss or semi-gloss. With Raleigh paint in this condition, it will definitely be gloss.