1967 Raleigh Sprite 5-Speed

 

 I have more or less finished with the Raleigh Sprite 5-speed refurbishment. This bike came to me in pretty good condition on basically a local sale (I drove about 25 minutes each way, but sort of local still). 

 

The bike was basically all original - even the tubes, cloth rim strips, and shock-stop grips were there. 

I made relatively few changes. I put on a new set of Michelin World Tour tires (white wall, going off the period Raleigh catalogs); put in new rim strips; and and lubricated all the moving parts. 

 

The fixed-end cables were lubricated by removing them, hanging them up vertically, and then spraying white lithium grease down the cable cores and into the housings. Gravity then carried the semi-liquid grease downward and throughout the housings/cables.

 

I put on new brake pads - Kool Stop John Bull replacements. I used the standard Kool Stop black pads.

New additions are the retro LED lights - a Kiley bullet front to capture the look of the old Sturmey Archer, Miller, or Lucas units; and the rear is an Aluma-Lite rechargeable USB type. These lights capture the retro 1960s look, but with modern LED brightness for safety on busy roads. I added a classic 3-inch Miller bell to the handle bars for bike trail use.

Above: Aluma-Lite retro style LED mated to Miller bracket

 

The original Brooks B72 saddle was not in bad shape. It was a little dry, but still pretty good. I did a couple of test rides and decided to go with a Brooks B66 saddle instead. The B66 soaks up our bumpy New England roads a little better than the 72. But that's a personal taste sort of thing.

 

So far I have preserved the old, plastic shifters and the somewhat anemic sheet metal bell crank for the rear hub push-rod. These sheet metal bell cranks are not terribly robust, but let's see what it can do before replacing it entirely.

 

The old, grey shock-stop grips were too far gone to save. They actually had split some time ago, and someone tried to superglue them back together. That sort of thing usually doesn't work, but at least someone was trying to keep them going. I substituted in a set of black Dare grips, which are similar to the originals but black, and a whole lot more robust. 

I previously wrote about making your own bronze green paint from Testors model paints. It's not overly difficult, and I did a little bit of touch up on this bike. There wasn't a great deal of that to do, but while it's apart, why not make it look better?

I love the winged 5-speed graphics on these Sprites

 

The final product looks nice. I'm nearing the end of what I consider to be "test" rides. I'm getting fairly reliable shifting from the old shifter and bell crank, smooth running from the hubs, and decent enough braking from the pads. I am using a 24 tooth rear cog (48 tooth sprocket up front), which gives a very low gearing for hills, though the top gear still isn't bad when you have a tail wind or downhill. 

I love it when the pinstripes are still there...

 

Overall, I'm fairly pleased with how it came out. I'm keeping an eye on the bell crank and shifter set up. They're known for giving problems, though these are very low mileage and in good shape. If need be, I'll upgrade the bell crank, but will see how the original holds up to some more riding first.

I'm still enjoying summer riding, and this Sprite adds to the different vintage bikes I can pick for a nice, evening ride.

Not a bad result...