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What should I do with this thing?

4K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  Lutarious 
#1 ·
I picked up this Raleigh Chill last summer second hand on the cheap. I'm guessing it's from 91-92 from some of the original LX components that were on it. It was in decent shape and pretty much just needed a full overhaul to make it ridable: all bearings, cables and housings, tubes, little stuff like that. It was pretty neglected and isn't perfect by any means. There was pitting in the headset races and the bb cups but I can live with that for now.

It's got semi horizontal dropouts which make me really want to build it up as a single speed. I've also thought about doing a whole retro project by finding era correct parts on ebay or whatever and just building it up as it was meant to be.

I don't know much about these frames. I can tell the main tubes are aluminum and that they were somehow bonded to the cromoly lugs but that's all I really know about them. There's no damage to the main frame and the only problem I can see with the frame and fork is that it needs some touch up paint in spots.

I don't know what to do with it so I'm hoping you all might give me some ideas. I'm open to anything. What da-ya think? What would you do with it if it were yours?

 
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#2 ·
I don't know much about Raleighs either, but that's not a bad looking bike. Ride it, would be my suggestion. Overhaul it (cables, housing, and lots of grease), and start riding it off-road or as a commuter (or both).
 
#4 ·
~martini~ said:
Of course, it would be fun to go SS on it now , wouldn't it?
I really can't get that idea out of my head. I also have been wondeing much this frame weighs. I didn't think to weigh it when I was rebuilding it but I keep thinking that it would probably build up as a fairly light rigid SS.

That's what I'm leaning towards now anyway.
 
#5 ·
Nice bike.

Raliegh was using the 'technium' process to bond alu tubes to cromo lugs - basically just gluing, except they seem to last a long time without the corrosion a lot of carbon/alu bikes had. Maybe ther's something between the steel and alu?

Anyhoo, I always liked them, but I think the advantage was one of cost - not of quality - compared to welding. I guess people were afraid to apply heat to alu back in the day.

And seeing as a SS conversion would cost you all of $0, I think that would make a real sweet little ride. Then you wouldn't have to worry about finding replacement 1st generation rapidfire shifter parts.
 
#6 ·
I had the Raleigh Heat.

It was a neat bike but it really felt dull no matter what I did to it like installing a Taperlight bar,Flite saddle,lighter tires...
Back in 1991 I always wondered how these bonded frame would hold up in the future but now I still see plenty of these bikes everywhere. You have a very nice example.Go SS if you like but I'd keep it the way it is,except I'd add a longer Tioga T-bone stem. Enjoy!
 
#8 · (Edited)
If you decide to ride this bike a lot, keep an eye on the brake cable and cable housing where it seats in the stop on the top tube behind the headset. We had a lot of problems with these and there sister bikes from Nishiki (both were owned by Derby Cycles at the time). The issue was especially bad on the Nishikis that had all three cables top routed as the front stops were set too close to the front end of the top tube. This meant the housing was difficult to route from the bar to the stop with a nice smooth bend and caused the cable housing to wear out and break at the ferrule and eventually would cause the cable to break if not caught in time. A couple of our customers were injured because of this (lost rear brakes) and Derby cycle refused to acknowledge that it was an issue. I eventually filed a complaint with the CPSC and don't know what happened from there. We dropped the line.
 
#10 ·
IF52 said:
If you decide to ride this bike a lot, keep an eye on the brake cable and cable housing where it seats in the stop on the top tube behind the headset.
I picked up the Chill today and it's dirty but all there. The cable housing is indeed in bad shape - looks like the stop is okay, but I'll replace the cable and housing and figure out the best possible length to seat it well. Thanks again for the info!

I've added the only two photos (poor quality) I have to my vintage site and will add more once it's done. The straight blade fork looks pretty cool. Once it's back together, I'll see how it rides. I've never ridden a dual material frame before.
 
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