The Raleigh Chiltern Restoration (updated)

update: In view of subsequent information I've updated this post to correct some errors and add a little more info on the bicycle.

I'm always cautious when offered a free bicycle.

More often than not the bicycle offered turns out to be low quality scrap iron the present owner couldn't be bothered to take to the place of recycling (no pun etc. etc).

I was offered a 'good' bicycle by the wife of it's Parkinson's Diseased owner.

This was very sad.

Mr. E had hoped to fix the bike up and ride it, but is now unable to do either.

The only information I could get, prior to me saying 'yes' was that it was a Raleigh and it was black.

Raleigh is not always perceived, in fact very rarely is, as a mark of quality, but this is to underestimate the resilience of the good old 'All Steel Bicycle'.

Raleigh did manufacture what I consider to be the generic 'push-bike' which seem to have more or less disappeared under a hail of shoddy mountain bikes from China (where most of Raleigh's, or any volume manufactures, product line comes from nowadays)

The classic push-bike is an unglamorous, utilitarian, sit-up-and-beg style, work-a-day machine, with calliper brakes, chrome wheel rims, SA 3 speed, but also available in single speed, full mudguards, chain guard, and soggy tyres.

Prior to collection I'd hoped it might  be the 'Pioneer' model which, although pretty bad, could be stripped for the frame if nothing else.

It turned out to be an early 1990's 22'in Raleigh Chiltern.

The most generic push-bikey push-bike ever.

It was in a very sorry state.

It's long stay in a shed had left it covered in dust, white paint flecks, and spiders.

Both front and rear tyres were flat and perished, the ends of the mudguards had rotted away, there was evidence of oxidisation bubbling up under the chain stay paint work, and it had an ugly saddle.

It's at this point I wish I'd taken a 'before' picture.

Seriously, the bike was a heap and I cursed myself for saying yes to it.

I left it in the back garden while I considered what to do with it.

A couple of days later I gave it a good-looking-at and decided it wasn't to bad really.

Within minutes I realised all it really needed was new tyres and tubes (eBay £30), a clean, and bit of adjustment

I cleaned all the exposed metal & chrome work with wire-wool.

The chrome on the rear wheel being in the worst condition, but nothing that would stop it going round and round.

It has horrid galvanised spokes that will last till the crack of doom.

I cleaned a good proportion of the dust, white paint flecks, and spiders off, but haven't given the paintwork a proper clean with something like T-Cut yet.

Under the ugly saddle cover I found a Dunlop sprung leather saddle in need of serious repair.

I took it off, put it in my To-Do-Later-Box, and replaced it with my bouncy Dutch Lepper saddle.

I shortened both mudguards (bob-tailed) cutting as close to the rotten areas as I could, drilled some mounting holes, and did some gently-bending-with-the-occasional-thump-into-shape.

All the control cables have been lubricated, as have all accessible bearings (head-set, wheels).

The brake calipers have been re-aligned and adjusted.

The brakes would now be considered 'good' by the casual cyclist.

I wouldn't trust leather-insert brake blocks on chrome rims in the dry and it's suicidal to ride in wet weather on them.

Still, they work, and work well now, which is more to the point.

The arrival and fitting of the new tyres really sped things up.

They're a size I believe to be unique to Raleigh, 26 x 1 3/8ths or, 37 x 590.

I think Raleigh must have used this smaller sized wheel as it makes it easier to put ones feet on the ground whilst sitting in the saddle.

It's a false sense of security BTW.

The gears were still set up correctly, all three clicking in as quickly and as positively as any SA product.
The date stamp on the three speed hub is 91-04 which I take to mean that it was manufactured sometime in April 1990.
It's difficult to say when the bike as a whole was completed and sold from this, but it's probably within the same year.

Considering what goes on in the hub of planetary gears and the number of parts involved they very rarely have any faults.

Gear changing faults are usually due to incorrect gear cable adjustment.

Planetary gears, when compared to derailleur gears, are inefficient.

I read that riding in 2nd gear gives the 1:1 ratio.

Go to 3rd if the wind's behind you, go to 1st if the road goes up, and hope it doesn't go up to much.

The Raleigh Chiltern, despite its name, is built for going along.... to say, the post office or newsagent.

I didn't want to let myself get sucked into a nasty attack of bicycles. I just wanted to restore this bike to running order spending as little as possible.

I did blow the budget but no more.

This is the result:

A modest push-bike that does it job well and in some comfort.

The chain lightly brushes the inside of the chain guard, but I've isolated the cause and will not cease in my efforts to remove it lest it drive me mad.

update: Job Done

The maiden ride along the prom to where the pictures were taken was a pleasant hello birds, hello sky, hello sea, pootle with contented smiling.

Then temptation drew me to its delicious bosom.

Using the tools I'd bought with me just in case, I raised the saddle as high as it would go.

Still to short for me, but I could drive the bike on a bit better in this position.

200 yards of trying to thrash this machine helped me to realise its true push-bikeness.

This machine was built for comfort, not speed.

I dropped the saddle and adopted the smile again.

Of course the true test of the bike's stability is riding it 'look mum, no hands!'

Not only did I ride no-handed, but I filmed it as well.

Errr...

update: I deleted the video by mistake.

This bike is probably over 20 years old.

It seems to have done very little except stand in a shed.

If you put an equivalently priced mountain bike in a shed and return 20 years later to restore it I wish you well.

I'll have to give this bike a name of course.

Until its true personality is revealed, I'll call it 'Barry'.