Removing Creak from Crank Arms / Bottom Bracket:

Loud creak when pedalling? Is it particularly on one side? And on the downward power-stroke? Chances are it will be this.

On older bikes, the square-taper where the pedal-arm attaches to the crank is prone to loud creaking, particularly where an alloy arm fits to a steel axle, which reverberates up the whole bike and can be difficult to diagnose. This is particularly noticeable after the pedal-arms have been removed for servicing. They are notoriously difficult to set back down perfectly again and this is what causes the arms to creak through the whole frame. If they are out of flush by even just a tiny bit, they can creak. So...

• If you are removing your pedal-arms for servicing or fitting new ones then remember to grease the square-taper on the crank before banging the arms on, this will help reduce creaking even if they are a tiny bit out.
• The creaking pedal-arms could simply need knocking on a bit more to get them flush and kill the creak, so loosen the locking-nut and give the arms a few good whacks and see if they will seat better.
• If the above tip doesn't work then the pedal-arm will have to come off and be re-fitted. Remove the arms, grease the square-taper and re-fit the arms making sure they go on securely and even.

https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/124/creaking-from-cranks-spindle-how-to-fix

Raleigh/Carlton Grand Prix: Bottom Bracket / Crank Restoration + new bearings + removing stuck crank

OK, lets do the bottom bracket / crank now. I've been meaning to do this all year, but found both my pedal arms are seized good style, having been on for 40 years, so I removed both 15mm lock-nuts and after two weeks of hard riding the left-side pedal arm finally popped off. I forgot to bring the lock nuts with me, so had to complete my ride home, some 2.5 miles, using only my right pedal, which amused pedestrians and other cyclists alike!

As you can see below, the BB could be worse after four decades, but is still pretty gunked up and nasty.

The locking-ring and lock-side bottom bracket came off pretty easily, but the drive-side pedal-arm would still not budge even after much soaking in WD40 and various manipulation, so I had to just do the job with the arm and chain-wheel in place. I did this by wedging a 16mm spanner in between the chain-wheel and bottom-bracket and just about got it moving enough to remove. Shame, as this side of the BB is painted along with the frame, but ah well after a bit of hammering the paint broke and it unscrewed.

Both sides of the BB and the skewer cleaned up real nice with plenty of WD40 and elbow-grease (above). Sadly, I could not get it into work this weekend to polish any components or beat the grease off the skewer with a brush-wheel. Next, I applied plenty of new grease to the drive-side BB and fitted all new 1/4-inch ball bearings (below), even though the originals were OK and could be re-used. The Grand Prix and other Raleigh cranks of this era take 11 of the 1/4" ball-bearings in each race.

I then caked the bearings in lots of fresh grease and also put a liberal coating of grease up the length of the skewer to prevent corrosion and just make sure there was plenty more grease in the bottom-bracket, as per John Gurnee's restoration of Craig's Raleigh Grand Prix in this blog - http://johns-recycled-bicycle.blogspot.com/2012/06/craigs-raleigh-grand-prix-restoration.html

Next was the lock-side BB, caked with fresh grease and 11 new ball-bearings. 

I then cleaned up the inside of the bottom-bracket on the frame, which is in pretty good shape (I really should re-spray the frame while doing these jobs to preserve it, but don't want to lose the Carlton factory colours and stickers yet) and sprayed a good bit of WD40 up the frame-tubes the night before doing this, which can do no harm.

And, while the chain-wheels were off the bike I though it would be a good time to strip them down and clean up the areas I previously could not reach along with the screws. They are a mixture of Japanese Sakae and Shimano all-alloy lightweight parts, which I love and are in really great condition for their age, so I am pleased they have all come up so nicely.

Last was re-fitting the bottom-bracket / crank assembly. This was quite difficult balancing the bike while the drive-side pedal and arm were still attached without losing any bearings from the open races or getting grease everywhere, but was more than doable. The whole assembly looks much, much neater now and does not creak and 'boing' as I lean the bike under acceleration, but again it's a shame I couldn't get the BB parts into work and polish them properly. Still, a good job that's been overdue for ages!

Raleigh/Carlton Grand Prix: Setting Rear Derailleur [Huret Challenger '70s + other vintage mechs]

Setting up the rear derailleur is essential if you've fitted a new one or replaced your free-wheel. I fitted a freewheel with slightly smaller ratios and a new rear wheel which may have had slightly different spacing and found that I could no longer select the largest cog, while selecting the smallest cog would easily throw the chain off.

The Challenger, like all French-made Huret mechs and a lot of other vintage derailleurs, are simple in design and do not require a lot to set up. Online guides show modern and more complex mechs with functions that vintage ones lack.

1. Loosen the nut holding the gear cable at the rear derailleur and allow the cable to slacken. [It is likely a small bolt with a hole that the cable runs through and the nut holds the cable in position.]

2. Press the gear-lever fully forward, parallel to the cross-bar so the cable is in its full loose position.

3. Set the chain at the smallest / outermost cog on the freewheel.

4. Set the outer-limit of the derailleur's movement by adjusting the H-screw until the upper jockey-wheel is in line with the smallest cog of the freewheel. [This is the foremost of the two small screws located on the side of the derailleur itself.]

5. Pull the gear cable tight and tighten the nut holding it in place at the rear derailleur.

6. Pedal forward and draw the gear-lever up until the largest cog of the freewheel is comfortably selected. [The inner-limit screw on the mech may prevent this and will need adjusting first.]

7. Set the inner-limit screw [or B-screw] on the derailleur to prevent it going any further than the largest cog. [This is the left-hand screw located to the rear on the derailleur.]

Raleigh/Carlton Grand Prix: New Brake + Gear Cables - COMPLETE GUIDE

1. Front Brake Cable
2. Rear Brake Cable
3. Brake Straddle Cables

4. Gear Cables
5. Campagnolo Shifters

6. Setting Rear Derailleur / Mech

Raleigh/Carlton Grand Prix: Campagnolo Super Record Gear Shift Set [late '70s vintage]

Original chromed-steel Raleigh gear-levers, below, were perfectly functional, but showing a bit of rust and lacking the style of the alloy Campagnolo levers, above. These are Campagnolo Super Record of 1976 vintage, so are period correct for my bike and feature ring-type cable-guides as the Raleigh ones did, making them a straight swap with no hassle.

Raleigh/Carlton Grand Prix: Replacing Gear Cables [Jagwire Stainless / Braided Outers]

The gear cables were more or less a straight swap and did not require modification like the brake cables. I swapped in my vintage Campagnolo Super Record gear-shifters during this job, so if you are planning to change your shift-levers or front/rear derailleurs then wait until you are ready to fit them before replacing the cables.

My Jagwire kit came with 10 alloy ferrules. I guess this number caters for mountain bikers, as I struggled to find places were they would fit and ended up using just two of them, where the cable exits the outer at the derailleurs.

REAR:

The only bit of adapting required was to the metal ring that holds the cable-outer at the rear derailleur. The original aperture was 5.4mm and needed boring out a tiny bit to 5.8mm to allow the Jagwire ferrule to fit [2nd pic]. The old outer had no ferrule and fitted straight in to the metal ring, but was quite loose and sat at a bit of an angle anyway, causing the outer to split.

FRONT:

The front gear cable required no modification at all. The outer has nothing to hold it in place here, it just stops at a metal disc with a small hole where the cable exits the outer. I used an alloy ferrule here, but it just sits flush and is free to move, with only the tension of the cable holding it in place. It wanted to sit at an angle, so a cable-tie helps keep it straight. In future I will attempt to 3D-print a bracket that clips around the frame and holds the ferrule in position.

Raleigh/Carlton Grand Prix: New Weinmann Straddle Cables [New Old Stock '80s!]

My shiny new brake cables and outers looked great, but were let down by the rusty straddle cables that run from one side of the centre-pull brake to the other. Managed to find these, the exact replacement part, brand new old stock, found in an old bike shop that is now being cleared out. Nice one!

Raleigh/Carlton Grand Prix: Adapting rear brake for Jagwire stainless cables/outers.

I adapted the nylon ferrules in the top of the brake levers to fit the Jagwire ones in the same way as the front brakes, by boring out the centre-hole. This is better explained in this post: https://panabloga.blogspot.com/2018/04/raleighcarlton-grand-prix-adapting.html

The bracket on the rear forks that holds the outer and steel-ferrule has a tiny 4mm hole in it, which I carefully bored out to 4.5mm, 5mm and finally 5.8mm. This doesn't leave a lot of metal either side, maybe 1.5mm, but at least it is steel.

I caked the bracket in black paint, particularly in the freshly drilled hole. The 5.5mm diameter alloy Jagwire ferrule was slightly loose in the bracket, but tension from the outer cable holds it in place. I put a blob of black paint on the ferrule and slotted it into place before it had all dried, hopefully giving it an extra fix and minimising the alloy reacting with the steel.

The gold braided stainless-steel Jagwire outers look well retro on the '79 Grand Prix and won't bleed rust from the ends.

Raleigh/Carlton Grand Prix: Adapting front brake for Jagwire stainless cables/outers.

Old front cable was frayed around the nut and starting to unwind. Original nylon ferrule on the brake lever had seen better days and was allowing the outer to lean to one side.

The hole in the top of the alloy brake lever is too wide for the Jagwire ferrule to sit in, so it needed adapting into the original nylon one. 

First I took the nylon ferrule and bored the centre-hole out to 6mm. The diameter of the thinner part of the shank on the Jagwire ferrule is 5.5mm, so the hole was slightly too large in the nylon and only left about 1mm sidewall. 

I used strong epoxy resin to both fix the Jagwire ferrule in place and to reinforce the nylon ferrule. With a coat of black paint it looks quite smart and fits snugly back into the alloy brake lever, with the outer cable sticking straight up, as it should. Obviously, the ferrule is not fixed into the brake lever with anything, it is completely removable.

The original steel ferrule holding the outer on the head-stock bracket is held by an 8mm nut either side and snapped with hardly any force. This left a 5mm hole in bracket, not quite wide enough for the Jagwire ferrule. A benefit of the alloy ferrules in the upgraded stainless-braided Jagwire kit over the plastic ones, is that I was able to use an M6 die to thread the lower part of the shank.

This meant I could then bore out the hole in the head-stem bracket slightly and tap it to M6 thread as well, allowing the ferrule to screw directly into it. This not only solves the problem of fixing the ferrule in place, but I also think a larger hole in the tiny alloy bracket might weaken it too much.

It works fine in practice. Shame I couldn't thread the alloy ferrule all the way down the shank without damaging it, but it still just about has enough to come through the lower side of the bracket and seems pretty solid. The outer cable is straight again and looks a lot tidier.

Raleigh/Carlton Grand Prix: Red alloy seat-post.

Raleigh/Carlton Grand Prix: Maillard CXC vintage alloy pedals [early '80s]

I really like these vintage alloy pedals from Maillard in France. I believe they were fitted to some Peugeot and other high-end French bikes from about 1980-85. They're handy as they can be run with or without toe-clips, which I am not a fan of while commuting. The plastic Atom pedals that came on the bike have moulded toe-clips that cannot be removed and I find myself flipping the pedal over and using the underside, which doesn't give great grip. These alloy CXC pedals on the other hand are plenty grippy, though it does take a bit of work to get perched properly on them as you set off.

They're certainly well used, but have a great sporty patina. The bearings in both pedals spin freely with no weight on, but are completely dry and very noisy. The bearings are shot completely on the left pedal and there is significant play in it. This can be heard clinking from time to time while pedalling.

It turns out the bearings are 'swaged' in at the outer edge and are designed not to be removed. To give the bearings some lubrication I left them soaking in a tub of thick oil for 24 hours and then applied some fresh grease into the rim of the bearing using a small cable-tie end. In future I will remove the swaged-in bearings and replace them with removable, self-serviceable bearings. These will probably come from my original Atom pedals, as they are French and of similar vintage, so I am hoping they have a pretty similar if not identical bearing diameter. I will do a guide soon.

Raleigh/Carlton Grand Prix: New alloy wheels!

Raleigh/Carlton Grand Prix: KMC X10 EL Goldy looking' chain...

Raleigh/Carlton Grand Prix: New Fibrax Break Blocks [New Old Stock Early '80s]

The original Fibrax brake blocks have been on the bike for 40 years, but were still holding up OK. The front brake had been seized for a long time by the look of it, as the front blocks are only about half worn. The rear blocks are very worn on the other hand and I think the time has come to replace them.

I can find cheap reproduction brake blocks for as little as 99p each, though the original grey Fibrax ones have eluded me for a while. The set I have finally got hold of are new-old-stock Fibrax blocks from the early '80s, which is perfect, but they are however the white-coloured compound designed for BMX with solid Mag wheels. I am sure they are fine to use on alloy-rims.

Raleigh/Carlton Grand Prix: Cleaning the cogs...