nice clean up.why if it doesn’t fit?tinkering is fun ,I guess.enjoy

Way to Go Luftie, very nice. That must be the biggest frame Raleigh makes. I just received a 62 cm. cc. to top of seat tube Raleigh Competition frame from Holland. I like your colors very much. Brakes your legs you must have steel muscles. 52/17 on the hills you better wear a hardhat and go easy. I have 52/18 on a Raleigh with 630 rims and 32 mm tires for a big circumference and like my brakes front and rear. Nice ride and nice photo setting as well.

Love the raleighs. Man that’s a tall bike. Is this raleigh from the english builds or the american? My main commuter is an american raleigh marathon and my cruiser is an english raleigh sprite 27. I love them both to death. Great bike.

Love it. There is something special about the classic road bike that can’t be found in the latest and greatest carbon everything.

@ Alan. When you’re doing twenty five downhill at 52-17 without a brake it’s a little hard to brake for a no-warning red light, and why go through the trouble at eleven pm on the vacant streets of the retail district, where most buildings are for lease and people go to bed at 9pm. Yell all you want because I’ll be out of sight and rounding the next block. In daytime I’ll be the proper gentleman and signal my turns but when the night comes out its free ride.

wsb? what kind of awesome herb do you smoke?

Luftmensh, is this all the hype you build up for yourself after critiquing everyone about how their bikes look? I was expecting something more from you, man… Sure, nice parts and all but this is just like any other bike out there… Then again, it’s not how the bike functions, it’s how the cyclist rides. Cheers, MANE!

Love,
Douche McFarlen

looking forward to it, buddy!

running reds at night,brakeless,going way too fast!getting old sucks-thank God we seldom grow up.way to go,enjoy and ride fast and hard.

@ douche, gary. What’re your rides, then?

Exactly. Beautiful chaos.

Looks clean, I like it….

dont even bother with the wd40, pick yourself up some naval jelly. be careful with it, wear gloves. brush it on. 15 minutes later wash it off. voila! nice ride, and i wouldnt stop for lights that late either

Naval jelly. Is that a home depot thing? Thanks guys I’ll check it out.

Raised in the Northwestern United States.

Luftmensh, did the chainwheels bolt together in 1979 or did you drill them out to get the 52 ? my 70′s Raleigh Record made in England had the press fit 52 onto the crank and rivets attaching the 42 . it also has cottered crank not the square tapering cotterless. Thanks

Luftmensh, did you lower the saddle and reattach the front brake after the photo to keep it Real? I hope so unless this is track only.

Go fuck yourself, John Thompson. Who the fuck are you or your 12 year old son? Jesus. Excuse me for building a budget bike. Did I mention this was my first complete build? And how many times do I have to say this isn’t my personal ride before it gets through your thick skull? And having never submitted to this gallery, because all are different, I was unaware of the size limitations on pictures. Moron? Fuck you. What do you ride? You wanna call me out then lay out your cards old man cuz I ain’t bluffin.

Luftie! You’re back. Just been reading “cheap but bling” Oh I cried with laughter, litrally. I got given a stem yesterday. A propper one off a cheap Raleigh racer. It’s on the bike now. You may admire it when the pics I submitted pop up here. I like this putting bikes together on a shoestring lark. It is amazing what you can get away with when you go into a real old style bike shop and say “Have you got any old bits you can’t sell” The “Wasp” got a new stem too.Tubular steel construct.V.light+brand new. 6 of our English pounds. What’s that in Colonial? About 10 bucks, maybe. I’m not up on exchange rates. Gotta wake the wasp keeper soon or ther’ll be no time for a spin in the lanes before we have to present ourselves for a meal out in town.Bless his Mum. She’s having to work today. Keep you eyes peeled on here for my single speed ATB coming soon.It was a very quick build with bits from the garage and the use of an angle grinder. It’s not tidy! Expecting some genuine vitriol and eloquence from you. Don’t let me down. Cheers mate!

Look out for “As bad as it looks” I’ve submitted it. Just have to wait for it to go through the proccesses. It could be an interesting ride when I spend some real time on it.

Hey Luftmensh, just as I thought. Finally someone calls you out and critics your bike and look at the low life, trailer trash response you have. Coursing and using this crap language just because someone did not like your way below average bike. How should all the people respond to you, all those people you have been talking down to and hassle and pester, acting like you are a pro? This is your first finished bike?????? The only thing you can do is talk, but you can’t do the walk. You had been badgering almost everyone’s bike on this site with your dumb ass critique and with your vile and derogatory comments and acting like you know everything and we find out you have only built one bike!!! Just like I said, you have absolutely, absolutely no basis to critique anybody’s bike on this site you wonna be. You are below amateur. My advice to you again, is email Gabriel and beg him to help you to build a nice bike……… “Cuz I ain’t bluffing” Looser.

I like this- it’s a nice clean conversion.
The chrome stem and bars look great with the light paint, and I like the lugs on the frame.
As for rust removal, a disc wire brush bolted to either an angle grinder or power drill worked wonders on The Wasp. The metal is still quite pitted but Hammerite Smoothite sorted it out. I’m still planning a powdercoat or enamelling job for it, when i can afford to.
Cheers Luftie

John Thompson: My first COMPLETE build. I’ve worked on other bikes but didn’t know how to do all of the labor or didn’t have the tools. French Graffiti was my one of my other partial builds. And my basis for critique is as equal as anyone else here. That’s why it’s opinionated. I don’t mind critique on my bike but obviously I’ll get upset when you call me a moron on the basis that I don’t know how to use a computer, and therefore I don’t know how to build a bike. So go ahead and keep ripping this apart because this bike means little to me by comparison, because it isn’t my pride and joy. Once again I ask, if you can build something better than where is it? Or do you build bikes at all? Because I want to know your basis of argument other than your not liking me. And please stop with the Gabe comparisons. Few people can attain such lows, and when you see my piece de resistence, even if it’s not to your taste (whatever that is), you’ll drop that Gabe comparison like a bad habit. So I’ll do my best to post my baby in the next few days and you can try to say something bad about it, but without any proof that you even own a bike your opinion is completely, completely worthless to me. Cheers.

The only four letter word beginning with F should be FORK on this cool and calm site. Computers have longer memories than my X

WSB-how about FREE?thats one of my favorites!

love the “insult heritage ect “thought?just be careful,some of my most expensive projects started off as free(cars,boats,)cheers

Um, thanks? Haha. I’ll try to be more calm with my next posted bike.

WSB: haven’t sold it yet. Would like a brake but I am broke and my bike budget is zilch for the next two years.

Luftie, I can take a center pull off my freebie Huffy , I think it is diacompe and will fit your Raleigh. a Freebie for this site’s most active (if somewhat Caustic at times) critiquemeister ! How to get address and stay anonymous is ?

I don’t necessarily think that was something to say thank you to, I was just stating a fact. It was less in defense about the comments you leave and more in defense of your right to leave them.

Hey WSB I forgot to mention I bought a sixer of negra modelo, now that’s a tasty beverage. Would that be considered a porter? It’s dark but thin unlike stouts.

I like Negra Modelo. the Porters I have had are usually more bitter than Negra Modelo. Too much hops for my taste as is Beck’s which I used to like. Sometimes the expensive brews are too long on the shelf. Pilsner Urquell is usually good if fresh enough. About the brake , I was wrong it is a side pull steel chromed and made in Japan in good shape and the lever is a 22 mm. which fits on the 70′s size bars. white cable, let me know. It is easier side pull because the center pull needs the gizmo off the stem and some stems interfer with the straight shot down to the center of the caliper. I measured it and it should fit on both the 630 or 622 rim. 27′s are 630 as you know. your 79 is probably the 630 (27) let me know if you want it.

@Raleigh Power. We’re disrespectful of others? Really? Are you sure you understand the difference between criticism and disrespect? Because they’re two very different things. Have you read the “about” section of this site? It kind of sums up what it’s all about. The funny thing is you’ve actually singled out a handful of people that actually have intelligent, humorous, insightful and witty things to say.

flipant perhaps,personally disraspecful no.this is a place where all and sundry share opinions,good or bad.i think i have a good build(again-my opinion).it works for me in my world.it will get changed around as time goes by and when it does i’ll subject myself to the abuse,listening for nuggets and ideas.i don’t recall anyone flipping out(maybe some baiting the trolls).opinions are like tittys.everyone has ‘em but some ars ugly as hell.how do you define a “nice build”.one where you cruise around town high in the risers that the LBS put on your Leader.whilst allyour bud dudes tell you how cool that whip is?Or out at dawn,down in the drops,trying to pass the local velo club,chipped frame be damned?sorry if i offended you.one more time,it’s my opinion only.

Do you consider “Fuck You” and “You are a piece of shit” and “I hope you die” and a few other disrespectful, despicable, abominable and depraved comments intelligent, humorous, insightful and witty? Maybe you should look up so you can understand the difference between criticism and disrespect!! I never said anything about Freedom of Speech and all that and you can copy all day long the ABOUT section of this website. It just shows your ignorance and stupidity and it jut shows the fact that you have absolutely no clue about the issue. You can not come up with one instant where I said anything about you can not post. You can not show me one time where I said that. This is America, it is a free country and you can post all you want. However nowhere in the about section of this website tells you that you can use those disrespectful, despicable, abominable and depraved comments to the other people posting on this site. Yes there is a big difference between criticism and disrespect. Especially when you post with a condescending, arrogant, snobbish “I know it all” and “I am better than you” style and then we find out it is all without merit and all without basis. Look what happened when one of you got criticized about his bike, just look at the words!! NG, CS, WOODEN SHOE BIKER AND A FEW OTHERS PARTICULARLY SLOMAN, LUFTMENSH AND KUMAI, you people turned this great site into a low class, trashy site. It is very sad and you all should be ashamed of yourselves.

Dear John, you have a point and I agree we should keep it clean and polite. These comments are not always stuff you would post in the church bulletin. I am surprised you retype some of the worst. NG is always respectful from what I read, sloman also very cool and enjoyable etc. CS is very knowlegeable and Alan has a great humor. Is there another site ? Old Bike blog is no longer. Old Ten Speed is very polite but stuck on one topic and not fixed yet. Have a pleasant day.

Alan, you must take out the extra pee from apology !

No, SHIT !

Mid life Crisis Lasts Decades from my experience if you let it. Ride on and be happy. Illegitimus non tatum Carborundum.

I’ll try to clean my mouth out with soap but I can’t hold my tongue when comments are made like John Thompson’s “Hate to ride your bike you build because if you can’t even do a simple thing like submit pictures – you needed two tries you moron – the quality of your bike has to be atrocious.” Now that just isn’t constructive criticism about the bike. Once again, where’s his bike?

Raleigh Power: how many posts have you seen on here? Granted, I’ve ripped on some pretty badly, but on every post are thoughtful and comical comments which make it worth trudging through the harsher ones.

I’ve submitted my personal ride, The Tank, so go at it. Cheers.

Wow! This bike is so plain and ugly. Better luck on the 2nd build. Ha!

She did my ironing last week too. Just my shorts though. Nice lady. To have a son turn out like that, eh? I don’t know. You do your best for them, ect,ect. Ha,ha.

It’s so true with the above comments, You & Alan talk the whole world of shit about other builds here but you lame fucks don’t have nice bikes to back it up.

You apparently can’t read DeepV because I’ve said it ten thousand times on this post. This was my budget build, and I’ve submitted my personal ride, The Tank, which should be up anyway day now.

I’m assuming you probably don’t have a bike at all, like John Thomson, and like to trash talk those who do just for the sake of being an a-hole. We may
not all have Bianchi Pista’s but we at least have bikes we’ve built ourselves, which is more than I can say for you up to this point. So if you want to gain any credibility I suggest you post your “masterpiece” or tell us which is yours and I’ll consider taking you seriously.

Cheers.

scozzy + 1. I’m all for opinions and criticism about bikes, but yeah, the trash talk that has nothing to do with bikes or opinions or anything really is pointless.

Tell me about it. I don’t want to resort to petty namecalling but these yahoos bring out the worst in me. Even in all my snobbish criticism do I rarely or outrightly try to attack the rider. That’s when it gets messy.

I feel we have had a break through. Lets all have a group hug. While in the circle, kick directly in front and try to catch someone in the sack.

ok….

Luft: I dig the bike. I’m a Raleigh fan. I don’t exactly know why. I have a 67 Record SS and a 08 Mojave mountain bike. I guess I like the “heritage”.

I feel an inner peace. Maybe it’s the caffeine.

Thanks scoz.

I agree. Apparently some people on this Earth got the memo with a spelling error that read “douche” instead of “mentsh”.

Shalom.

Ah, I feel the bonding begining. It is after all about the bikes, and hoe they make YOU feel. Only you will know if your bike isn’t set up right. Just looking at a bike won’t tell us anything coz we are all different shapes and sizes. That is the beauty of “the bike” as a concept. Different people can ride the same frame just by changing the stem and moving the saddle. Me+and MJ are about the same hieght, but I’ve got a shorter back than him, longer legs and arms I borrowed from a gibbon.His set up won’t suit me, but I can move the saddle up or down+play with the bars. Hey presto! Comfy again.At the end of the day(uk football cliche’) We are all bikers(not sure about slimycameltoe) So the enemy is the boys in tin boxes, the weather+our own limitations. Mine grow daily, by the way. Love the way you guys chuck up subjects on here.Me and MJ were trying to yhink of a way to fit film quotes in our comments. Any one know the joke about Luke Skywalker having trouble with chopsticks? We thought we could corrupt the punchline if Luftie ever has headset trouble.

Nicely said Alan. I’m trying to sell it tonight so wish me luck. It deserves more than the spot beside my bookcase, even in it’s “current state.”

Campagnolo parts don’t come cheap. A seat tube recently went for $91 on ebay it was in Holland. I bought the frame for a little more than that but shipping was 70 and frame only with Shimano headset and tange bb (no campy parts on it other than the name near the spot derailer used to hang from on the right chain stay) Good luck with the sale.

You could try punting it round any basketball games out your way. Lots of tall guys who may need a big bike there I would guess. Gotta go where the market is. Wouldn’t do to advertise it in “Dwarf Weekly” is what I’m saying.

Ha,ha,ha! Damn Scozzy! You are as daft as me. At 5′ 6.5″ I’ve been accused of being a lawn ornament loads of times, but I can kick the top of a door frame still. That tends to make the 6 footers pause. Now where did I leave my fishing rod+red pointy hat?

The gentle giant took it for a spin. Will consult giant wife. Hope to hear tomorrow. Cheers.

Ask Gentle Giant if wife consults when she buys shoes. Sounds like a way of saying probably not going to buy. Pour him a whiskey and shoot him a low price cash only, but take off the $Campagnolo parts first. If you have a 20 cog put it on so he flies off the line and figures the bike is real light and fast.

lol @ the kid who asked if it could barspin. that’s all fixed gears really are to the younger community, at least over here. i’m proud to say i got a fixed gear to speed down the streets and make it to my locations in record time.

Fads and fashion! Arghhhh! They see a youtube vid and think”WANT”b ut have no comprehension of,,,well any thing really. Age has it’s compensations as well as the many frustrations. Slo and WSB will agree no doubt. Spent the day planting a plum tree and tomatoes and strawberries. Got to play with bikes later. A,B.A.I.L. now has chopped downturned drops. Am I getting “HIP” yet? Ha,ha.MJ has changed the bars and headset on his clunker, and we are in the process of doing bb to allow frame clearance for the steel single 46 chainring we took of the salvaged Raleigh girls bike. Some of the bits are even shiny, gasp! Kind of a busy day. Meeting at work tomorrow to see if I still have a job. Fun,fun,fun. The best to you all, Alan.

Good luck Alan. If you’re as pleasant a worker as you are a bicycle enthusiast you’ll be promoted in no time. Cheers.

luft you’re a star, only 4 away from cheap but bling

Allan Flint and Son can also start a Web Site, he is a very good and entertaining commentor and keeps it polite with humor. Fixed Gear Wasp. Also need import / export business he is in England and Raleigh and Morris and Pashley parts are hard to find in Peoria !

Congratulation Professor Luflmensh at 121 this is the tie breaker. Sorry Snipertoe. Whip Ster will be fine as the Site name when do you open for Contributions?

Yeah right WSB. As if there isn’t enough conflict, discussion, controversy, entertainment, and images on this site alone. It’d just be a clone. The “other” forum you’d have to upload pictures to and post comments on. I think myfixedgear has served us so well as innovative web site that combines forum and gallery, a stroke of genius in my opinion, that it can’t really be improved upon or succeeded. Or at least not in a way I can think of. I did fixedgeargallery before this, which was great for my daily fix, but I’d want to comment often on horrible builds and that just wasn’t possible, at least until myfixedgear came around, and it entirely changed the dynamic experience of a “fixed gear gallery,” and I unfortunately stopped visiting the latter web site for this reason. Cheers.

Haha. Well now that the Raleigh essentially is out of the picture I’ll have to work on my wife’s single speed. It’s not a bad little cruiser. I’m sure you guys (and haters too) would probably dig it (or dig into it). I’ll start work right away!!
I’m glad my ranting could be of service to you folks. Cheers.

I’m currently working on a (probably) rather controversial raleigh. Think 90′s mtb with road wheels and cx tyres, single speed if I can’t do fixed (it has vertical dropouts but it should be fairly easy to do) and quite random bars. All wrapped up in some mad paintjob. Will post it when it’s working ok so everyone can rip the hell out of it.
Very soon it’ll be a case of “there’s too many goddamn bikes in this goddamn garage” (it’s only about 16 including naked frames atm)

Luftie, if you don’t sell this bike raffle it off or list it here as Gabriel does. Whatever don’t spray it white we don’t want another Ghost Buster.

bring it on MJ!Sounds perfect.

Where is JT ? Is he jqnyc ?

Semantics? I have no problem with people wanting to speak Yiddish. Maybe I misunderstand.

Beam me up Luftie. Set phasers to stun and call me Scotty. Luftie the Vulcan for 1st officer. Cloggy for Medic, Wes for the mad Sulu and Slo can be the Russian gunner. Treking here we come!

Sounds cool but the H are district nurse bars? I googled it and all I got were district nurses, so I’m thinking it’s gotta be some of your famous brit slang.

Similar to those on retro Raleigh pathrace. See the most votes section. Looks a lot like that.

Aha! I’ve found out about those bars. WSB mentions them every now & then: North Road Bars.
http://www.theoldbicycleshowroom.co.uk/alloy-north-road-handlebars-422-p.asp
That’s what’s on my bike, same way as in the second pic

It’s just such a different style.

I think the term North Road may be something to do with the old A1. The road that runs up from London to the north of England. Some1 out there may know for sure.

Raleigh is SOLD. Wish I wouldve been taller.

Supposedly there’s a barn bike I can have but the old folks giving it to me need to bring it into town and then I have to pick it up in Seattle. That and my budget will be based on selling parts off of it, which will suck.

Haha. That’s the spirit. You’ll have to send the message via telepathy to the new owner. If it was mine to keep I would have done it a lot differently.

Lol. I couldn’t afford one dude. It’s called being broke and that’s counter intuitive to the whole trust fund starving artist hipster thing.

Portland. Why?

there isn’t a block in this part of the city that’s flat. even the parking lot’s are sloped.

@fab: Dude most of these parts WERE on the giant. the whole wheel setup, that is: rims, tube, tires, lockring, cog, chain, all that came off the giant, as well as the straps. the only stuff i bought for the raleigh was a ten dollar pair of no name drops and a rock hard ten dollar saddle. i did take the stock saddle from the raleigh though, a decent velo gel saddle. i don’t know how flat it is where you live but 52-13 is pretty close to a track ratio (correct me if i’m wrong) and is murderous on the hills, because i rode the raleigh with this ratio and it sucked. i’m at 42-17 right now on the giant and the hills are doable and my top end is pretty decent. so no dude, the raleigh’s parts aren’t an upgrade, and even if i wanted to use the crank, the 52 tooth chainring and crank arm are one piece. i don’t know if you or anyone realizes how much i’ve done to the tank but here’s a list of aftermarket: bb, crank, chainring, chainring bolts, chain, pedals, straps, strap covers, clips, cog, lockring, rims, tires, tubes, rim tape, valve caps, risers, brake lever and caliper, bar tape, saddle (sort of), and the steerer tube cut 1″ and re-threaded. the only original stuff is the frame, fork, stem, and seatpost, so the current setup that so many people bash in no way resembles the original thing, and let me tell you, the stock components were garbage and irksome to use on a daily basis for commuting. like i’ve said before, as cheap and aesthetically lacking as the giant came, i’ve done well with it so far. i’d like to do more but i basically live check to check and rarely scrounge up enough money to buy anything but decent components. does that answer your question?

it’s cool i’ve just finally realized there’s a lot of personal history behind all of our bikes, and to say that one bike has infinitely better parts than another just doesn’t seem to translate anymore. each bike is a different experience and represents its rider. and especially in the fixed gear culture the bike is almost never finished because our tastes constantly change. most of the time the end result rarely resembles the journey it’s gone through, and it’s this journey that’s almost more valuable than the end result. so yes it’s a sensitive subject but don’t be sorry for asking, i’m glad you did, more people need to. i didn’t take offense i just wanted to let you know the back story. cheers.

nope never see it. the tank shows me love.

I see you still like Raleigh as Punchblade or Luftie. I think the Sugar Rey could be the Marathon model . My 85 has the same Raleigh on the chain stay. Made in Taiwan as the nearly invisible transfer at the very bottom of the seat tube said. I removed the transfer and any other decals/transfers that were removable. The marathon name was sprayed on it seems not peelable. Thanks for the link donovanjdouglas and the profile. I can sleep tonight.

If i kept it they wouldn’t be bare, you know that woody.

don’t bad mouth Bianchis or you find out ’bout break legs.

this bike sucks!!

So where is Luftmensh/Punchblade ? off making babies ?

Brakeless and Tapeless in Portland. Donde estas Luftmensh ? Wo bist du Liebchen ?

Curious how he got a Campy Super Record bottom bracket it that shell.

Why are my posts not posting. ?

Hey John Thompson, it’s “loser”, unless you were insinuating he is sexually frivolous.