The Build

The aim with Ally’s Raleigh, which originally belonged to his father-in-law, was to stay as true to its original condition as possible. Although a few tasty upgrades and modifications were on the cards, we wanted to preserve the core bike that rolled out of A. Moore & Sons in Ballymena back in the 1980s.

It arrived with me completely disassembled and in really great condition, so progress was fast and hassle-free from the start. The paintwork and original chrome parts were almost perfect and only needed minor restoration work to be brought back to life.

The main change from factory spec. was the singlespeed conversion, done purely for simplicity and hassle-free maintenance reasons. We opted to roll with 46-18 gearing for a nice balance between acceleration and top speed.

The original steel hubs and rims were rebuilt with fresh stainless spokes and finished off with Raleigh Record white wall tyres.

A Brooks B17 in black was the cherry on top.

Beaut.

Gallery

Specification

Frame: Raleigh Courier
Forks: Raleigh Courier
Headset: Original unbranded
Bars: Raleigh branded drops, aluminium
Stem: Original unbranded
Bar tape: Brooks Microfibre, black

Brake levers: Dia-Compe BL-07
Brake calipers: Original unbranded
Brake cables: Clarks stainless kit

Saddle: Brooks B17, black
Seatpost: Original unbranded, steel
Seatclamp: Jtek allen bolt

Crankset: Raleigh branded cottered 46T
Bottom bracket: Original unbranded cup and cone
Chain: KMC Z510 1/8th
Freewheel: Sturmey Archer 1/8th, 18T
Pedals: Wellgo M-21

Hubs: Original unbranded, steel
Spokes: Stainless PG
Rims: Original unbranded chrome, steel
Tyres: Raleigh Record white wall, 26 x 1 3/8