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Love my Lenton....but

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LouB

Look Ma, No Hands!
as the title says...but that 49/46 Williams half-step chain ring and the Cyclo 5 speed (big ring is 22T) is just too tough for me to enjoy riding. First off--what were they thinking? be ok for Kansas or Miami, but cant imagine anywhere else that would have worked. So, if I'm going to keep and enjoy the bike, I need to change the drive train. I want to keep it old school. I have a 52/36 cottered crank that would slip right on. So...what to match up to it. What FD/RD and what free wheel whould work (upper 20's to low 30T's.) Not sure if there is anything British that would work, but that not critical...just want to enjoy this oh so British bike, retain its character as much as possible and not die on the hills around here.
RLGP 03.jpg
RLGP free wheel.jpg
 
Lou, your front derailleur should work fine with your new crank/chainrings.
Next trick is find a freewheel.
You're going to have to remove the old one and measure the overall thickness (width), and match that with a new (old stock) freewheel.
aaP6120001.jpg

Good news is the threads should be easy to match.
A call to Yellow Jersey would be smart - he can probably fix you right up, or make a great recommendation - he's also the first choice for rebuilding old freewheels.

Any short-cage rear derailleur from the mid-60s through 70s should work fine with a 28t max rear cog. Chain wrap shouldn't be an issue.
The 36T/28t combination would give you a 35" low gear, which should get you out of the Olmos Basin in any direction, just fine.
Right now, your low gear is 57", and I can't blame you for squirming with that.
(yesterday on the final climb, when I pulled away from you on my Moser, I was in a 66" gear, and made most of that climb in a 73" gear - just checked my gear chart).

Any RD older than '86 should work fine with the cable pull of your stock shifters.
I have a nice Shimano 600 EX RD you can check out - very high mileage, bought new in '78.
968CD72B-7B15-4A3C-922A-9AED0010B3FA.jpg

Ran since '78 to about 6 years ago on my Grand Prix, and started off my Moser before I made the Chorus upgrade - it has the red jockey wheels below.
aP5190022.jpg

I have that French stem set aside to bring next week, I'll add the RD to the cigar box

If you want to keep your RD in the family, look for a Cyclo Super 60 RD
IMGP5667-filtered.jpg

But the Shimano 600 EX is probably a better RD, and came new on many race bikes into the late 80s
And IMO, there is no better FD than Shimano 600 EX - still running on my International.
a000P1010006.jpg
 
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That just makes perfect sense. I'll get cracking on this. Its too sweet a ride to part with! Thanks Ron.
 
Just realized I have a Suntour GVT, long cage. That would work also--correct? with the correct width free wheel.
 
Ron, I have a Shimano 600 group of that same vintage minus that RD; if it is a spare I would be interested
 
Just realized I have a Suntour VGT, long cage. That would work also--correct? with the correct width free wheel.
Yes, it would work, but you don't need the long cage and big chain wrap. That kind of chain wrap is what you need with a triple, or if you go to even larger rear cogs (32t)
aPB150001%202.jpg


If you start going too wide with 5 rear cogs, (wider than 14-28t) with the 52/36T crank, you're going to have such cliffs in your gears (giant steps between gears) that you won't be able to ride with a group.

here's basically the gear chart we were discussing above - look at the semi-log graph and remember most of our riding is 65" to 85" - this the range narrow steps are a benefit, especially trying to keep up with friends on newer bikes.
It would be better if you could make that 52T ring smaller (48 or 49T on the big ring would be perfect)

What you don't want are gear steps larger than 10 inches from about 50" to 85+/-"
You wouldn't want wider rear cogs without going back to half-steps on the rings

However, look at this option using even wider rear cogs with the VGT, your original 49/46T half-step crank, and a 14-32t 5-sp freewheel (or even 14-34t)
This is a really good half-step gearset.
The low is equivalent to the lowest gear on my Moser (39"), and the steps are really nice for chasing in a group ride.
You would find yourself using every gear with nothing duplicated.
 
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Yes, it would work, but you don't need the long cage and big chain wrap. That kind of chain wrap is what you need with a triple, or if you go to even larger rear cogs (32t)
If you start going too wide with 5 rear cogs, (wider than 14-28t) with the 52/36T crank, you're going to have such cliffs in your gears (giant steps between gears) that you won't be able to ride with a group.

here's basically the gear chart we were discussing above - look at the semi-log graph and remember most of our riding is 65" to 85" - this the range narrow steps are a benefit, especially trying to keep up with friends on newer bikes.
It would be better if you could make that 52T ring smaller (48 or 49T on the big ring would be perfect)

What you don't want are gear steps larger than 10 inches from about 50" to 85+/-"
You wouldn't want wider rear cogs without going back to half-steps on the rings

However, look at this option using even wider rear cogs with the VGT, your original 46/49T half-step crank, and a 14-32t 5-sp freewheel (or even 14-34t)
This is a really good half-step gearset.
The low is equivalent to the lowest gear on my Moser (39"), and the steps are really nice for chasing in a group ride.
You would find yourself using every gear with nothing duplicated.
That's brilliant. Sounds like an excellent solution.-- and I've got some of the parts. I'll pull the parts tomorrow, measure the free wheel and go from there. Thanks Ron.
 
as the title says...but that 49/46 Williams half-step chain ring and the Cyclo 5 speed (big ring is 22T) is just too tough for me to enjoy riding. First off--what were they thinking? be ok for Kansas or Miami, but cant imagine anywhere else that would have worked. So, if I'm going to keep and enjoy the bike, I need to change the drive train. I want to keep it old school. I have a 52/36 cottered crank that would slip right on. So...what to match up to it. What FD/RD and what free wheel whould work (upper 20's to low 30T's.) Not sure if there is anything British that would work, but that not critical...just want to enjoy this oh so British bike, retain its character as much as possible and not die on the hills around here. View attachment 480576 View attachment 480577

The British always seemed glued to high gearing. The stock gearing on a 3-speed or 5-speed internal gear hub bike was 48-18, even on the 28 inch wheel DL-1. The club bikes had nice, medium-ratio hubs, but then the medium ratio was applied to 48-18 usually, still pretty high if you have hills to climb. I haven't even bothered with an 18 tooth cog in years. I really like 46-22 on a 3-speed, but high gearing seems to have been universal for Raleigh.

My 10-speed Grand Prix has 52 and 40 tooth front chainrings, which offers a pretty good range. In a perfect world, I think I'd rather do 48-40 or 48-38.
 
??? o_O
Not a 1960 Raleigh hub and axle with 114mm rear dropout spacing and 8mm axle.

I know, I just designed and had a custom hubset built by Phil Wood.
 
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