1968 Raleigh Superbe

[Bossman]

These old steel bikes are very strong. Personally, I would have no problem cleaning this up the best I can, service everything and ride! I would be more concerned about the weld at the seat stays/seat binder junction on this one.

 

[Bossman]

Great, thanks for that input, I feel better about this score now. I will carry on, clean it up and see what I find. I have a friend who is a skilled welder and can maybe look at the seat stays for me.

 

[Bossman]

Lug issue - doesn't look bad to me, based on those pictures. Yeah the joint is not perfect, but few of them are from this period of production. Clean up / rust remove and take a closer look, but I don't think you have a big issue there.

The chainstays near the stand are a little worse, it seems, being flattened and a bit rusty. But again, it doesn't seem too bad to me. Carefully remove the kickstand and do your usual rust removal. Check for cracks or breaks in the stay tube surface. If it cleans up and you have no cracks or breaks, you should be fine. You'll need to decide to how you want to address the flattening of the stays when you re-assemble. Those stands are notorious for crushing the stays. You might want to use a rubber liner if you put a kickstand back on to protect the stays from further damage.

These frames have a pretty good margin of safety because they're heavily built. Clean up and get to work, I say.

Lug issue - doesn't look bad to me, based on those pictures. Yeah the joint is not perfect, but few of them are from this period of production. Clean up / rust remove and take a closer look, but I don't think you have a big issue there.

The chainstays near the stand are a little worse, it seems, being flattened and a bit rusty. But again, it doesn't seem too bad to me. Carefully remove the kickstand and do your usual rust removal. Check for cracks or breaks in the stay tube surface. If it cleans up and you have no cracks or breaks, you should be fine. You'll need to decide to how you want to address the flattening of the stays when you re-assemble. Those stands are notorious for crushing the stays. You might want to use a rubber liner if you put a kickstand back on to protect the stays from further damage.

These frames have a pretty good margin of safety because they're heavily built. Clean up and get to work, I say.

Thank you! What would you suggest to remove the thicker rust? Steel wool? Sandpaper?

 

[SirMike1983]

For fine areas around lugs and around tube joints, I use a Dremel tool with various metal brushes (brass being a softer one, stainless and carbon steel being a little harder). The same can be done with one of the little metal bristle (again, brass and copper are softer while steel is harder) toothbrush-type brushes available at the hardware store. I use WD-40 on the brush because it's cheap, displaces any moisture, and helps break up the rust. Wear eye protection, especially if you opt for the Dremel.

Given the amount of rust in the lower areas of the frame, I'd be inclined to pull the cranks, and then clean and fully re-build the bottom bracket. Use as many original parts as you can, but anything pitted (whether from rust or wear) should be replaced with smooth parts in terms of the moving parts of the bottom bracket. I would not rely simply on dripping oil down into the bottom bracket on a frame like that, given that there was apparently moisture in the areas of the frame not far from the bottom bracket. The bottom bracket sees a fairly high number of RPMs, so you don't want rusted or pitted stuff there.

 

[Bossman]

For fine areas around lugs and around tube joints, I use a Dremel tool with various metal brushes (brass being a softer one, stainless and carbon steel being a little harder). The same can be done with one of the little metal bristle (again, brass and copper are softer while steel is harder) toothbrush-type brushes available at the hardware store. I use WD-40 on the brush because it's cheap, displaces any moisture, and helps break up the rust. Wear eye protection, especially if you opt for the Dremel.

Given the amount of rust in the lower areas of the frame, I'd be inclined to pull the cranks, and then clean and fully re-build the bottom bracket. Use as many original parts as you can, but anything pitted (whether from rust or wear) should be replaced with smooth parts in terms of the moving parts of the bottom bracket. I would not rely simply on dripping oil down into the bottom bracket on a frame like that, given that there was apparently moisture in the areas of the frame not far from the bottom bracket. The bottom bracket sees a fairly high number of RPMs, so you don't want rusted or pitted stuff there.

This is all very helpful! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions! Superb!