Old and Rusted Bicycle Restoration - Vintage Raleigh Chopper
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- čas přidán 12. 11. 2020
- Old and Rusted Bicycle Restoration - Vintage Raleigh Chopper
Helping out a friend to restore this old and rusted bicycle - a 1970s Vintage Raleigh Chopper. The iconic design has became the cultural icon and a 'must have' toy for every cool kids who grew up in that period. I have learnt a lot throughout the restoration process, not only the technical skills, but the history of Raleigh Chopper. Let me brief about the learning outcome in two parts: History and Technical..
History:
If you have noticed for this Chopper, besides the general iconic design (ape hanger handlebars, bobbed mudguards, long padded sprung seat, etc), it featured a SHIMANO gear hub instead of Sturmey Archer which is synonym with Raleigh Chopper bicycle. Based on the research that I did on online forum, it seems to be a model made in Taiwan instead of UK. So I guess maybe Raleigh has a manufacturing branch in Taiwan for Asia market? Leave a comment if you have any idea.
Technical:
Since this bike has collectible value, so I need to be very careful not to deal any damage. Restoring collectible item is different from the previous projects that I have done. Previously, I can remove the rust with power tools, but I can never do that on chrome surface. To restore a chrome surface, the best way without scratching the chrome surface is to scrub with aluminium foil or fine steel wool with water. It sounds easy, and yes it is for light rusty area, it is so satisfying to wipe off the rust layer covering the shiny chrome. However, I almost used up my elbow grease in this restoration :) nonetheless, I am SUPER DUPER SATISFYING with the final outcome.
Another tricky part is to fabricate the broken bracket for the gear to work again. I have fabricated a few pieces until I get it right. The aesthetic of the replacement is not perfect, but it works fine :)
I have tried to shift gear while riding, and it works perfect.
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I am not professional mechanic/handyman/restorer, nor I own a workshop. But I believe, If Y can dream it, Y can do it!
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Looked at a lot of options for getting my
Very nice done enjoy your beautiful bicycle . Bye bye John Bee
Loved watching this video. I had a bike like this and it actually made me get a little emotional. Seeing an old beat up bike get restored to some of its former glory through your care and patience was beautiful. At risk of sounding like old fogey...kids today don't realize what bikes meant to my generation growing up. They were lifelines for every kid. If we wanted to see our friends, we rode our bikes to see them. If we needed to get anywhere, we rode there. Thanks so much.
Hi...This is A REAL restoration.. Congratulations...
A labour of love, great video, thank you 👍🏻
Outstanding well done 🏴👍
Wonderful job . Greetings from UK.
Magic job ,,well done !
The Best of the best engels work ....wonderfull......,
Job well done!
Great Job!👍👍👍👍
La bici con la que todo niño de antes soñaba y que no muchos lograron tenerla. Quedó hermosa!!
Awsome job in restoring a cool vintage bike back to its original condition I had a scwinn stingray krate pea picker back bout 76 or 77
Nice job. Im a total restoration fan to be honest, Im involved with restoring jukeboxes I like them looking like new others want to preserve the wear on them
Excellent work!
Nice restoration.
I'm impressed, well done that girl.
you really shined those parts up nice
Awesome! We love choppers, great to find someone else doing these
Great job!