Hi Folks,
I'm a newbie. I live in New York city and I'm restoring a bike I have owned for, well, 25 years.
It's a Team Raleigh, and was built in 1979. It was a bike used by the Irish team in the Moscow Olympics roadrace (no success). When I was given the frameset, I didn't have the money to equip it with good equipment, so I built it up with Shimano 600 and one or two pieces of Dura Ace. Looking at the classic rendezvous website today, I saw a lovely 1980s Team Pro Raleigh, just like mine. The only difference I could see is that mine is 531 tubes, whereas this one is 758. The Irish team was sponsored by Raleigh Ireland and I guess they decided to stick to 531 for the rigors of the Moscow Olympics. Otherwise, it looks identical. The other difference is cosmetic. The one in the website is in beautiful. Mine looks like it has been ridden on and off for tweny five years. And it has!
In New York I have used it for the occasional laps of Central Park, and the occasional jaunt to my office. But an English guy in one of the bike shops in town has goaded me into getting it back to more or less original condition.
I have purchased a lot of Campy Super Record gear on eBay, and today, after a major clean-up of the bottom bracket area and the threads, I installed the fixed cup of a bottom bracket that I purchased on eBay. It has a titanium hollow spindle, which admittedly is probably later than 1980, but I got it at a good price. While installing, nothing seemed to fit properly, so I de-installed it again, which is why I'm writing for help.
The bracked has the correct threads, but I'm worried that the spindle is not the correct length. it is stamped 68-SS-120. Is this correct for my year of bike?
Incidentally, the bike's serial number is SB5509 and it also has 53.5 stamped on the bottom bracket.
The bearings I got with the spindle are on the small side (smaller than standard) but seem to fit. And there are 28 of them, 14 a side, which also works. But nothing quite lines up.
If anyone has experience of this era Campy, or Raleigh, or this bike, perhaps you could enlighten me.
Thank y'all!
Ultan Guilfoyle
NYC