The Backwoodsman: The Raleigh Royal Reviewed Part Three

Last week I pulled the Raleigh Royal out of its winter storage and serviced it in preparation for the 2013 touring season. With almost 2000 miles done since I bought it last year, there was quite a bit of work required.

Mavic A119 700c Rim

The biggest job was replacing the rims. I had not changed the brake pads since I got the bike and this was a serious mistake. The wear indicator grooves had vanished. The wheels were rebuilt with two A119 Mavic rims and the old hubs and spokes.

Clarks 60mm cantilever post type brake pads were used front and back. In future I will be paying much closer attention to brake pad wear. This is probably more of a factor on touring bikes, the kinetic energy of a fully loaded touring bike at high speed is much greater than a lighter bike and this is reflected in the rapid wear of the rims. Based on this experience I would probably buy a touring bike with disk brakes.

One of the pedals had developed a crack in the casing. I replaced the pedals with a set of Wellgo single cage M20 flat pedals. From the clearance section in Chain Reaction Cycles for the knock down price of €11.12. Very good value, but now sold out.

The Royal was fitted with an eight speed cassette, which had a 28 tooth low gear. I replaced this with a Shimano Acera HG41 8 Speed MTB cassette, with a 32 tooth low gear, just a little lower for getting up the steeper hills.

The chain was overdue a change. The new chain is a Shimano Altus HG40 6/7/8 speed.

The bike is now riding really well. Total cost of parts €86.63, but the bike is ready for the road. All I need now is some warm, dry weather. I have three tours planned for this summer, the west of Ireland awaits.