Mk1 '76 Grifter Retoration

[rsgeoff]

Well as some of you know, since Christmas i've been restoring an old Mk1 Nov 1976 Raleigh Grifter.

The bike has special appeal to me as I got one for Christmas in 1976 and I loved that bike (before turning it into a BMX).

I hadn't seen one for about 25 years, when I found this one dumped at the bins at our Caravan Park.

I was over the moon and knew i'd restore it to it's former glory over the winter.

I did a search and found this great website for knowledge, and got the odd few original parts on e-bay to help with the rebuild.

So here's what it entailed:-

1. Complete stripdown, including all the wheel axles, front stem, crank, ballbearings, etc.

2. Paint on the frame & forks completely stripped.

3. Search of everywhere to find a colour match (eventually found in Halfords - Ford Miami Blue).

3. Three coats of primer, three coats of topcoat, 2 coats of Laquer.

4. Rubdown the mudguards & handlebars & repaint in Satin Black.

5. Clean all the chrome parts up, including the seatpost, wheels, brakes & seatclamp.

6. Clean all the tyres up and repair them.

7. Bought secondhand handlebars, (since the originals didn't have the original foam), twistgrip gears, front wheel spindle.

8. Bought new Decals, Brake cables, gear linkages, inner tube, chain, chainguard, Pedals, "R" nuts & cable clip.

9. Had the rear hub refurbished as it wasn't working.

10. Put it all back together !

I finished it yesterday, and it now stands proudly alongside my 1980's BMX.

I've thoroughly enjoyed doing it and have a great sense of acheivement each week as it was built back up. Total cost was about £180.

Here we go then, this was when I found it:-





Then the rebuild






Then the final product !

[admin]

Welcome in Geoff.
The bike is a credit to you sir

[rsgeoff]

Yes, how about that for a first post !!!! ;D

[admin]

no finer way to make an intro in here !

[4737carling]

top bike geoff your background in car restoration has done you proud. Top mk1 i love it.

Is that one of gus chainguards on it?

[rsgeoff]

Feb 11, 2009 8:57:09 GMT 4737carling said:

top bike geoff your background in car restoration has done you proud. Top mk1 i love it.

Is that one of gus chainguards on it?

Thanks, yes it is one of his and it was a 'mare trying to get it on with 3 small nut & bolts. I ended up buckling the front cog and part of it was touching the frame. I had to take it off and re-straighten it.
This caused the 3 "fake" nuts to come off, so I reglued them back on.

I've bought a genuine plastic chain guard off ebay which needs spraying up, so i'll probably fit that.

[admin]

when refitting chainguards, an easy way to re revit them on is to place 2 small nuts over the pin to get the clearance from the nut

[4737carling]

you can rivet that on from the front (Put the rivet in the hole then drop a little nut in the plastic nut over the rivet shaft and rest the rivet gun against it) I tried it from the other way once but it split the chainguard (gutted!)

[4737carling]

you beat me to it paul (i learned it from you anyway mate!!) Top tip.

[admin]

[4737carling]

I went to the paint shop the other day and matched my mk1 blue forks to ford azura blue! (it just goes to show you there were differences in the blue mk1s from one raleigh painter to another!)

I know colins original mk1s are slighty different colours so you can only get it as near as