The Path Racer/Scorcher Project

In my July 2013 post "1953 Raleigh Sports Tourist Model 23" I mentioned the desire to replicate a path racer/scorcher type bicycle.  I was originally going to use the 1953 Sports for this project but decided to refurbish it.  Instead I will be using a 1970 Raleigh Sports, there will be little effort used to maintain its originality, this will be a fun build that will hopefully give the appearance of a vintage racer.  My only requirement was that it will have a Sturmey Archer hub and cotter crank.

I will be using a new (Sun Race) 5-speed Sturmey-Archer hub, X-RC5(W).  This is a wider hub (127mm) then the original 110mm 3-speed AW.

In order to accommodate the wider hub the rear drop-outs had to be spread (cold set) to the wider hub dimension.  This was accomplished by using a long 2x4 between the seat post and rear triangle to leverage drop-outs outward.

In addition, I had a friend braze a shifter boss on the top tube for a Sturmey-Archer 5-speed shifter lever.

  The original color of the Sports was a Bronze Green, I had the frame, fork, alloy rims (Sun CR-18), and handle bar and stem powder coated a Satin Black.

The handle bar used is a shorten and flipped cruiser type alloy bar.  In order to get the bar back to a more reasonable height I'll be using a longer alloy stem with a steep vertical extension.

End of handle bar that I removed.

Next will be setting the chain line and initial assemble.

Please share your comments and experiences.