'81 Raleigh Bomber restoration

heres a few parts i've been buying which brings the thread right up to date. i imported a pair of wheels from the states in original 26x2.125 chrome fashion, a 1970s front eveready light from ebay to match my rear, and some new old stock brake blocks and retaining hooks. new retro style tyres in the shape of DMR supormoto (26x2.2) and some continental tubes to match.

thanks mate, yeah they had a bomber leading the word "bomber" along the top tube, and WWII style search lights along the bottom tube and seat tube

thanks

not much to update but did get a set of reproduction decals from retrospectbmx.com

thanks H

so as threatened i made a start stripping down the R-Bomb.

this pic is undoing the rear hubs nuts and taking the gear cable out



after getting the back wheel off and unbolting the rear eveready lamp i thought hmm that feels a bit heavy, like batteries still in it heavy. slide the cover open and found period batteries unfortunately as you can see one had leaked and the contact from the lamp has fused to the top end, which then snapped off. so this lamp is scrap but will keep for spares



wheel off, mudguard off and the rear forks removed. at this point i noticed two snapped spokes and the offside fork is bent. well they did call them action raleighs, and my uncle wasnt shy finding huge ramps lol



front wheel off, both crank cotter pins removed, plus crank and pedals



the crank pin was quite notchy so i decided to go deeper and undo the bearing adjusters, any tool kept slipping off the shallow shoulders so i just tapped it round with a drift



crank pin slid out and looking through to the bearing track on the offside (after cleaning it out). the track looked removable in the same fashion, but was well painted in so left it.



crank pin, bearing track and ball bearings cleaned up. they came up spotless so i'm guessing it was just dry old grease and grime making it notchy. note to self, 22 ball bearings i counted, 11 each side.



then i cracked off the handle bar adjuster, hooked the forks over the garden fence, applied wd40 and turned, DINK, it came free (phew) the expanding joint is free and clean



here ive taken off the fork locking nut and lamp bracket, then undone the top bearing track then caught the top ball bearings in a container. never throw away your old chinese cartons !!



then i slid the forks out and caught the bearings from the bottom. another note to self, 25 ball bearings came out top and bottom, 50 total. then i drove the bearing tracks out of the frame, and the one off the forks. everything cleaned up shiny despite starting off a bit brown, so big relief there.



final pic for today, everything except the wheels laid out. i'll probably unlace the original rear wheel later, or tomorrow.

drive side bottom bracket cup is a left hand thread BTW

pop down your LBS with one of each bearing, you'll get a new pack for about a quid each size.

Fantastic thread, I remember a mate of mine having one of these when the rest of us had Burners....Wish I still my old Burner.

burners ? i had a mk1 grifter brand new from the factory,
at cost minus staff discount well we are local. i didn't have
a bomber cos they were too big for little 9 year old me.

Coming on well.

thanks for the comments. the blue ones were/are called called super bombers quite rare i'm sure they did a super grifter in the same style.

i think the rarest are 5 speed version of the black bombers,