Hey guys, I was visiting my grandparents over the weekend and after chatting to my gran about my Mongoose MTB I was building, she decided it's time to hand her childhood bicycle down to me to give some much needed love to. It's a Raleigh bomber (not sure what year model it is yet), mostly surface rust and alot of dirt but the bike is solid! Back then there were no "Girl bikes" and my gran is a short lady, they decided to manually convert the bike to a ladies bike by cutting, inverting and re-welding the top tube back on. The original mount is still there with the marks the grinder left and the bar has it's (now upside down) "bomber" logo on it. The welds were left untreated and has some significant surface rust. Bike is mostly chrome, I suspect the handle bars aren't original as the interweb pics don't show a center stiffening bar like the bmx's have and mine does have. So I've opened up the crank, the front and rear hub, scrubber the bearings, re-greased and refitted the lot, she actually freewheels now and rides quite nice. So I'm wondering, full restore (including fitting the top tube back to it's original position) or partial restore which entails a wire brush, rust killer and maybe a clear coat to keep that patina old school look, this way the bike keeps it's story. The components I will strip down, refinish and replace where necessary but I'll keep the old look? So I need help (as usual): 1. Where do I get old school parts (brakes, handle bar, seats, rims, hubs etc) 2. What clear-coat can I get (rather cheaply) that will stick to the metal as is? 3. Where can I find old school (preferably slick white-walled tyres)? 4. Where can I get new (but old looking) decals? I'll pop some pics up for you guys.
