It’s done. Putting the bike back together was super easy. Part of what made it so easy was that I put the components (breaks, derailers etc) back together as I cleaned them up. The brakes were already done so I just had to bolt them back on, the bottom bracket was a bit more difficult since I had to order new cups and cotter pins but the local bike shop made that easy enough.
Hardest part was installing the new head set. Pressing the cups was easy enough but getting the bottom race on the forks was a pain. The times I’ve fit a race on a set of forks it’s been pretty straight forward. This time the race just didn’t fit on the forks. Again, Steve at the bike shop stepped up with a grinder and “made it fit”. Then I just had to get a spacer for the headset, run new cables, and fit the seat.
The seat was a Christmas gift from my mom (thanks mom!) and is the nicest part on the bike. It’s a Brooks B17 and it’s super nice and super hard. Breaking this thing in is gonna take a while. I also ordered leather bar tape to match the seat and had no idea how expensive it is. Leather is nice but it’s super expensive.
Doing a little digging turns up the Raleigh Record is Raleigh’s entry level bike of the time. I read a few posts from people who paid $20 for a similar bike in perfect condition so restoring this was definitely a labor of love. Now I’ve got a $20 bike with a $200 seat. Oh the irony.
And now the pictures:
technomasochism 
Looks great, so glad you were able to get it up and working.
And don’t complain, you know you loved every second of fixing it. Now, what’s the summer project? Is the motorcycle running yet? What about the fire pit?
Muahaha.
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Yeah I had a blast, no doubt about it. I just got some leather bar tape to match the seat. I’m such a gear whore. I’ve got it bad too, I’ve already started building another one.
The motorcycle is getting better … slowly. It ran great for an hour last weekend which was awesome. Now it’s back in pieces. I’ll probably put up some info once I figure out what’s wrong (I have some theories). What I should be doing is my homework though 😦 You’ve gotta be pretty much done by now hu? I’m jealous.
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How, funny, I found the exact same Raleigh Record bike last year (same color and everything)I think it is a 1975 or 1976. I decided it looked so cool and vintage-ish that i had to restore it. I took it all apart over the winter and then got distracted, until I stumbled across your site here.
Great job! I will use the photos and tips as i try to complete mine
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