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The college kid in our family has a old/ancient Raleigh 3 speed bike with long fenders. Those fenders are held in place with a strange bolt that is threaded on both ends and has a head near one end.

The short end is screwed into the frame, the long end accepts the fender rods, and then a bolt tightens down on them.

I removed the bolt with an 11/32" socket, but the closest fit I can find is a metric size. However that fit is either too loose (5mm 0.8) or too large (6mm 1.0). So I'm guessing some wonky British bolt, or some proprietary Raleigh bolt. Anyway, do you know of any place that might have bolts that fit this kind of bike?

I've emailed the local Raleigh bike shop and either they don't know how to work their email, or they have no answer....

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I remember the bolts -- they were on my old 5-speed purchased in 1972. Have no idea where to find them, though. If you could find the right thread then a piece of threaded rod with a nut would work, of course. –  Daniel R Hicks Sep 8 '11 at 15:14
Post a picture of the bolt. –  Moab Sep 9 '11 at 14:51
More than likely it is a machine screw thread. example, 12-32 –  Moab Sep 9 '11 at 15:05
@Moab - If we hadn't been in such a rush to get them on the road to Ohio, I would have thought to take a picture of it.... –  Mark0978 Sep 9 '11 at 15:14
This is the closest image I can find to the bolt I remember, though there wasn't (using 30-odd-year-old-memories) the extra shoulder, and one end was significantly shorter than the other. –  Daniel R Hicks Sep 14 '11 at 21:45
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3 Answers

If you know someone who has a tap and die set, it might help to use it to measure the size and thread pitch of the original.

If you can't find an exact replacement for the original, you might be able to use a normal stud (McMasterr Carr sells a large selection here) and but a bolt down one side to act as the 'seat'.

Also, look around for car exhaust manifold studs. I Googled "exhaust manifold stud" and this image came up:

enter image description here

And another example of exhaust manifold studs:

enter image description here

Note that some of them look very similar to the example image posted by Daniel in the comments to your original post. You might be able to find a hardware shop or auto parts dealer that carries a variety of studs you can try to match up.

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I spent my formative years in a Raleigh Five Star Dealership that just so happened to buy up all of the vintage Raleigh mudguards of the steel type for 26" wheel 3 speed bikes. (Raleigh had a warehouse clearance.) That was in the UK and we had mudguards for everything going back to AFTER the requirement for the white panel on the rear mudguard. Nothing from the the 70's onward had the bolt type you describe, although we also had a lot of frames including ones with the 7/32" x 26 TPI eyelets. Sounds to me that you either have a U.S. special, something really obscure, something really, really old or something after-market.

I suggest that you put some new mudguards on there. It will be a lot less hassle. For those new mudguards you can drill out the existing holes or use 5mm nuts and bolts, obviously with a fair few washers in there.

If you want to keep the retro look of the existing mudguards, you could make your own 'P' clips with a bit of tin, some snips and a drill. These could then be attached with a metric nut and bolt.

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So it sounds like drilling out the hole and retapping it is probably the only way to go. BTW, not replacing the mud guards, just trying to add a rack for books. The guards are in perfect shape. –  Mark0978 Sep 8 '11 at 13:03
Sounds good - if you have access to the tools. A lot of Raleigh parts were a rule to their own. Note that a retro Carradice saddlebag will go with the look and won't require modifications. –  ʍǝɥʇɐɯ Sep 8 '11 at 15:14
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Not having seen a picture of this bolt, I may be entirely misunderstanding what you have. It seems to me though, from the narrative you give, that being threaded on both ends isn't a necessity for this set-up. It may be a piece of hardware that simply cannot be found anymore. Remember that Raleigh had their own machine shop and created all of their own screws and bolts, back in the olden days--many of those nuts and bolts simply do not follow any standard. You will not find a modern piece of hardware to fit in that hole.

What I would recommend is a self-tapping screw. Find a self-tapping screw that is slighly larger than the hole in question. If you need a spacer between the fender and the frame, stick it in there. Make sure the screw is long enough to go throught the fender/spacer combination and still bite into the frame-hole.

Use a socket wrench and a little pressure. The end result should be a screw which holds the fender to the frame... the head should be inside of the fender. Do choose a screw with a smallish head that won't interfere with the wheel. Ideally, you won't have to file it down once installed--or you'll never be able to remove it!

Good luck.

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