Raleigh Twenty handlebar grips

The standard Raleigh Twenty hand grips are plastic, yellowing and uncomfortable. They are also stuck on very strongly. To remove, I first tried heating with a hair dryer, but it did nothing. As I've never removed these before, I wanted to see if they are notched internally or anything odd like that. So, I hacksawed off the plastic end and there was nothing unusual inside - just plain tubing. 

Which means that the grips are merely glued on. I was going to use a knife to cut them off, when I "found" in my tool bag a long forgotten sharpened screwdriver. I can't remember why I made this exactly, but it's basically a chisel, made from a screwdriver. Using a mallet for control, I cut gently:

You don't have to cut much further than in the photo above, but for fun, I did:

They twist off really easily now of course! So, what will I be replacing them with? There is an issue in that there's not much space before you reach the bend on these handlebars. Which means that you cannot really have standard 130mm hand grips with the original brake levers. Although, the yukky plastic grips are 100mm in length, that's end to end. Measured internally, they cover only 90mm of of the bar! Luckily, there are are relatively cheap and good quality BMX racing style grips that are 100mm overall with twin lock-on clamps:

I chose these from Spank called the Spoon Grom. The anodised green clamps match reasonably well with the bike frame. They are way more comfortable than the originals, will function fine with these brake levers and should look smart too. 

Since the above photos, I've removed whatever rust I could, serviced the brake calipers, cables, and levers, and all chrome parts have been polished. The bike is pretty much ready to rebuild. I'm just waiting for the mudguards and chainguard to come back from the powder coaters. I also want to change the chain, add saddlebag loops to the saddle for a traditional saddle bag, and make a cover plate for the Sturmey Archer trigger shifter to show gear positions.