And I'm driving past Dunfermline at the weekend. Might stop by and have a gander. Would mean putting the fixed wheel frame from On-One on hold, but I like this idea as my shopbike. Although need to make sure it would fit 6'3" of eejit.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help
Nice Old Raleigh for Sale?
(34 posts)- Started 12 years ago by Wilmington's Cow
- Latest reply from Wilmington's Cow
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Posted 12 years ago #
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@anth, nice...I would be surprised it is only a 23" frame though the head tube looks quite long, more like 24" or even 24.5", which as you are a tall chap would probably be fine. Not entirely sure what a carbon steel frame is...
Posted 12 years ago # -
Don't know if it helps your decision / pricing making at all, but googling / looking at the old catalogues, it's not part of the Raleigh Lightweights (e.g. handbuilt Reynolds frames) series.
@claggy "carbon steel" normally means a simple alloy of steel and carbon with very low amounts of anything more exotic. So it's not stainless, chromoly, manganese steel etc. Just plain old scaffolding pipe steel.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Funny this as I passed a guy on the cycle home riding a Raleigh Eclipse, same painwork etc on the way home. His had normal style handle bars instead of the drops on the one above. He said he bought it from Soul Cycles last year. Didn't say how much he paid. Looked at it as we cycled across the bridge, looks like budget/original gears.
Posted 12 years ago # -
What are the funny levers on the downtube for?
Posted 12 years ago # -
@gembo... [snigger] are you being serious?? :o)
Posted 12 years ago # -
@DaveC I am pretty certain that Soul Cycles sold theirs for about £70 at the end of last year. Also a large frame, I notice these things being a rather tall woman myself. Raleigh used to use a lot of French components on their bikes, like Lyotard pedals, Stronglight chainsets, Huret gears, and Weinmann brakes (Swiss) which look budget but work very well and they lasted.
Posted 12 years ago # -
@DaveC I have been googling and they are apparently some form of antique gear lever?
Posted 12 years ago # -
@gembo, like "brifters" (ugh) but simpler cheaper lighter and more reliable... what price progress ;-))
Posted 12 years ago # -
@gembo - well check these babies out then. Don't know how spoilt we are today!!
Posted 12 years ago # -
It was suggested in a book that I am reading about downtube gear shifters, which are invariably not indexed, that you really should learn to operate both of them with one hand, now that would be a neat trick.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Claggycog - I struggled with one hand and I struggled with one hand then the other. I had a nice dawes five speed but Nicola tuohy left it unlocked in the stairwell at 54 Hillhead St in 1984 and it was stolen, back when drop handlebars meant something.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Still quite tempted by this. From the pics it does look in good nick, and I reckon Soul Cycles prices have probably gone up since (they do have some gorgeous bikes in just now).
Posted 12 years ago # -
the dropouts are fairly vertical. Not sure how good a singlespeed / fixed conversion it would make, without an ugly chain tensioner. Also you'd have to be prepared to put up with the downtube shifter pegs sticking out looking a bit lost.
Posted 12 years ago # -
There's a rather nice mid-1980s Dawes Shadow at Eastside bikes just now. It's my size (52cm) but I really don't need another bike at the mo. Might suit someone here though. Original bottle dynamo on the rear stay I see, frame pump, and a nice rear carrier too.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Posted 12 years ago #
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I know. Too big for me. Not a bad price though.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I think my younger brother had one of those. It cost about £110 new. It was a nice bike to ride. It had five sprockets at the back and two close ratio chainrings. I think the idea was to make big gear changes with the rear sprockets and fine adjustments with the chainrings - half-step gearing. Not that we knew that at the time.
Posted 12 years ago # -
My black fixie was of that ilk, now proudly sporting its shifter nubs like old soldier's war wounds.
It was a twelve speed, and as Tom says, there was sod all difference between the front chainrings. Towards the end of its geared life the front shifter kept dropping down to the small ring, but it made no practical difference for commuting since it would get to north of 80" without being too silly on chainline.
Posted 12 years ago # -
@Uberuce your Record Sprint was part of the Raleigh Lightweights family according to the catalogue.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Well, Reynolds 501 isn't exactly lightweight. My Raleigh Pioneer Trail is 501 too. It's the equivalent of 4130 Chromoly, but double butted. Perfectly nice, better than 'gas pipe' hi-tensile 'carbon' steel, good and strong, reasonably light, but not in the same league as 531, 653, etc.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Yarp, I had a wee shoogle of a 531 conversion in ECA when I was flyering. Noticeably lighter to the hand, but I dunno how much lighter it feels to the feet.
There's a gorgeous Raleigh in 531 parked on Ashley Terrace most days. I saw it and rider as I was marshaling the POP crowd:
"HI, CAN YOU PLEASE MOVE OVER TO THE CYCLIST SIDE OF THE PATH? WE NEED TO KEEP THE PEDESTRIAN SIDE CLEAR, THANK YOU"
"HI, CAN WE PLEASE ENSURE THE PEDESTRIAN SIDE OF THE PATH IS CLEAR UP MIDDLE MEADOW WALK, SO..
Oh, hello. Do you park that in Ashley Terrace"?
"Urm....yeah."
"I go past it every day, it's gorgeous."
[something bashful which was obscured by the sound of his friends laughing]
"SO CAN YOU PLEASE KEEP TO THE CYCLIST SIDE, CHEERS"
Ah, found that bike, cheers, Kaputnik; it's a Ventura.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Well, Reynolds 501 isn't exactly lightweight
But not as heavy as you might expect. There's a nice chart comparing some Reynolds tubesets here. 501 Chromalloy is the heaviest at 2.3kg, but the 531 Tourist is only a smidge below at 2.2kg. 531 Comp 2.05kg then 531 Pro 1.9kg, so almost 20% lighter. Right down to 753 track at 1.75kg.
501 doesn't really measure up when it comes to tensile strength compared to 753, but it isn't *that* far behind 531 and is ahead of regular CrMo and well ahead of Hi-tensile "carbon" steel.
Interesting footnote on the diagram about how the 753 Track top tube is only 3 times thicker than the paper the leaflet is printed on!
Posted 12 years ago # -
I'll have to finger crowriver's bike for comparitive purposes.
Horrible mental images of Mumford and Sons now.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Given the above weights (which are for tubesets alone), the weight of wheels, saddles, crankset, bars, tyres etc. probably have a lot more to do with it and can probably sway the total between 9 and 15kg easily.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Overpriced.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Nicola tuohy left it unlocked in the stairwell at 54 Hillhead St in 1984 and it was stolen, back when drop handlebars meant something.
I stayed in 13 Hillhead st from September '84 to June '86 but it wasn't me.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I've got stem shifters on the Raleigh (which originally had dual indexed thumb shifters on the former flat bars). Left side (chainwheel derailleur) is friction only; Right side switches between friction and indexed (six speed SIS).
Friction shifting is okay once you're used to it, the trick is trimming the shift, which can be necessary depending on the chainwheel/rear cog combo at any given moment. I think having the shifters on the stem it's easy enough with one hand. On the downtube? Hmm, nope.
Posted 12 years ago # -
anth, I have been dipping my toe in that market recently - and there are very few real gems.
I agree with chdot - it is pricey, given you are only really buying the frame - you will probably have to replace wheels, brakes and who knows what else.
The frame itself is 'ok' but there are better examples from that era.
I did, however love those ludicrously small mudguards - remember them well from my first 'racer' !!
Posted 12 years ago # -
anth if you're looking for a large Raleigh I may (still) have something.
Posted 12 years ago #
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