A bit of all white...but what is it?

New addition to the house...well garage. I got this from a friend in return for a charity donation for the 2016 London Marathon as he knew I couldn't refuse a rusty old bike. It will clean up alright and may become a happy daily ride.

Reynolds 531c with a decent mix of 105, Sante, 600, Mavic, and Rolls but no decals or obvious touches. Frame number 8018??1 will be best chance to ID this for those good in that area, so please suggest a possible marque.

Cheers

Stu

It smells quite Raleigh-esque to me, it's got all the right bits on it from one of their early 1990s bikes. But if it was a Raleigh the seat stays would have Raleigh embossed in the ends at the seat cluster, I don't think they used that type of chainstay bridge and there would be some holes in the head tube for the badge.

You may know all Shimano equipment has date stamp code on them, including the freewheel, that will give a good idea on the year as allow about 6 months plus after those dates, for about real age of bike. The seat post assuming its original & it looks like it maybe, again check the diameter stamped on it like 25.4 25.8 etc, also it will again have a simple stamp for the year month like 90 -04. knowing the seat post size can help narrow it down by referring to Sheldon Brown's brilliant web site he has a complete section on seat post sizing to makes used on.
If its a Raleigh the thread on the steering head & the BB will be different, if I remember Raleigh use 26.tpi everybody else is 24.tpi
If you pull the forks out you may be lucky & find the maker's name stamped there inside the head.

What I mean on the above is the fork stem section inside the frame head, may have a maker's name on obviously not stamped inside the frame head itself

Raleigh reverted to ISO threading before the frame was made. Does look quite Raleigh like though and if it had oversize seat stay caps I'd be more convinced. Likely a generic 80's 90's frame for shops to spray and decal themselves?

Shaun

Re:

It smelt like Raleigh to me too at first sight/sniff but getting it home I changed my mind. The bike has a dealer sticker from the Bodmin, West Country so may well be a generic frame that lbs built and sold

Decent ride no matter what though.

Defo' Raleigh..... Road Ace ?

A niggle for me..... You have the tyre tread facing the wrong way.

Re:

Thought it was a Road Ace too but not sure if the frame number ties up.

Please accept my apologies for the tyre, I have done nothing other than take it from the car to the garage

Does a Road Ace have one of those brazed on things on the back of the head tube?

Shaun

Shaun.......Hmmm! Could it be a Raleigh anyway ? Head lugs ??