1993 Raleigh Torus LX

Gerard":1nwb7fbd said:
TheEasyLife":1nwb7fbd said:
Thank goodness I'm skint..

:D

Hmm. Am still skint. Have now purchased and am awaiting delivery of the following:
M900 brakes
M900 chainset
M900 bb
M900 cassette
M900 rear mech

That is what overdrafts are for right? Also awaiting a Zoom Competiton stem. Realised that I'd bought a bottom pull front mech when I needed a top pull so bought the right one of those too. I have a spare X-Lite ti handlebar which would go well on this. Am also after a decent M900 headset to complete the set.

Current plans are to go for a 2 phase rebuild.

Phase 1: replace current stem and bars with zoom and x-Lite, switch back to rigid fork (new headset?). Ride it and enjoy it.
Phase 2: replace lx with XTR. Fit XTR/Hope wheels. Ride it and enjoy it.

Million dolllar question is how long will I wait between phases 1 and 2? :) Days, weeks, months? 5 minutes?

James
 
TheEasyLife":5smarjud said:
Million dolllar question is how long will I wait between phases 1 and 2? :) Days, weeks, months? 5 minutes?
James

DAYS!....if you're like me :facepalm: .....just can't help myself.
My Torus now finished...well never quite, blue Hope QR's on the way!
DSCF3053-001_zpshgxgqfrg.jpg
 
OK. Still not done anything with this bike re either Phases. It is sitting in the garage where I left it in September. I have fitted the Flite Titanium on a 25mm USE Titanium seatpost though. Saved best part of a pound in weight there.. I did get an XTR M901 headset for this. Just need some time to decide on its final configuration. Acquired some re-issue Smoke/Darts too and a Hope Ti BB. Got some heavy original XT SPD's too.

Cheers

James
 
So the answer to your question was was months....very disciplined ....I would struggle. :shock:

Anyway sounding good. The Dynatech seat post is heavy (mine is 28mm there being a factory fitted shim to reduce to this...not sure about further shims though). I've got mine to a fraction under 10kg/22lbs. Happy with weight.
 
Discipline? yeah but no but.. I had an operation last summer from which I didn't recover in the expected timeframe. I've ended up having another operation this week to get me back on track and a number of ops scheduled for the coming months. So no cycling since last June and the likelihood is none for this year. And I joined RB last Feb as I wanted to get back into cycling.. Typical. On the positive side, I'll have this to look forwards to ride, plus anything else I buy in the meantime to keep me occupied/distracted :)

Mine has the factory alloy shim. I had to call USE up as their 25-28mm adapter just wouldn't fit. Turns out I was doing it all wrong (the usual story). You don't fit the adapter then slide in the seatpost, you fit the adapter to the seatpost then slide both in. Still took me a while as it is a very tight fit.

If I can get close to 22lb with my Torus then I'll be over the moon.

Cheers

James
 
And despite buying all of these bits I've now put up a wanted ad for some M560 wheels and a matching M560 rear mech. My new plan is to remove the following:
the much later Deore lx rear mech
the incorrect rear wheel or both wheels (depending on what offers I get from the wanted ad)
the gash suspension fork
the horriffic angled hi-rise stem

In their place I will put the following:
A nice M560 rear mech
a pair of M560 wheels with nice rims
either the original rigid fork that came with the bike or some refurbed RC35's from the stash
A Zoom Competition Stem as this is what my 93 Raleigh Summit came with BITD and it has a Ti bolt in it.
I'll have to work out if the Ti BB I'd got for the M900 conversion will fit the M560 CS. If so, I'll get that on there too. Gotta see how low It can weigh with stock groupset and lots of trick Ti bolts/BB etc.. :)

Part of me is wanting to keep this Torus close to stock as I can't find a catalogue for it nor are there many pics of them as stock. Plus I have recently purchased another Titanium frame which I've got M900, suspension forks and a load of titanium bits waiting to throw on that as nobody knows what spec was on that frame when new so I can get creative and put whatever on that one rather than abuse this pretty honest original one...

Cheers

James
 
Ok. The wanted ad was successful. I've now got a rear mech, rim and hub en route. Will get a lbs to build for me and check I didn't rebuild the front axle that badly...

Just the stem and forks to change... The Zoom Competition feels the right choice, not trick or flashy but has a Titanium bolt and was used on other high end Raleighs at the time. Will initially keep it rigid with the standard steel forks then swap to the Pace option once my 93 RC35 AB's are refurbed.

Will post some pics of the new wheel bits once I've got them.

Cheers

James
 
Re:

If anyone knows of a 16" 40cm, doesn't matter what spec, that comes up for sale I'd be very interested
 
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