Captain Stupido
Senior Retro Guru
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My latest retro purchase. I'm developing a thing for old Raleighs, and am a sucker for early ATBs. This was £25 and I couldn't resist:
Frame's built from "Raleigh 502 cro-mo" tubing. The tubing sticker is a proper Reynolds knock-off which had me doing a double take when I saw it. Frame is apparently tig-welded, but quite neat and has some nice touches such as "Raleigh" embossed seat stays, and an embossed heron logo on the (lugged) fork crown. Geometry is very relaxed, "California cruiser" style.
Bits are largely original as far as I can tell. Budget Suntour/Sakae/Dia Compe/Lee Chi. Chainset is potentially a triple, but it's clearly never had a granny ring fitted. Check out the one piece bar/stem setup
Condition is fair. I've cleaned it up and made the brakes work, but the back wheel has pretty much had it. That aside it rides great. Really comfy, strong and solid, a proper iron horse.
I don't know much about the bike and the year's an educated guess. My research indicates that it's not a proper Raleigh, but a Raleigh US bike from when Huffy were licensing the Raleigh name. There's a dealer's sticker from Winnepeg on the frame, too, so this has been around. It would be interesting to know how it ended up at Tottenham car boot sale.
Has anyone seen one before? I'll add some more pics once I've had a chance to give it a quick polish.
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... highlight=
Frame's built from "Raleigh 502 cro-mo" tubing. The tubing sticker is a proper Reynolds knock-off which had me doing a double take when I saw it. Frame is apparently tig-welded, but quite neat and has some nice touches such as "Raleigh" embossed seat stays, and an embossed heron logo on the (lugged) fork crown. Geometry is very relaxed, "California cruiser" style.
Bits are largely original as far as I can tell. Budget Suntour/Sakae/Dia Compe/Lee Chi. Chainset is potentially a triple, but it's clearly never had a granny ring fitted. Check out the one piece bar/stem setup
Condition is fair. I've cleaned it up and made the brakes work, but the back wheel has pretty much had it. That aside it rides great. Really comfy, strong and solid, a proper iron horse.
I don't know much about the bike and the year's an educated guess. My research indicates that it's not a proper Raleigh, but a Raleigh US bike from when Huffy were licensing the Raleigh name. There's a dealer's sticker from Winnepeg on the frame, too, so this has been around. It would be interesting to know how it ended up at Tottenham car boot sale.
Has anyone seen one before? I'll add some more pics once I've had a chance to give it a quick polish.
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... highlight=