Raleigh M-Trax 1500 - Bitsa build!

Love what you have done here. Really clean look. Congrats

bikemeister2000":19mr08jm said:

Love what you have done here. Really clean look. Congrats

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Cheers! Much appreciated.....

I'm glad the clean look has come across - I've been fairly patient and waited for the right complimentary bits to come along that I thought would suit the bike........like the wheels for example - they are exactly what I was hoping for but I had no idea what was out there and available (I'm fairly new to this bike build malarkey!). Anyway they are quality Mavics, grey coloured rims (to keep to the black/white colour scheme) and they have STX bronze coloured hubs - which match the STX canti brakes perfectly.

Not sure about the quality of the frame though....can't find much online about the M-Trax 1500 but it's Reynolds K2 which I believe is a Raleigh specific grade....not quite as good as 501 - can anyone confirm?

Good to see so much attention being given to an old raliegh frame.
It looks very clean in white. Nice one.

Very nice and clean looking build.

May I suggest that you could print your own decals in the same way that you've done the practice ones. Just use the following stuff from ebay and laquer over the sheet before you cut them out to fix them. I've used this and the clear vinyl from the same seller on bikes with good success and your project will be well suited as it's only black and white.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WHITE-A4-INKJ ... 1e6760d206

NAILTRAIL96":3ian5dku said:

Good to see so much attention being given to an old raliegh frame.
It looks very clean in white. Nice one.

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Cheers - it seems white is quite popular choice for restos at the mo....thought it would be a good colour choice for a stripped-back single speed bike.

weeman_mtb":3ian5dku said:

Very nice and clean looking build.

May I suggest that you could print your own decals in the same way that you've done the practice ones. Just use the following stuff from ebay and laquer over the sheet before you cut them out to fix them. I've used this and the clear vinyl from the same seller on bikes with good success and your project will be well suited as it's only black and white.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WHITE-A4-INKJ ... 1e6760d206

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Thanks for that link - looks interesting - might have to give this a whirl. I've currently got somebody looking at laser-cutting a set out of black sticky-back vinyl - not sure how well this will work out but he seems keen on giving it a go (new toy to play with and all that.....)

love what you have done, i have a M-Trax titanium team edition frame in my loft from around the same era, had it sprayed in an off white/grey about 10 years ago, but as yet have not got round to building it.

where did you get your decals from?

twellsie":m6lfy4xe said:

love what you have done, i have a M-Trax titanium team edition frame in my loft from around the same era, had it sprayed in an off white/grey about 10 years ago, but as yet have not got round to building it.

where did you get your decals from?

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Thanks! Decals shown in the picture are actually just printed out on paper and stuck on with blu-tack just to trial them for size and position. I created the text in a graphics program based on images that I've found on retrobike and on the net. I really struggled to find a pic of the 1500 text so I had to have a bit of a guess at what the 5 would've looked like (as I only had a pic of the 1000 version). I've got a friend who has recently bought a laser cutter - he had a go at cutting some vinyl graphics for me based on the artworks that I produced........and I have to say they've come out really well! Yet to stick them on the bike - that's a job for next week.

Hi, could your friend be pursuaded to to do me a set, i would obviously cover all costs etc, alternatively do you remember the fonts?

twellsie":1soitk83 said:

Hi, could your friend be pursuaded to to do me a set, i would obviously cover all costs etc, alternatively do you remember the fonts?

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I don't see why not - I already have the MTRAX decal artwork on file. I couldn't find the font for this so I just re-drew them in a vector artwork package. What colour would you need?

Presumably you need frame decals other than just the MTRAX text though? Might be worth contacting Gil_M on here - the decals master.......see what he has on file.

i decided in the end to go with a Dyna-Tech theme, (as the doner dyna-tech frame turned out to be exactly the same as the repainted M-Trax) thanks for the offer though and the inspiration

mine looks pretty similar(its light grey btw)