1989 Raleigh Banana Team Bike - Dave Rayner

Hi with regard to the tubs,
I acquired some vintage wolber titanium/mavic wheels for a Bianchi Resto. On them are Vittoria squadre profiles.The Bianchi is low down on list and I fancy conti giros.one of the Squadras holds air and one bleeds from the valve rapidly,however I love old Raleigh's (gas pipe replica nut and bolt resto Europa and Ladies Panasonic) and i admire what you are doing with this very special machine. pm with your address and I'll send them across karma on the post

Adjusters ?

As the bike has run friction only for the last 20+ years, (and been no worse for it), the conversion to the indexed Syncro levers leaves me cold ! I have a pair of the levers sat at my friends in the US.

Surely there has to be an adjuster ? The back of the derailleur is clearly threaded for 'something' and though there's never been on there in my time with the bike, I think it's missing one of these....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-N...sure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item3cd0022ac8

I've been working on the paint chips in the fork, still a work in progress, so images later.... and it took me back, because I'd forgotten that I'd previously worked on a restoration project before.

My dad was a fireman, and worked on the fire engine below - as a small 8 year old I was tasked with climbing into the little lockers on the sides and removing the old cream paint - child labour did me no harm!

I had to buy one of those doobries for my current build. I gather some Syncro lever sets were shipped with the barrel adjusters as earlier derailleurs weren't equipped with them as they weren't necessary for friction shifting. The Athena RD on my Raleigh 531 had one from new as it was sold during the time when Syncro was in full swing. My C Record RD is not threaded like the Athena one is though, the aperture that the adjuster sits in is machined smooth so the adjuster barrel slides and can turn in relation to the spring loaded threaded inner portion.

They can be bought for less than half the price of the item you listed above though, for example this one from the chap that I got mine from -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAMPAGNOLO-C- ... 3a7fbc6173

With the headset you could just go to a complete set of loose bearings, i did that to my old CX bike as the cages are the weakest link as far as corrosion goes (yearly bearing swap).
Loose bearings and packed full of grease did 2 or 3 seasons of cross without any attention (In my case anyway).

Also, with the bearings being spaced differently, and the extra couple you can fit, the notchiness *should* be reduced or eliminated. (Its usually caused by overtightening and the bearings pitting the race, and self indexing, extra bearings will minimise this)

mattr":uhz4hhmd said:

With the headset you could just go to a complete set of loose bearings, i did that to my old CX bike as the cages are the weakest link as far as corrosion goes (yearly bearing swap).
Loose bearings and packed full of grease did 2 or 3 seasons of cross without any attention (In my case anyway).

Also, with the bearings being spaced differently, and the extra couple you can fit, the notchiness *should* be reduced or eliminated. (Its usually caused by overtightening and the bearings pitting the race, and self indexing, extra bearings will minimise this)

Click to expand...

Thanks MattR - I was surprised it felt as good as it did considering the state of the cages, bearings alone it is!

Penfold6290":30vo82dx said:

I had to buy one of those doobries for my current build. I gather some Syncro lever sets were shipped with the barrel adjusters as earlier derailleurs weren't equipped with them as they weren't necessary for friction shifting. The Athena RD on my Raleigh 531 had one from new as it was sold during the time when Syncro was in full swing. My C Record RD is not threaded like the Athena one is though, the aperture that the adjuster sits in is machined smooth so the adjuster barrel slides and can turn in relation to the spring loaded threaded inner portion.

They can be bought for less than half the price of the item you listed above though, for example this one from the chap that I got mine from -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAMPAGNOLO-C- ... 3a7fbc6173

Click to expand...

Thanks Penfold - it's not the prettiest addition to the derailleur is it, perhaps that explains why it had been removed from mine, but thanks for confirming my thoughts, a good shout that you can get them cheaper, I'm in no particular hurry to get one so I'll keep looking for one at a 'fair' price !

So today was the day to have a crack at the frame.

So much crud, sticky nasty crud around the BB. Thanks to my nephew Jack who's on school holidays, for giving me a hand.

First up we got as much nasty dirt off with dry rags, gave it a wash with car wash, and then polished it...

It's come up so well, I'm considering not doing anything more with the frame....

I found this image of another of the '89 banana's and as with the '88 shimano bike there's a Reynolds logo on the chain side stays.

The fact that I can locate it right where there's plenty of paint missing on the chainstay is no problem ! I guess a Campagnolo script on the opposing chain stay makes sense also.

Also Raleigh and Banana decals are evident by the rear brake, and 753 fork decals. I do feel an empathy with the guy who owns this bike, as like me, I fear he didn't know what he had - and he has since had his resprayed....

"Dad, can I help clean your famous old bike" - the words of my eldest daughter Olivia today.

I wasn't expecting her to say that !

"Of course you can"....

So just like my dad before me, enthusiastic child labour has been employed - Ollie was particularly good at getting round the back of the block.

The Rear wheel looked dirtier than the front, but was MUCH easier to clean - the grease and grime from chain lube had covered everything with a protective coating of grime, which came off pretty easy, no nipple corrosion (stop laughing Ollie) either.

After that I went out and bought a new road bike - this 'nana is far to good to use for ordinary rides....

One of the minor inconveniences of discovering the history of my bike, is that I can no longer casually use it as and when it suits me - it's strictly high days and holidays only! So I've bought a new bike, I've been looking for a while, but being 'careful' with my dosh I didn't find anything I particularly liked at my budget - until this weekend.

£850 bought me this handsome carbon bike from Planet-X, which has a distinctly new/old look, with the gold decals over the clear carbon and the classic bottle cage (same one I've had on my MTB for nearly 20 years) It's got a sprinkling of Campagnolo, albeit Xenon and Veloce, but this is a bike for riding, not hanging in my office

It does make me smirk that the components are worth less than some of the bolts on my 'nana.

First impressions, actually very similar to the 'nana - both sprint well, stop well and are quite twitchy.