(cough) Raleigh Mirage...

Disclaimer: it's not mine, honest.

Raleigh Mirage in size huge (22"?), brazed Reynolds 501 tubes, 300LX 'ensemble', Biopace rings and 'push-push' shifters.

This is my brother's old bike, it's been sat in my parents' shed since he went off to uni in 1994, and wasn't ridden much before that either. It looks pretty much as supplied from Halfords, complete with warning stickers and brake levers at a jaunty angle. Oddly for such a gate, it has quite narrow bars, a short seatpost and 170mm cranks.

Fetched it out at the weekend; after regreasing the headset bearings and adjusting cables it rides just as well as it did when new . The shifters are truly awful.

Neither of us can remember when it was bought, I reckon 1990 or maybe '91? My brother decided it was best not weighed, so took it away before I could get out the scales.

More pics here: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/mai ... emId=46881

Enjoy.

Nice colour....seeing nice basic stuff like this and the Raleigh Apex at the Peaks meet inspires me to buy my first mtb back.....a Raleigh Saturn :?

Awesome! love these but bit big, weren't they all tho

Thanks for the compliments - I'd offer it as an ironic BOTM entry apart from the rule stipulating bike ownership. Like I said, it's not mine .

Apart from some surface rust on the really cheap bits (reflectors, stem, pedals), it's very well preserved. After I'd cleaned the headset, the bearings looked like new. The saddle has seen better days though; the gel seems to have disappeared at some point :?.

Without wishing to start another "does this have value?" debate, I like seeing crap old bikes because they're nostalgic and make a change from all the top end stuff. I'll stop now.

i know what you mean, gets my vote. these were the bikes i lusted after in Hellfrauds before i was old enough to lust owt!

Its 1990 for sure, I used to work at local Raleigh Bike shop when I left school. I had one which I bought with trade discount :roll: , It was when purple and ying and yang were the "to be seen with" This was part of raleighs new face lift of bikes.

Gravy Monster":261yvk0c said:

It was when purple and ying and yang were the "to be seen with"

Click to expand...

Is that not still the case then?

NICE

sweet

Very nice. Bought one in about 1990 from my local bike shop, 23" jobbie. Did me through college, cracked the braze around the derailleur side rear drop out, got that fixed, and eventually cracked the seat stay to seat post collar joint as well in about '97. Got a new frame off Raleigh under their wonderful 15 year frame guarantee, unidentified model, very dark metallic green 501 frame. The only thing now left from the original Mirage is the front wheel, stem and handlebar. Everything else changed over time. Still use it more regularily than an '07 Trek 6500 I have sitting in the shed. Love those old Raleighs!