Difference between Banana and Pro Tour?

There is actually a fair bit of difference between the two frames (relatively speaking).

The Banana is 'Raleigh 18-23', which is the cheapest, plain-gauge carbon steel that Raleigh used (similar to bottom of the range Peugeots, with their Carbolite 103 tubing). The stamped drop outs were also inferior, and they didn't have a derailleur hanger, requiring a mech with one of those steel plates.

The Kellog's Pro Tour used Reynolds 501 butted main tubes and (I think) Gipiemme drop outs - altogether a better frame, which isn't saying much, as neither was considered 'serious' at the time - they were seen as "children's bikes" (I know, as I had a Raleigh 501 frame in a different guise, as a teenager, and it was sniffed at by other members of my club).

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Cheers Alpha that's good info that

The thing I like most about the bike is the colour scheme. It just looks bang on, and the name banana, it's what cyclists eat or at least should eat lol.

I know a lot of peeps say that the frame is the heavy 18-23 and it is frowned upon, but I don't get it.

I have a 6.8kg Cannondale CAAD 12 here and I much prefer riding the Banana to that and it's almost 4kg heavier lol.

There is something about the geometry and the steel frame that just feels racy to me.

I bought this bike for £65 thinking, ah I'll probably get it rolling for about a hundred quid.. Over a grand later, she's about there lol.

I'll be out on her later, hunting down other cyclists so they can see a flash of retro yellow and black buzz by

Cycling is rife with snobbery - not to the extent of golf, but there are still ridiculous numbers of people who think that a 'better' bike makes them a more serious rider. We used to have a guy in our club, who rode a British Eagle 501 with ancient components, for time trialling. He beat everyone by at least3 minutes on 10 miles. Twas fun to watch guests turn up with carbon wheels and aero helmets, and get smoked by the guy with football trainers in toe clips.

lol that guy sounds like a hero

I think that's partly why I ride the banana so much, because it's regarded as the under dog, so when I get a new PB on strava or something I'm always way more pleased than if I do it on the latest CAAD.

FiveAlpha":1wtqtger said:

Cycling is rife with snobbery - not to the extent of golf, but there are still ridiculous numbers of people who think that a 'better' bike makes them a more serious rider. We used to have a guy in our club, who rode a British Eagle 501 with ancient components, for time trialling. He beat everyone by at least3 minutes on 10 miles. Twas fun to watch guests turn up with carbon wheels and aero helmets, and get smoked by the guy with football trainers in toe clips.

Click to expand...

Try HiFi for a hobby with added snobbery, the level of snake oil level willy swinging is mind blowing.

Anyway, I really like your Banana @ThePowster, you've done a great job with it, the money you've spent on it is yours to spend however you like and ultimately your bike only has to please you and you alone.

Thanks Allen.

I'm really enjoying it, also can't wait to nip to the pub on it when summer gets here, shes real pretty lol

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Cool bike indeed. Top work

Cheers Nick

The pro tour 501 came with derailleur hanger, 57mm BB shell, 27.2mm seatpost, index gears, QR hubs, and all alloy gears/brakes/cranks/rims/hubs/seatpost where the banana had none of these things. This is why I bought the pro tour back in 88, and rejected the banana which was £60 cheaper, for these same reasons. The 501 has other benefits over the 18-23, e.g. it will take triple front rings, will take modern road BB’s has recessed brake Caliper fittings, short reach callipers, braze on shifters, and proper seatpost bolt fitting. Overall you get what you would expect on a “racer”, where the 18-23 banana only had the racer alloy drop bars and stem, everything else was steely basic hybrid,

If you get a 1990 pro tour it will have a 130mm back end, Shimano gears, concealed cables, white stem and headset as well.

Both early and later pro tours (more so the latter) are much happier with retro modding than a 18-23, much lighter, and the 501 feels streets ahead. The 18-23 banana has a hybrid frame masquerading as a road bike. That aside, the 18-23 does ride very well, and is bulletproof. My mate was on a banana being towed at 50mph by a mk2 escort, he fell off, him and the bike were Ok. If that had been a falcon it would have exploded!

My pro tour is now down at 9.5kg with not much spent (it’s 21.5” which is very light on a 501), it was 11kg as standard. The banana was about 13.5 kg standard.

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Your banana is the 531 version a far superior frame to the Pro tour and much rarer than the 18-23 framed version.
Very nice bike.