Let me take you back.

The year is 1990. New Kids on the Block top the charts. England are cheated out of certain world cup glory by West Germany. Margaret Thatcher is still in power for a bit at least. Mountain Biking is 'cool' in the same way Yo-Yos, skateboards, BMXs and rubiks cubes were before. A callow 13 year old is promised one of these mountain bikes for his upcoming birthday. He trawls the local shops which include Noahs Ark and Bike Tech, both sadly no more. He decides a nice 18 inch Saracen will do nicely. (Un)fortunately a trip is taken to a local ma and pa Raleigh dealer who convince all concerned a year old Raleigh Mirage with a 23" frame is just the ticket for a growing lad. "Something to grow into son".

The bike is duly collected and several months of fun are had despite it being at least 3 sizes too big around the edge of the Cotswolds. Sadly the Raleigh met an end thanks to a rather large and firm tree. The head angle was steepened permenantly. Regardless of it's shortcomings I always had a soft spot for the old Raleigh. After all without it many years of extremely mediocre cycling may never have happeded.

Fast forward nearly twenty (nearly twenty...utter madness) years and on a whim a wanted ad is posted on this very site. A link is posted to ebay > http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481 ... 230619fc1a and the rest is history. £62 pounds and 4 days later the kind seller (cheers Paul if by some chance you're reading this) drops the Mirage off for me at Retrobike HQ. Normally bike deliveries here are a little more exotic but few (or any) have produced a bigger smile than the arrival of Nottingham's finest.

Anyhow enough chat. The bike. A few pics of bike as received. Nice bit of patina (if it was a BMX think it'd be called a survivor) but overall in great nick. The cheng shin centre ridges have plenty of live and biopace are still very oval. Needs a clean and new cables. Possibly take the rear mech off my old Raleigh and stick it on here since this has been sprayed with a rattle can.












A few more pics here > http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/mai ... emId=72421 if interested.

As a bonus this is about the right size. Once I get it sorted a 20th anniversary ride maybe in the offing

Looks great John. I'm glad you managed to get hold of it.
I should really track down my old Peugeot...

Nice one.

Bit of a wash and polish and it'll be as good as new

That. Is. Beautiful.

I desperately wanted one of those as a kid. But no dice, there was a recession on.

Is that why I have so many old bikes now?

Nice one in white!
How does this serial number work?
I assumed the last two digits are the year of build, because on my Raleigh it says 92.
But that would mean this one is from '96, and that is not correct, is it?

Brilliant.
My parents did the same thing to me about the same time.
Mine was a 23"Montage.
It came to an end 4 years later with a snapped chain stay.

Nice one John,

and speaking from experience it's a fantastic feeling when you open up a box to find your first MTB, and 20yrs worth of history sat in there looking out at you.....

So the question I have for you is - Have you 'grown into it' now??

Steve

I remember seeing these about BITD and thinking they looed cool

This looks in great nick, does it ride how you remember?

It's certainly '89. Dunno if the printed code on the label matches the serial.

I never grew into the 23" as it were. This is 19" and fits ok. Top tube is a good length, nicely sized for me at 6ft. Bit worrying this was the smallest Raleigh offered IIRC.

The ride - I'll let you know on that.

Nice one John looks as it did 21 years ago !, I recall lusting after this model in the Raleigh Catalogue, Its an 1989 as I worked in local raleigh bike shop between 1990 and 1992 and the Purple Mirage and Montage pictured above were the raleigh offerings in 1990 sporting oversize headsets.

Central Ridge tyres

Are you gunna ride it at HONC ??

nice history

Maiden voyage at the HONC?

Sounds a familiar story, nice bike.

Carl.

Not sure about HONC. Have happy and very rose tinted memories of the mirage. Would 65 miles round the Cotswolds help that?

Nice bike John.

Why did parents do that? I know giant-one and he's the tallest soft lad I know but he'd still stuggle to fit his old 23"!

Yes, you very rerely come accross a normal sized raleigh retro on ebay. Its quite frustrating when they are always massive.

Bikes look so much better smaller