Please someone identify this! Raleigh 653 frame and fork.

Bought a raliegh 653 frame and fork off ebay, yes ebay and well i have no idea what model or year.

I know the original spec was somewhere around shimano 600 and 105 hubs mavic rims ect. But thats it. Its made from reynolds 653 (inbetween 531 and 753) frame and forks.

The bottom bracket was/is 71mm shell 26tpi raleigh own brand thread. Though seems the previous owner has had it rethreaded to 24tpi english but not had the shell shaved to 68 (my next port of call to fit my campy veloce cranks).

Il get some closer pics up soon but was hoping someone could identify it as it must have been fairly high end due to the 600 groupset and 653 isnt cheap especially in comparison to some of the 531 bikes out back in the day.





hoping one of you guys can identify what ive spent hours searching for over the web lol

Quantum springs to mind but I'm not 100% sure.

Or it may be a Quadra (that's what I meant to say)

yeh seems to be very similar to information on the quadra i can find, a early 70s quadra is on german ebay, but is only 531 and where mine is blue around the seat tower, theres is yellow. Also theres has rack mounts whereas mine has campagnolo dropouts front and rear, so no racks! from the spec im guessing its late 70s early 80s lug work suggests 70s though forks and spec suggest 80s to me. il get some good pictures while re-assembling my kona tonight.

heres some more pictures of you, hopefully this will help!











excuse the really horrible build kit, its getting new ultegra/cx-rays/dt swiss rr1.1 ultegra+105 mechs and eventually a nice nitto bar, thomson stem combo hopefully!

Are you sure it's a Raleigh? The paint job does look a bit like a Quadra which was a model sold 1987-1989ish but it's not one of those.

The lugs don't look right and Raleigh lightweights from the 80's had "Raleigh" embossed in the top of the seatstays. If it's older than mid 80's then it can't be 653 - the early 80's "better than 531" frameset from Reynolds was 531 Professional. No Raleigh's used that tubing but a few Peugeots did.

I don't think the fork crown looks like a Raleigh either - they tended to have real or pseudo lugs with a triangular point.

Has it got a headbadge or the two small holes where one would be mounted?

finally, it may not have been a specific model. Raleigh sold separate framesets that had different paint jobs to the built up bikes.

it is a raleigh because picture 2, is a seperate picture i found on the internet randomly so there are 2 sepearte frames in existance with this decal/pain configuration, both made from reynolds 653. im not sure on the lugging or age.

Ive seen alot of lugged frames and yes i do agree that raleigh as far as i know never used 653 but then again i wasnt alive before 88.

The lugs to me look 70s but the forks 80s, and ive seen 531c, it looks very similar in frame/forks but still the lugs arent as fancy and the build kit upon that bike was 600 with shimano hubs/weinman rims.

It could as you said be a frame only kit which is a possible answer. i dont believe it could be a quadra if thats the release dates due to the bottom bracket cable routing. but i could be wrong.

The picture on the net and the frame you've bought could of course be the same bike. he 7-11 top the guy is wearing in the picture dates from 1986, but as you say the bike could be older.

There were Raleigh framesets that used 653, but no built up bikes. What I said was that Raleigh didn't build any frames with 531 Professional.

I'm not sure what you mean about cable routing? All road bikes have the same cable routing, along or inside the top tupe for the rear brake, under the B/B for front and rear mechs.

So, if it is from the mid-80's, it might be 653 but it's probably not a Raleigh as the seat stays and lugs are wrong for that period.

If it's older then it could be a Raleigh but it's not 653 as it wasn't around before the mid-80s.

I forgot to say - what's the frame number? It's not too hard to tell from that if it's a Raleigh and when it was built.

il get the frame number tonight, the cable routing is steel lugged above the bottom bracket. Its shown in the picture above. Usually find this upto early/mid 80s. Also mentioned was the raleigh 71mm x 26tpi bottom bracket thread. This would suggest late 70s early 80s as after this period english thread became standard with a 68mm shell.

They could be one in the same, though the guy i bought it from lives in devon, whereas the pictured guy lives and rides in london.

I believe it could indeed be 80s, but not so late.

The frame number should indeed identify this.