1981 Raleigh Record

[mikeyboyo]

Hi Everyone, bought this beauty on gumtree back in October, I had been after a Raleigh Record for a while but missed out on a really nice one back in the spring, so I couldn't resist this. The previous owner had cleaned her up and given her two new tyres and tubes. I have not seen many others like it, most Raleigh Records you see for sale are later models, this is from 1981, has aluminium wheels, Suntour groupset, leather saddle and Weinmann brakes. It also has a mechanical speedo and two very interesting stickers on the downtube, the first one is to celebrate the TI Raleigh victory at the 1980 Tour de France, and the second is an Aberdeen bike shop sticker, so it looks like she never left Aberdeen! The decals have a metallic foil in them that look gold under some light conditions, and silver under others. I've put about 30 miles on her and she is a very nice bike to ride I think I may sell her soon though as I bought her to tide me over until I bought my carbon bike. Can anyone on here offer a bit of insight into the history of this model?

 

[Robbied196]

carbon bike.

:facepalm:

Keep this, sell the carbon :xmas-wink:

 

[CyclingTheLakes]

Centre-Pull Raleigh-stamped Brakes is interesting, I have seen those but usually see side-pull brakes.

http://forum.tontonvelo.com/download/fi ... 182555&t=1 Another Super Tourer similar to mine with its serial number.

Get the serial number, my Raleigh Super Tourer # off the underneath of the bottom bracket is: WD 4002221 meaning Worksop, March, 4 for 1974 according to this link (and there are other web pages like Sheldon Brown's) http://www.kurtkaminer.com/TH_raleigh_serials.html but Raleigh did not win the Tour De France until cerca 1980 and I have that decal still on the Raleigh, so it looks like the bicycle was not sold for years after it was built. So check to see if it could have been built earlier:

I put the Carlton brake levers on myself.

The decal may not be clearly readable but one can kind of see that that is what it is, the TdF winners decal as they put on decals of other trophies they won, World I think.

 

[mikeyboyo]

carbon bike.

:facepalm:

Keep this, sell the carbon :xmas-wink:

I do realise that saying that makes me sound like a horrible person, but I had used money that was in the carbon bike fund to buy the Record, and I told my parents it was just to tide me over until I had the carbon bike. It's a 23 inch frame which is ever so slightly too small for me, I have fitted a longer post which improves things a bit. I will be sad to see her go and am tempted to keep her but quite frankly this is the best condition old bike I have ever owned, I feel bad every time I take it out on the road, I feel like it ought to be preserved, while not mint, it is a beautiful survivor. Plus I already have a 70s Falcon, a 63 Raleigh Trent Tourist and a Rudge Ulster Sports to keep me busy.

 

[mikeyboyo]

Centre-Pull Raleigh-stamped Brakes is interesting, I have seen those but usually see side-pull brakes.

http://forum.tontonvelo.com/download/fi ... 182555&t=1 Another Super Tourer similar to mine with its serial number.

Get the serial number, my Raleigh Super Tourer # off the underneath of the bottom bracket is: WD 4002221 meaning Worksop, March, 4 for 1974 according to this link (and there are other web pages like Sheldon Brown's) http://www.kurtkaminer.com/TH_raleigh_serials.html but Raleigh did not win the Tour De France until cerca 1980 and I have that decal still on the Raleigh, so it looks like the bicycle was not sold for years after it was built. So check to see if it could have been built earlier:

I put the Carlton brake levers on myself.

The decal may not be clearly readable but one can kind of see that that is what it is, the TdF winners decal as they put on decals of other trophies they won, World I think.

What year was on that downtube decal? My record's frame number suggests Nottingham 1981, and you're right, I found a list of winning teams dating back to when it began, and it was the Dutch team TI Raleigh who won in 1980, Wikipedia says Molteni won in 1974. Interesting that they had stock kept for that long. Thanks for that info

 

[Robbied196]

carbon bike.

:facepalm:

Keep this, sell the carbon :xmas-wink:

I feel bad every time I take it out on the road, I feel like it ought to be preserved, while not mint, it is a beautiful survivor.

I know what you mean, its easy to end up with bikes that live indoors and only go out when its dry and sunny...which is not very often!

 

[CyclingTheLakes]

What year was on that downtube decal? My record's frame number suggests Nottingham 1981, and you're right, I found a list of winning teams dating back to when it began, and it was the Dutch team TI Raleigh who won in 1980, Wikipedia says Molteni won in 1974. Interesting that they had stock kept for that long. Thanks for that info

Okay, on the Tour De France decal which is on the seat tube, it just reads winner 1980.

I believe just Raleigh only is on the downtube, it's a bike in good shape but when I first got it over 10 years ago, unfortunately, I put the hose on "jet" and it hit some of the decals but the TdF one and others have survived. That frustrated me. But I ride this one regularly, I don't need to restore it totally.