1985/86 Raleigh Mountain Tour Grand Mesa

[Lhatch4]

I really didn't think I would be posting another bike for Bike of the Month this soon. I never thought I would enter this bike at all. With this month being non-26 wheels I thought I would go ahead and list this one anyway. It came standard with 650b wheels, now commonly called 27.5. I originally picked it up because I wanted the bullmoose bars but I decided to keep it in my collection. I think it tells an important story about the early days of mountain biking. This was one of the very first mountain bikes produced by Raleigh. I still have the original wheels for it. They are steel and very heavy. They aren't in good condition and can't be ridden in their current state. I replaced them with the wheels in the pictures. I replaced the saddle with this Brooks and replaced the stem mounted leaver shifters with these thumbies. The groupset is all Suntour and Raleigh branded components.

 

[DrGooGoo]

Interesting. I didn't know they made 650b/27.5 mountain bike rims in 1985.

 

[Lhatch4]

Interesting. I didn't know they made 650b/27.5 mountain bike rims in 1985.

Here is an article talking about early 650b wheels and it shows a bike that Tom Ritchey built in 1977 with 650b wheels. 650b was an old French Standard from what I understand. There are a handful of other examples of early 650b mountain bikes out there as well. https://www.singletracks.com/mtb-ge...the-650b-godfather-revolution-and-650b-sales/

 

[The History Man]

Now that is special. If you ever................

 

[DrGooGoo]

Here is an article talking about early 650b wheels and it shows a bike that Tom Ritchey built in 1977 with 650b wheels. 650b was an old French Standard from what I understand. There are a handful of other examples of early 650b mountain bikes out there as well. https://www.singletracks.com/mtb-ge...the-650b-godfather-revolution-and-650b-sales/

Interesting.

So Ritchey and Raleigh had 27.5 wheels in the early/mid 80's...
...Cannondale were making mullet bikes with slack geometry around then as well...
And Bullmoose bars are back in fashion.

What do you think will be reinvented next?

 

[Lhatch4]

Here are a few pictures of the original front wheel with a standard 26 in rim in front of it. The original rim is clearly larger than a normal 26. A 650b tire fits the original rim perfectly. The original rim is labeled: 26" x 1 1/2 w/o . I guess back then there wasn't standard nomenclature for the various sizes. It was very confusing to me when I first got the bike.