1987 Raleigh Montage (501)

[sparkybhp]

My deep dive into 80’s atb’s continues..

Found this locally on Gumtree for £20, picked it up just now.
It’s had a fair bit of use but looks solid and ripe for a resto.

Removal of the padded seat cover has uncovered this sweet faux-suede snake skin saddle!

With the rest of the ‘dad mods’ removed it’s actually starting to look pretty sweet.

 

[Andy Mann]

Very nice montage, always liked these and the other raleighs from this era.

 

[sparkybhp]

Once this was stripped down I found the wheels were too far gone. The rear axle was bent, freewheel wouldn’t undo and the spoke nipples we’re disintegrating when I was trying to true the wheels.
Gave up on those.. Decided to go a different way with this and built it up as single speed with M600 v-brakes (the original canti’s were shockingly bad!).

The frame is remarkably clean, a bit of t-cut and polish has it looking pretty fresh. It rides really well with the 46/18 gearing and the frame rides nicer than any 501 that I’ve had before.

Alloy riser bars (off a Marin I think) help make it a bit comfortable to ride.
I’m pleased with this one, built cheaply with parts I had knocking around and the original cranks, mechs and shifters will come in handy for another build down the line.

 

[polsonm87]

Looks great, especially for £20

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

All the 501 bikes I've had have been great. Ride well and not spendy.

 

[sparkybhp]

This has now become my all weather shopping fetcher. I managed to make the riding position fit me perfectly by firstly cutting and re-welding the stem at a more upright angle. It’s not the standard 1” size so I was short of options, turned out great though.
Second was a lucky find of some motorcycle handlebars which had been left out for the scrap man. Nice and wide with decent up+back sweep.

All that I had to do then was transfer parts across from my ‘steel framed mystery bike’ on to this. That included the 7 speed Sachs hub gears, Brooks saddle, racks etc.
Hey presto, it’s now earned a place in the keeper section of my fleet.

 

[chambo34]

Here's mine, they're great bikes!

 

[sparkybhp]

Here's mine, they're great bikes!

That’s nice! Looks super clean, how do you find the standard canti brakes? Mine were shockingly poor!

I did a few more bits to mine. The bars are motorcycle bars I found left out for the scrap man when working in London one day. I also cut and welded the stem to give it a bit more rise, much comfier this way.

 

[chambo34]

That’s nice! Looks super clean, how do you find the standard canti brakes? Mine were shockingly poor!
View attachment 960386
I did a few more bits to mine. The bars are motorcycle bars I found left out for the scrap man when working in London one day. I also cut and welded the stem to give it a bit more rise, much comfier this way.

They're not the best brakes tbh, springs have gone a bit on mine, its a tootle about bike really so not massively important, that said I have plans. Hoping to touch in the paint and transfers over winter

 

[sparkybhp]

More progress on this, it’s constantly evolving - part of the fun of a £20 retro I suppose!
I’ve decided to ditch the 7 speed hub gears and balloon tyres (v. heavy) and go completely in the opposite direction.. Initially I added some basic 3x7 parts I had lying around but a ride with a mate and a look round his projects inspired me to go single speed.
First job was to make the cockpit more ‘klunker’ style, the 21.1mm stem doesn’t leave many options unless I change the forks so - I thought I’d alter it to be closer to a bmx setup:

This will give me the low height and shorter reach I want.
If I was a tad handier with the welder I wouldn’t have to spend so long with the files.. but it’s come out decent:

The bars were some crmo Dutch style ones which did have way more backsweep on them. I used a bit of 1” steel gas pipe in a vice, inserted the grip ends in it and slowly bent them to being less of a sweep.
More work to do but it’s taking shape.