1989 Raleigh Mirage

[velomaniac]

Wish I was as young as you lot so that the last bike my folks bought me as a child might have been a mtb. Unfortunately in 1982 in Midlothian no one had ever heard of mtb's and thus I got a Raleigh 3spd Roadster called a Connoseur which did get used off road and being solidly built lasted 20 years of abuse. Didnt see a mtb until my show off mate got a Maverick in 85.

A first bike meet would be fun though, wonder where I can get a 1994 Townsend Beartooth 10 speed in 22"

 

[Logic.Al]

Holy Thread resurection!

My first "MTB" was a Universal Sierra Nevada in blue and white. Went everywhere on that until I bought my DBR Axis. Put the Universal in the back of my dads car with the Axis on top. Got home and the forks were bent out of shape! That was rather scary.

 

[ibbz]

You lucky lot! All I had was a decrepit old Raleigh racer my dad bought from the car boot market. Lasted a few weeks, kept buckling the wheels, fool me rode up kerbs

 

[kingoffootball]

I'm going to end up buying another Raleigh Lizard (my first bike) one day, I can just tell.

Did Raleigh produce catalogues with the lower range MTBs in or was it only the Lightweights?

All I can remember from buying the Lizard was that the other considerations were an Amazon or a BSA which was £155 (purely based on memory I think I paid £168 for the Lizard).

 

[SaracenSteve]

its ok for you guys with montages, lizards and mirages, i had a mustang. also 23 inch madness size.
what was that all about anyway? Still got it in storage somewhere, wonder if its still horrible. Loved that bike.

 

[ultrazenith]

My first MTB was a Raleigh Marauder which I brought from a friend at Scouts, sometime in the early 90s. That one lasted me a good few years, and by the age of 14 I'd managed to save up for an M Trax 400 Ti.

 

[MartinB123]

Re:

I've jsut got my hands on a Mirage frame too.

Sorry for the thread revival but for the life of me, a 1" stem appears to be too large for the steerer. Can anyone shed any light on this at all?

 

[retrogeezer]

Re:

Picked up a Mirage myself today - well chuffed Needs a clean but all original I think and in pretty good shape.

 

[Craigus Farticus]

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

Whereabouts in the Cotswolds? I spent my youth in Dursley and rode a Maverick. I've just been offered a nice white Mirage for £25 and collect tonight.