My 1988 Raleigh Memphis

[Lee1975]

I'm new to the forum, and thought I'd share a couple of photos of my recently "re-activated" Raleigh Memphis

I got this for Christmas in 1988 if I remember correctly. I would have been 13 at the time but decided to go for the monster 23 inch frame Thought I'd grow into it.
One of my School friends had a Mustang and one of my other ones got a Maverick. I felt a bit superior with my 18 speed (and similar to Muddy Fox Spec) Memphis!! It was about £210, compared to about £180 for the 15 speed Maverick and £150 for the Mustang.
Anyway after a few years of hammering around Romford in my teenage years, it needed new tyres and handlebar grips and a new spindle (after trying to do wheelies and snapping it)!! Replaced those in about 1990 rode it for another couple of years before forgetting about it.

Anyway I got a new saddle for it a couple of years ago, but have only just started riding it properly again. It is largely as it was 20 years ago (even down to the brake blocks and Farmer John tyres), which could all do with replacing.

It still has the Sakae Ovaltech Chainset, and original Suntour accushift Gear System. I am just doing some work to get rid of some of the 20 years+ of surface corrosion on some parts of the frame and am looking to get some of the shiny bits off and cleaned up. Should look quite reasonable for a 24 year old bike once done. It still feels quite solid going over the rough tracks in Langdon Hills

 

[SIMONFREESE]

I was a Maverick man! Or rather boy...

Glad to see you have hung on to this, hope it brings you much pleasure.

 

[RustyGold]

Love the frame bag .

I must admit that I'm more of an M-Trax man myself, but these late eighties/early nineties Raleighs always bring a smile to my face. I recently baulked at the oppourtunity to by a Moonshine, I'm starting to re-think now :.)

 

[muppetman]

Ha ha, I remember John's Bike shop in Romford from when I used to live darn Saarf! Is it still there?

 

[Kell]

I also had a Raleigh Maverick.

What brings back memories most seeing that pic though arethose frame bags that I used to carry stuff in.

Though IIRC, mine also doubled as the should houlder.

(And it was NEON).

Funnily enough I spotted a Maverick the other day, but it had been chained to a lampost in London and it had had its wheels kicked in.

Mine was also far too large for me. A result of going to the Raleigh dealer in town who had previously only ever sold 'racers'. I remember standing over it on a smooth shop floor and thinking that 1" clearance would be fine.

I remember lying on a mud covered track thinking what a mistake that was when I misjudged getting the front wheel up a step in the local woods.

Suffice to say, my next bike had a lot more clearance.

 

[Lee1975]

John's of Romford no longer do bikes, I think they are solely Motorbikes now. Haven't been that way for years.

I know what you mean about frame size and clearance, I am still on tiptoes whilst on the saddle, and have no clearance above the crossbar at all. Makes me a very cautious rider over rough ground

I think it was the thing back in the 80's, pick a large frame and that was fine.

I have started to do some work on mine, thought I'd get rid of a little bit of rust, and it has just seemed to go from there.

I am now sanding out as much of the rust as possible, back to the metal, and going to respray it.

Although a lot of the rust hadn't broken the paint, you could see it lifting very slightly in some places. I am getting some paint made up so hopefully will be a reasonable match.

My Father looked through his old paperwork today and found this. The original handbook, Suntour instruction booklets and Bill of sale (26/11/198.

 

[Giom6]

Ah, that brings back memories.

I had one of these and it was my first geared all terrain bike. They were brilliant. I got mine from Battery Cycles in Plymouth and then it was stolen outside the local Coop about two years later

 

[cce]

I guess from the saddle height you never did grow into it....

 

[Lee1975]

I think if the saddle went any higher my voice would too :shock:

I was out on it a few weeks ago over the woods, there was a muddy (single track) slope that I aborted about half way up as being too risky.

If I lost momentum or traction I would come off forward and hit the crossbar with painful consequences

The other option would be to bail out left or right, both sides had quite a lot of overgrown bushes, weeds, etc, and I would have likely fallen flat into them.

I decided walking up would be safer

Trying a safe exit from a bike with that size frame is not easy.

 

[drcarlos]

Quality, I also had a Maverick the GT with the same frame as the Memphis and flat barts not the ATB as that had the Mustang frame and risers. I really wanted the Memphis but they just wouldn't discount it at all so I couldn't afford it. I so wanted the Suntour indexed gears, Biopace and a Q/R front wheel.
I nearly bought a decent condition Maverick some months back but the seller would not ship and it wasn't worth it for a £30 bike.

Carl.