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Post by oldroadietehachapi on Dec 12, 2023 17:44:15 GMT
The link below is to the Utah Randonneur who is a fellow Giradengo owner (my bike is pictured in his "barn"). He recently was gifted this very nice Raleigh Competition frame and (knowing we have some Raleigh fans) thought you might enjoy the story. He keeps a log of his restorations (explore his pages) and this one should be fun to follow.
All the Best Jim
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Jem
Viscount
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Posts: 3,389 
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Post by Jem on Dec 13, 2023 10:54:27 GMT
Wow, that is some blog !
Just read the Eroica Britannica entries. I realise that I have found a whole winters worth of reading there.
Thanks for posting that link. I'm interested to read the Raleigh build - great era that I can relate to those late 70's early 80's.
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Post by brianbutler on Dec 13, 2023 13:01:56 GMT
The Raleigh Competition is a nice bike. A couple years ago I refurbished the 1976 shown below but have not ridden it except to check out the build. The geometry is a bit too vertical for my taste so I tried to sell it last summer with no luck. Fun fact - the bare frame and fork on this 56cm Reynolds 531 frame weigh in at 2758g, whereas a 1974 Viscount Aerospace Pro with death fork is 2754g. And, oddly enough, the 56cm Viscount Aerospace Pro with the factory replacement steel fork is 2736g. You save 18g and your front teeth.
Brian
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Post by dracco on Dec 23, 2023 20:44:30 GMT
I like Raleigh cycles. I have a 1984 Raleigh Royal touring bike, which I picked up online in 2014 for £85. It was an impulse purchase when I came across the ad on Gumtree during a nostalgia-driven internet browse: in 1983 I'd bought the 1983 model (£255 new), which was stolen from my house after I'd moved up north in 1984. I couldn't resist replacing it at long last.
The specs had changed a bit between the 1983 and 1984 models, but this bike still had all the original components. OK, it had acquired some patina, but it was structurally sound, and the wheels (Weinmann eyeletted alloy 27"x 28mm) still ran true. It has a 531 frame and front fork (with 18-23 Hi-tensile stays), Maillard Atom hubs and a Maillard 14-32 5-speed freewheel. The front and rear derailleurs are Suntour Cyclone MkII (the rear being the long-cage 3700 iteration) operated by Suntour powershifters. The chainset is a Sugino DGT 50/34 and the brakes are Weinmann 610/750 centre-pull with quick-release levers. The only change I made to it was to replace the old (perished) foam grips on the Sakae Randonneur bars with cork tape, and to fit a Brooks B17 saddle.
Every time I ride this bike I get a feel for its ride quality. It's very different from my Aerospace Pro. The Pro is agile and slightly temperamental, whereas the Raleigh is solid and smooth. If I were to compare them with cars that I have driven at different times in my life, the Pro is like the Triumph TR6 that I had in my youth, while the Raleigh is like the Volvo that I had in middle age).
In 2022, this Raleigh was the bike that I took down to Bristol for the first 6 months of the year, while my wife was working on a contract at Bristol University, and my new cycling buddies were quite impressed by the way that I could go up some of the hills we encountered on our club rides (that 30/32 gearing!!). After we got back to Yorkshire, I felt that it was struggling a little (I hadn't had a decent workshop facility), and I gave it a complete strip-down and overhaul (completely replacing all the bearings, tyres and cables), and since then it's been impeccably behaved. Right now it's the bike that's hooked up to my indoor trainer, waiting for me to recover from my recent injury.
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