Raleigh Airlite Carbon

grantus

Hi,

Anyone got one of these?

JE James have them for £750 which I thought looked stonking value. Veloce groupset and mavic wheels and comes in around the 18lb mark.

I've read some decent reviews on them as well and think the only reason they are cheap is because of snob value i.e. it's a Raleigh = it's cheap crap.

That doesn't bother me - I know the resale value would be less as a result but I would intend to keep it a good few years anyway.

An alternative is a trek 5000 available for £900.

Full OCLV carbon frame, Bontrager wheels and a mix of 105 and Ultegra gruppo.

I know the trek would have a higher resale value but more importantly, snob value aside, which is the better of the two bikes?

The Raleigh is a more modern frame? However trek would benefit from the 'trickle down' technology from the Madone bikes, etc.

Trek is more of an out and out racer with horizontal top tube whereas the Raleigh has sloping geometry.

If i'm being honest, the trek is a nicer looking bike but the inverse snobbery in me quite likes the idea of having a Raleigh that will make people initially turn their noses up! Plus it's a British name (albeit made in Taiwan!)

Any advice?

Cheers

robbie the roadie

I seem to think in a recent review in cycling plus they said that the raleigh had the most racey geometry out of the bikes tested

DavidBelcher

grantus wrote:

Hi,

Anyone got one of these?

JE James have them for £750 which I thought looked stonking value. Veloce groupset and mavic wheels and comes in around the 18lb mark.

I've read some decent reviews on them as well and think the only reason they are cheap is because of snob value i.e. it's a Raleigh = it's cheap crap.

I've seen (but not ridden) one and it looks to be a very sound machine for the cash. Campag parts, good wheelset (Ambrosio Zenith-style sealed bearing hubs; I actually asked the Raleigh dealer if the wheelset was available from the spares/accessories catalogue as I wanted one for my Look - to no avail sadly ) and a very good carbon frame, based on, if not 100% similar to, the one that Nicole Cooke used for the '07 road season before she switched to riding a Boardman.

David

Lagavulin

robbie the roadie wrote:

I seem to think in a recent review in cycling plus they said that the raleigh had the most racey geometry out of the bikes tested

Was that not the Carbon Race rather than the Airlite Carbon? :?

Lagavulin

'07 Airlite Carbon.



'08 Airlite Carbon Race.

acorn_user

I think the review was of the team pro. That had a great paint job.

gkerr4

i like the airlite carbon - it's a smart looking bike - same frame (i believe) as the massi carbon and the infamous PlanetX - only it comes with campag rather than shimano

at £750 it's a bargain as it has the PX frame with veloce and half decent wheels

imo - people turn their noses up at trek just as much as raleigh

richardjallen

gkerr4 wrote:

i like the airlite carbon - it's a smart looking bike - same frame (i believe) as the massi carbon and the infamous PlanetX - only it comes with campag rather than shimano

at £750 it's a bargain as it has the PX frame with veloce and half decent wheels

imo - people turn their noses up at trek just as much as raleigh

Seconded. I put my PX up against one in the LBS and I could not find any difference in the frames apart from the paint job. At £750 it looks like a bargain. I looked at another model recently and was impressed by that as well.

meagain

Not ridden, but I had a good look at one and ran hands over "joins" etc in local Raleigh dealers and the quality seemed pretty good to me. Back when a manufacturer Raleigh made some first class frames, which are also IMHO now under-rated from sheer badge snobbery. No doubt just the same now.

grantus

Cheers,

No takers for the Trek?

I actually really like the idea of having a Raleigh bike that is also a quality machine.

I agree with Meagain about the vintage raleigh bikes. I think the Dynatech ones look the business and go for low prices on ebay at times.

I know it's not exactly buying British but other than an expensive custom made effort what is?

gkerr4

grantus wrote:

Cheers,

No takers for the Trek?

I actually really like the idea of having a Raleigh bike that is also a quality machine.

I agree with Meagain about the vintage raleigh bikes. I think the Dynatech ones look the business and go for low prices on ebay at times.

I know it's not exactly buying British but other than an expensive custom made effort what is?

no takers for the trek as yet - but remember that the trek 5000 is a really old bike now (is it second hand? bit high price for 2nd hand) and the horizontal top tube it has (as it shared design with the OCLV early madones) - has been replaced by a sloping top tube across the new madone range (albeit in two 'fits')

grantus

No, the Trek is new - just old stock at a reduced price on Pauls Cycles.

To be honest I really like the Raleigh and haven't used Campagnolo before so would be interested to see what the Veloce gruppo is like given I've only ever had two road bikes - the first one had 105 indexed downtube shifters and my current one has Shimano Sora which I happen to really like.

I guess going from Sora to Veloce is a huge leap in quality or is it just clever marketing?

redddraggon

grantus wrote:

I guess going from Sora to Veloce is a huge leap in quality or is it just clever marketing?

The quality difference is huge. The shifters are far better than the Sora, the "button" can be reached from the drops far more easily (whatever people say about being able to reach the button, most people aren't contortionists).

gkerr4

it is yeah - veloce is closer to 105 in quality and range terms - it's a great spec for the money.

they only have one size left in jejames - is it your size?

grantus

Will check however I won't be in a position to get it until after my summer holiday in July so they'll probably be gone by then. I'm not too worried. I always think if you see it for that price once you'll see it somewhere again - especially being a Raleigh and espcially as the 2008 models are around as well. I reckon it shouldn't be too hard to source a 2007 model for a similar price by the end of the summer(famous last words!).

If not I'll just buy a Cube Peloton for £700 - they look good and have 105 if i'm not mistaken and nice wheels.

Or a Bianchi Via Nirone,

or an Allez elite

or, or, or.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lagavulin

grantus wrote:

... or an Allez elite...

Nice frame but this years Elite, unless you get it discounted, doesn't seem very good value for money to me. The 2007 bike was 10-speed 105, FSA and with Mavic wheels.
While this years has been given some Zertz inserts in the fork and stays, it's 9-speed Tiagra and wheels I'd never heard of. That said, can upgrade those in time and the frame itself will good.

DavidBelcher

meagain wrote:

Back when a manufacturer Raleigh made some first class frames, which are also IMHO now under-rated from sheer badge snobbery. No doubt just the same now.

The titanium RSP800 road bike for a start (the one with the red & white paint job as opposed to the usual 'nude' finish Raleigh Ti frames) - lovely piece of kit, and one of the last models offered just before they stopped building frames in Nottingham. It was way out of my price range at the time, though

David

grantus

Re. the Allez spec.

yeah, I wouldn't buy a 2008 elite - for £800 i don't think it's good value at all in relation to what else you can get for the same dosh.

I do like the 2007 model in dark blue - not many left though.