Something a little different.....

52Teeth

After giving my only road bike (planet x/105-5700/cosmics) a proper battering over the winter I decided that a budget winter/rain/turbo/commuter was required.

Here's the result.


Less than £100 including the respray which was free (wifes father owns a paint shop).

The frame is a 531 Raleigh something circa 1983 bought off eBay for £39. It was running the Dura-Ace crank and rear derailleur (which happily runs 10 speed!), they were filthy and the eBay image was non drive side, thus it was a top surprise. Found all of the other DA stuff cheap on eBay and the rather smart mudguards were SJS Cycles.

All of the other bits including the wheels were lurking in my garage.

Had its first 20 miles on a damp Saturday morning at the weekend, rode like a dream. I was quite surprised.

FransJacques

Nice and traditional. Looks solid. Blue looks a bit like primer in the photo but it's close to a SanRensho I used to own. The crank is a 7410 and is as beautiful today as it was back in 1990. It was the DA crank when the world went from DT to integrated shifting.

What HT badge did you fit?

Frame looks a little large (not much seatpost, short stem slammed down) but for £39 who's complaining!

Those bars should be called droop bars instead of drop bars. Looks like they were left near the radiator too long :-)

Barteos

Another proof that cycling doesn't have to cost much.
I think we could find quite a number of people who secretly enjoy riding their winter hacks more than their nr1 bikes.

52Teeth

FransJacques,

It does look like primer in the pic (blackberry phone cameras are rubbish) its actually RAL 5012 Light Blue and rather vibrant and glossy in reality. It zings!

The HT badge is the original Raleigh one, kindly removed and re riveted by the painter.

After a couple of miles last night the seat post came up 20mm and the stem about 5mm and felt much better. Seat back a touch too.

The bars do look mad, in reality they look and feel fine, must be the pic.

It really is a sweet ride, thanks for the comment.

FransJacques

The angles look really steep on the bike which make it look quite racey. Can you take a close up of the rear dropout area and the headlug/sifter/fork crown area please?

Those are the parts of old-time frames like this that no carbon frame can compare with.

Steel always rides well b/c it's heavier so it feels smooth. I have a 1986 Team Miyata which I ride when I visit my parents. Going at 55km/h on that is miles smoother than on my R3SL for example, no comparison.

It's interesting how low the bottle cage looks. That's yet another thing that's settled into an industry standard in the last 20 years.

52Teeth

Just a little update for FJ.



Some extra pics as requested. This time with a camera.

The bottle cage is low, missed it every time on the first ride.

BelgianBeerGeek

Nice bike. I have an old Raleigh 531 frame (6-speed!) that may get the same treatment at some point. Did the rear stays need stretching a bit to accommodate new hubs, or were they already in place?

52Teeth

Belgian Beer Geek,
Thanks, after no research I chose the pull out the stays and squeeze in the wheel option. Didn't really need much force and appears to be doing fine.

BelgianBeerGeek

I've had my frame for about 15 years, bought 2nd hand locally. The ride is just so good I am really reluctant to hide it away/sell it. The gap difference between modern and older bikes is only a few mm and I had heard of people bending the stays and forks but I had been wondering if I could get away with it. You have made my mind up!

raymondo60

Nice! Reminds me a bit of my old Pinarello Sestrierre - ah, what memories!