Unknown Raleigh Frame

CrackFox

:?: I recently picked up an old Raleigh frame which had been stripped of all decals except the words 'Hand Built By Raleigh Cycles Nottingham England' in rather elegant script on the seat tube. The components on the frame were a mixture of Campag and Suntour Cyclone (Cyclone II rd), along with Dia Compe N500 brakes, 3TTT Competizione bars and Mavic cranks.

I'm trying to determine the model and year of the bike - it looks to me like a 80's Raleigh Clubman, but not sure about this. Unlike those Clubman frames I have seen from this period, there are no bottle cage bosses and the forks are partially chromed.

Serial no. is 9002246

Any ideas as to actual age and model?

rolf_f

Must be late 70s early 80s at the very latest I guess. It has strong similarities to the Carlton Corsair I renovated for a friend (below) which dates from 1980.

Certain peculiarities stand out which match your bike - eg the relative extravagance of chromed lower forks combined with the cost cutting of pressed dropouts. The bottle cage is held on rather crudely by bands yet the main tubes are 531. Basically though, the bike reeks of being a fairly high spec bike that has been cheapened by the accountants in a disastrously short-termist attempt to save money

The Carlton has Raleigh labelled Suntour with Weinmann brakes and by 1982, the Raleigh Record Ace was shifting from Suntour to Campagnolo. Possibly the Mavic and Diacompe are updates....

My guess is that it is a Raleigh equivalent of the Corsair (in terms of position in the range) but more race oriented (no crude tab welded to the seatstays for rack mounting) with sidepull calipers. Odd there is no location and month prefix to the number. You'd expect something like NK9002246 which would indicate that it was made in Nottingham in July 1979. I'm sure the colour scheme will give the model away to someone without needing to weigh it to determine what the frame tubes are!

CrackFox

Thanks for your reply Rolf - you did a great job on that Corsair, it looks fantastic. I can certainly see the similarities between the two frames. The serial number is a mystery - when I bought it I thought I'd be able to quickly reference it from the patterns on sheldonbrown, but no such luck. Even the previous owner seemed to know nothing about it, which may be why he sold it to me for the price of a round.

Dave1441

My great uncle used to work for Raleigh, he painted the frames of the bikes. I could ask him if he knows what frame it is but he lives in France so I could ask when we talk on the phone next if you like.

john-e-big-guns

You might fined some info on http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk

CrackFox

Dave1441 wrote:

My great uncle used to work for Raleigh, he painted the frames of the bikes. I could ask him if he knows what frame it is but he lives in France so I could ask when we talk on the phone next if you like.

If it isn't too much bother, that would be greatly appreciated, thanks

I've been checking the date codes on some of the components, and most seem to be around 1984-1986. It's possible that they're not original as I think the frame is earlier than that.

rolf_f

CrackFox wrote:

I've been checking the date codes on some of the components, and most seem to be around 1984-1986. It's possible that they're not original as I think the frame is earlier than that.

As I said - you'd expect it to have Weinmann brake levers and brakes (605s). The crankset and stem are probably bioth SR (albeit with Raleigh branding). The Campag may not be original either but they did change from Suntour to Campag sometime after 1980 so maybe there is some parts bin action over the changeover period. Interestingly, the brakes on the Carlton are nearly a year older than the frame!

Below is the Corsair pre restoration - and also a close showing the crankset and Raleigh badged Suntour VX rear mech. All the original parts turn up on Ebay cheaply without too long a wait if you fancy a period restoration.

Now what I need is another of the brown suede saddles for my Record Ace

bigjim

IMO that's definitely a Clubman.