Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Road Cycling
Reload this Page >

Raleigh steel bikes

Notices
Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Raleigh steel bikes

Old 10-15-17, 07:05 PM
  #51  
sfh
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 113
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 53 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 5 Times in 5 Posts
Soma has a great selection. My local dealer was more interested in selling me the Wolverine, which is also a great frame.

But, I'm looking now at All-City Mr Pink and Black Mountain Road. Been a distracting month, but those are the 2 I keep coming back to . . . between the two of them, it depends on whether I want to buy a bike or build a bike.
sfh is offline  
Old 10-17-17, 08:46 AM
  #52  
Wspsux
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Vermont
Posts: 1,063

Bikes: Waterford, Salsa, Rivendell

Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 218 Post(s)
Liked 26 Times in 14 Posts
I'd avoid buying a raleigh online, their geo charts are all ****ed up.
Wspsux is offline  
Old 10-17-17, 09:42 AM
  #53  
mstateglfr 
Sunshine
 
mstateglfr's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Des Moines, IA
Posts: 16,532

Bikes: '18 class built steel roadbike, '19 Fairlight Secan, '88 Schwinn Premis , Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross V4, '89 Novara Trionfo

Mentioned: 123 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 10897 Post(s)
Liked 7,384 Times in 4,144 Posts
Originally Posted by Wspsux
I'd avoid buying a raleigh online, their geo charts are all ****ed up.
How so?
- Are the measurements incorrect vs what the actual bikes are?
- Are the measurements for each size mixed up with other sizes?
- Something else?
mstateglfr is offline  
Old 10-17-17, 09:53 AM
  #54  
79pmooney
Senior Member
 
79pmooney's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 12,825

Bikes: (2) ti TiCycles, 2007 w/ triple and 2011 fixed, 1979 Peter Mooney, ~1983 Trek 420 now fixed and ~1973 Raleigh Carlton Competition gravel grinder

Mentioned: 128 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4741 Post(s)
Liked 3,860 Times in 2,509 Posts
Originally Posted by bbattle
Plenty of people pay extra money to get that sound. Let everyone think you've got Chris King hubs.
Funny. I hear loud hubs and I think "cheap!". Also something I would never want if I were to race again. (I loved the old SunTour FWs. After a few miles, silent. No one knew you were coasting.)

Ben
79pmooney is offline  
Old 10-17-17, 10:08 AM
  #55  
Jarrett2
Senior Member
 
Jarrett2's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: DFW
Posts: 4,126

Bikes: Steel 1x's

Mentioned: 20 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 632 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times in 2 Posts
Originally Posted by sfh
Soma has a great selection. My local dealer was more interested in selling me the Wolverine, which is also a great frame.

But, I'm looking now at All-City Mr Pink and Black Mountain Road. Been a distracting month, but those are the 2 I keep coming back to . . . between the two of them, it depends on whether I want to buy a bike or build a bike.
So I've done the whole steel bike hunt in the past. I've owned and ridden lots of them including Jamis, Surly, Gunnar, etc. I've ridden the All-City and Kona stuff as well. I've had 4130, Reynolds 520, Reynolds 725, Reynolds 853 and True Temper OX Platinum bikes. A few here probably remember the ridiculous amount of bikes I've been through in the last ~5 years.

After going through a bunch of them, I ordered a road frameset from Mike at Black Mountain and that was it. My favorite bike I've ridden, steel or otherwise. I liked it so much, I sold the rest of my bikes and also ordered a MonsterCross bike from him later. Between those two, that's all I need. Great bikes.

One thing that throws a lot of people off, Mike bills his frames as custom 4130 steel and many think that means the same thing as say a Surly or base level Kona/All-City, but its not. His frame sets are surprisingly light. My larger Black Mountain road frameset build bike with a steel fork was essentially the same weight as my smaller Jamis Eclipse 853 bike with a carbon fork. My daughter rides a Surly Cross Check that is built out very similar to my Black Mountain road bike and it is much heavier, a few pounds.

Bottom line, if you are thinking of going between the brands mentioned and Black Mountain, I highly recommend going Black Mountain. Give Mike a chance to build a bike custom spec'ed just for you. Or build it yourself. I've done it both ways. Either way, I suspect you will be very happy with it compared to buying something off the shelf.
Jarrett2 is offline  
Old 10-17-17, 10:56 AM
  #56  
Wspsux
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Vermont
Posts: 1,063

Bikes: Waterford, Salsa, Rivendell

Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 218 Post(s)
Liked 26 Times in 14 Posts
Originally Posted by mstateglfr
How so?
Originally Posted by mstateglfr
- Are the measurements incorrect vs what the actual bikes are?
- Are the measurements for each size mixed up with other sizes?
- Something else?
speaking from experience, when i ordered my raleigh Tokul 4130 steel mountain bike I found many measurements that didnt make sense. Larger bikes with shorter reaches, head tube sizes mis matched, standovers that made no sense ect. In fact they even made the alterations to their geo charts when I brought them up. Anyway I've noticed this across the board on their bikes that the charts are often botched up.
Wspsux is offline  
Old 10-17-17, 12:17 PM
  #57  
mstateglfr 
Sunshine
 
mstateglfr's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Des Moines, IA
Posts: 16,532

Bikes: '18 class built steel roadbike, '19 Fairlight Secan, '88 Schwinn Premis , Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross V4, '89 Novara Trionfo

Mentioned: 123 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 10897 Post(s)
Liked 7,384 Times in 4,144 Posts
Originally Posted by Wspsux
[INDENT]

speaking from experience, when i ordered my raleigh Tokul 4130 steel mountain bike I found many measurements that didnt make sense. Larger bikes with shorter reaches, head tube sizes mis matched, standovers that made no sense ect. In fact they even made the alterations to their geo charts when I brought them up. Anyway I've noticed this across the board on their bikes that the charts are often botched up.
Interesting.
Admittedly, I only ever look at the geometry of the size I would fit, but all those have made sense. Cant say Ive looked at the standover for any though as that isnt a measurement i care about.

Ill have to remember to look at other sizes next time im on the site to see if i find anything wonky.
mstateglfr is offline  
Old 10-17-17, 12:48 PM
  #58  
79pmooney
Senior Member
 
79pmooney's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 12,825

Bikes: (2) ti TiCycles, 2007 w/ triple and 2011 fixed, 1979 Peter Mooney, ~1983 Trek 420 now fixed and ~1973 Raleigh Carlton Competition gravel grinder

Mentioned: 128 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4741 Post(s)
Liked 3,860 Times in 2,509 Posts
OP, I have no specific thoughts on these bikes. Just my choices many years ago and how that turned out.

1978 was my last season of bike racing; the season after my head injury. I knew going in it was my last. As the summer wound down, I started stockpiling parts for the custom I knew I was getting though I hadn't picked a builder yet. (I was pretty sure it would be Peter Mooney, a clubmate, but I hadn't talked to him yet.) I did know that this bike-to-be needed to have: clearance for big tires and fenders, cantilever brakes, be able to tour, do fast and long day rides, climb mountains and be rideable in any weather, 12 months of the year. This bike was to be a tool, pure and simple. A tool I would need to keep my sanity. (My best friend had told me how hard the years to come were going to be. She knew from her experience.)

So Peter Mooney built me a bike with moderate geometry but long chainstays (for touring), fender eyes, canto bosses. I requested a highish BB as I loved pedaling deep into corners after two seasons on a very high BB'd Fuji Professional. I also had him place the canti bosses midway between 700c and 27" so I could go with either wheel standard. (This was 1978. It was not a given that 700c would take over or even "take" outside of racing circles. And back country Maine, where I was looking for work, 700c 20 years before Al Gore was to discover the internet?)

So what I got was a bike that could do all those things. Not the best at any. It rode Saturday morning club rides with town line sprints in Santa Cruz, several crazy riders solo into the Santa Cruz mountains including down Alba Road in a January Pacific storm. I moved to the Bay area. Mt Diablo (and stealth camped on it several times, always riding out from Alameda Island). Then Seattle, rain rides, hilly rides. Overhauled the bike, went to SunTour 7-speed index. Moved to Portland. Kept riding the bike was too busy with work and marriage to give it much attention and the indexing had slipped a lot when I went from the SunTour FW it was made for to a similar but not identical SRAM FW.

Portland is a buffet table for bicycle buffs. So I atarted putting together bikes to do various things. All considerable less elegant than the Mooney, but doing its specific task better. Got "the job" and ordered my TiCycles custom. Then another, a road fix gear. The Mooney sat quietly, going out every once in a while on gravel but being mostly a farmer's market bike.

Then last winter I saw Cycle Oregon's route for this year. Perfect for a mountain fix gear like my custom - except ~30 miles of grave over three different days. I'm too old to ride that far on gravel on 28c or less tires. Rats! But the Mooney! It had horizontal dropouts, spec'd just so I could ride it fix gear if I ever wanted to. But now I needed gear ratios appropriate for real mountains. Being the engineering type, I figured out how it could be done. Triple chainring, a 2-cog "dingle on one side of a flip-flop hub, a tiny single on the other; all cogs on chainlines for their specific chainring. All 1/8". Had TiCycles make me the "dingle" and some custom extra long chainring bolts.

Net result? A fix gear with true mountain gearing, 46-12 or lower high gear, 44 or 42-17 flat ground and 38 or 36-21 uphill with the capability of going as low as 36-24 for uphill gravel carrying a chainwhip (I'd already made a 16 oz aluminum chainwhip for past Cycle Oregons) Bike could be set up with a 35c tire in back and bigger in front. Last August, I rode with a bunch of BF mates over the Trask River Trail on this rig. Worked beautifully. Yes, uphill WAS HARD! (Fell over once when I stalled on loose stuff at 19%.) But down through deep "gravel" of loose 1 1/2-2" rocks, the bike was absolutely sweet! Like this is what it was designed to do!

I've fallen completely in love with this bike again. Mo longer is it the compromise that desn't do anything well. It is still a compromise, but it is a compromise that can be ridden fix gear on any "road" that is. Those old pictures of racers with their fix gears in the '20s on bad unpaved roads? Put my Mooney there. And with the new, really good 28c tires, the ride on pavement as a fix gear is sublime. Really fun to ride long distances on. I'll probably attempt a 150 miler next eeummer on one of the long days. I was going to do 130 on a Century ride a few weeks ago but got nailed with a cold so I bailed and did it on my geared bike. Rats.

So, OP, my point in all this is seeking versatility from the start can pay dividends. Of course, a real part of this is - are you happy to sell or put aside what you have invested in when a new type of riding comes along? If so, maybe investing so much in an "all-arounder" might not be the smartest. For me, that Mooney is a huge part of my life. I had 40,000+ miles on it before I started this. It has helped me stay this side of jails, institutions and death. (Those crazy rides weren't about having fun.) To now find that application where this bike that I thought was destined to be 'number 6" and a good tourer if I ever decided to do that again is now suddenly one of my all-time faovite bikes! Wow!

Now, the decisions I made allow what the bike does now, but just barely. Tire fit in back with 35cs (big Paselas) is VERY close. I have to jam the tire into the chainstays to just get the axle past the dropout, chipping the dropout paint. The bike does not have bosses for racks on the seatstays but uses the older single brake bolt mount. Not a big issue since the bike has cantis so access there is great. (It does have LowRider bosses because setting up LowRiders with the U-bolts is such a pain.) Single fender eyes front and rear. (Brain engaging - I should talk to TiCycles about adding rack eyes prior to the paint job that is coming. They are already going to move the RD housing guide from alongside the chainstay to under so I don't hit it with my hub wrench. Also add a 3rd set of WB bosses.) So there are a lot of "just barely"s on the bike. But they work! Now the bike will probably evolve to a dual mode - one crankset, derailleurs, shifters (DT shifting makes this really easy) and rear wheel for gears and touring and as is for fix gear. I'd love to get the switch time down to say 20 minutes.

I guess my post could be titled "The Evolution of the 1979 Peter Mooney".

Ben
79pmooney is offline  
Old 10-17-17, 03:15 PM
  #59  
sfh
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 113
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 53 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 5 Times in 5 Posts
Originally Posted by Jarrett2
So I've done the whole steel bike hunt in the past. I've owned and ridden lots of them including Jamis, Surly, Gunnar, etc. I've ridden the All-City and Kona stuff as well. I've had 4130, Reynolds 520, Reynolds 725, Reynolds 853 and True Temper OX Platinum bikes. A few here probably remember the ridiculous amount of bikes I've been through in the last ~5 years.

After going through a bunch of them, I ordered a road frameset from Mike at Black Mountain and that was it. My favorite bike I've ridden, steel or otherwise. I liked it so much, I sold the rest of my bikes and also ordered a MonsterCross bike from him later. Between those two, that's all I need. Great bikes.

Bottom line, if you are thinking of going between the brands mentioned and Black Mountain, I highly recommend going Black Mountain. Give Mike a chance to build a bike custom spec'ed just for you. Or build it yourself. I've done it both ways. Either way, I suspect you will be very happy with it compared to buying something off the shelf.

Man, I wish you'd stop bringing that up . . . it was your series of posts that really got me interested in that Black Mountain bike and the company. I've talked to Mike a couple of times since then. It is a beautiful bike. I know he has some inventory in my size.

I'm not even considering any of these Raleigh bikes any more. That Black Mountain Road and All City Mr Pink are the designs I want. I'm looking to see if there are of the pink 2016 All City bikes available. If not, I'll go for the Black Mountain . . . just a matter of pulling the trigger.
sfh is offline  
Old 10-17-17, 03:31 PM
  #60  
Jarrett2
Senior Member
 
Jarrett2's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: DFW
Posts: 4,126

Bikes: Steel 1x's

Mentioned: 20 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 632 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times in 2 Posts
Originally Posted by sfh
Man, I wish you'd stop bringing that up...
lol, my bad. I'm sure a Mr. Pink would make a fine bike as well.

Have you checked out the Fairdale stuff by the way? They are having a frameset sale right now. Their Goodship bike is really nice. Carbon fork, but still a really nice bike. That's one of the few bikes that makes me think about other bikes
Jarrett2 is offline  
Old 10-17-17, 07:10 PM
  #61  
sfh
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 113
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 53 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 5 Times in 5 Posts
Originally Posted by Jarrett2
lol, my bad. I'm sure a Mr. Pink would make a fine bike as well.
Seriously, I appreciate all you've posted on the BM. The Mr. Pink is a nice fit for me, but I'd rather find the pink 2016 version with the steel fork. It's not urgent since the season is closing on me. I decided I'd ride out the fall with CX bike by finally using it to race cyclocross. Not sure I'm up for that again next year, but at least I gave it the college try. Two more races on the agenda.

Have you checked out the Fairdale stuff by the way? They are having a frameset sale right now. Their Goodship bike is really nice. Carbon fork, but still a really nice bike. That's one of the few bikes that makes me think about other bikes
I've not ridden or seen one in the wild, but I read good things about their Weekender. As I was looking into it, I saw that Goodship. The dark blue is beautiful.
sfh is offline  
Old 10-29-17, 05:56 PM
  #62  
sfh
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 113
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 53 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 5 Times in 5 Posts
So . . . Lots of distractions once fall got here, and I never did get around to buying a bike. This weekend, I located a old-model-year Mr. Pink in my size that a shop is willing to ship to me for a fine price.

And then this . . . https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-2017-Ra...19.m1438.l2649


So if anyone's looking for a steel road bike, I think you could do a lot worse than $1100 delivered for a Reynolds 853 frame, carbon fork, and an Ultegra drivetrain. Yeah, the cockpit, wheels, and brakes are generic, but . . .
sfh is offline  
Old 10-30-17, 01:54 PM
  #63  
RockiesDad
Full Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Bay Area, CA
Posts: 427
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 220 Post(s)
Liked 31 Times in 17 Posts
How about a this? Raleigh RXM is a metal CX frame capable to fit wider tires...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-2017-Ra...75.c100623.m-1

Pricing is almost the same...
RockiesDad is offline  
Old 10-30-17, 03:44 PM
  #64  
sfh
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 113
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 53 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 5 Times in 5 Posts
Originally Posted by RockiesDad
How about a this? Raleigh RXM is a metal CX frame capable to fit wider tires...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-2017-Ra...75.c100623.m-1

Pricing is almost the same...
Yeah -- I don't know who 365 Cycles is, but they are blowing out Raleigh bikes right now. I talked to them on Friday, and they didn't have a good explanation for why their eBay prices were lower than their own online store. But even their store prices are pretty good -- much lower than the Raleigh corporate discount on most bikes.

They have 40 or 50 of each model, so they either bought a huge lot or they're they worked something else out with Raleigh. Record Ace with Campy Veloce for $888. Carlton Team for $1079. Stuntman $1129. Some nice deals.
sfh is offline  
Old 10-30-17, 10:32 PM
  #65  
Landshark77
Newbie
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 1
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
I actually was researching and just found the Raleigh Grand Vitesse on eBay, any thoughts now that it can be picked up for $1078?
Landshark77 is offline  
Old 10-31-17, 12:23 AM
  #66  
531Aussie
Aluminium Crusader :-)
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 10,053
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 20 Post(s)
Liked 10 Times in 7 Posts
I recommend checking out the Holdsworth Competition frames on Planet X. They're so cheap for Columbus Spirit steel it's ridiculous.

After talking to a guy riding one one day, I went home and bought one without hesitation. The frames are currently 600gbp, which, without the VAT, makes them about 500 quid, which is $680 usd, plus postage, obviously. Columbus Spirit usually costs at least two or three times as much.

The more I ride it the more I like it. It's a little heavier than I expected (my large is 1840g,totally bare), but it has large tubes and a huge lower head tube, so it's more of a stiff smasher than a Sunday cruiser, not that it's not comfortable.


The only negative is that they don't come with a headset or seat collar, and the only colour options are orange and a drab grey

This photo doesn't do justice to the size of the bottom of the head tube. For memory, the lower bearing has a 52mm outer diameter

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/FRHOCO...ition-frameset


Last edited by 531Aussie; 10-31-17 at 05:01 AM.
531Aussie is offline  
Old 10-31-17, 04:59 AM
  #67  
sfh
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 113
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 53 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 5 Times in 5 Posts
Originally Posted by Landshark77
I actually was researching and just found the Raleigh Grand Vitesse on eBay, any thoughts now that it can be picked up for $1078?
Kind of the topic of this whole thread.

Regardless of the price, it's a Reynolds 853 frame with carbon fork and Ultegra drivetrain. If that's what you want and you can make it fit, I think it's a screamer of a deal. If it's not, then it's $1078 that could be better spent elsewhere.
sfh is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
riverdrifter
General Cycling Discussion
16
06-18-19 08:28 AM
Dirt Farmer
Road Cycling
24
05-25-17 01:41 PM
dcrowell
Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg)
3
05-12-11 02:45 PM
Shortsocks
Framebuilders
3
08-02-10 10:22 AM
SamShelton
Road Cycling
17
03-21-10 06:55 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.