Hugeroost

I was wondering if any forum members has ever seen one or maybe even ridden one of these. I bought mine new in 88 but I'm thinking its a 87 model, I have updated the components on it a couple of times and then decided I liked it the way it is rather than keep updating every time new stuff comes out. I took the bullwhip bars off and put Answer's on way back in early 90's and they are still nice, rollin on a set of original fatboy tires since all my riding is street. I have gone through several bikes over the last 25 years, all mountain bikes as I weigh 250lbs, but always come back to my Crested Butte, it just seems solid if that makes any sense. I had this bike up to 60 mph one time holding on to the side of my friends truck, and it rolled straight and true, no wobble at all. Back in 88 Raleigh made like four of these Mountain Tour bikes and between all my riding friends we had all of them, each one was named after mountains here in America, can anyone help me with remembering their names ? one was a chrome bike, all chrome, one was green, mine is cinnamon and still does not have a scratch on it. It has been to prolly 12 or 13 states, I used to carry it everywhere I went lol, Raleigh made a heavy duty bag especially for these bikes, you just had to take front wheel off. I have ridden some new stuff over the last couple years and at 250 lbs they feel flimsy, had a Cannondale Red Shred at one time, also a couple Specialized, and I still love this Crested Butte. Glad I found you guys.....Roost

3speedslow

Welcome ! We would love to see some pics of your bike.

cb400bill

Sounds like yours is like this one.

Hugeroost

PS I tried to find some some info on bikepedia and couldn't find anything, hard to figure that site out, search box is garbage

Hugeroost

cb400, that's it man, thanks for pulling that up, they made 5 it looks like, how do I go about finding what their names where, thanks again

simmonsgc

Welcome. Paging @adventurepdx - he has info on the one he re-habbed on his site at: https://urbanadventureleague.wordpre...mountain-bike/

I spent some time today looking through his blog, which is way cool. Timely that you should ask about the Crested Butte today.

cb400bill

That is an excerpt from the 1986 Raleigh USA catalog. The other Mountain Tour models that year were the Elkhorn, Seneca, and Teton.

adventurepdx

You rang?
(and thanks for the compliments!)

I'd love to see pics of the OP's Crested Butte. I'm no expert, but I don't think it's a 1987. According to this, the Crested Butte was only produced from 1984 to 1986.
MOMBAT: Raleigh Bicycles History
Mine is a 1984, which was brown. The 1985 and 1986 are the more reddish "cinnamon" color.

And since I'm asking for photos, I should produce one of mine:

simmonsgc

You're welcome! I looked through your wordpress blog today, over a great cup of coffee. Really enjoyed it! Great pics and commentary. And way cool work on that Raleigh. I dig it.

Hugeroost

wow, mine looks totally different than yours, it must be an 86, i have it fixed up pretty cool, and its super clean, i have around 3k miles on it. Actually its the one in the pic above, i'm gonna try and get with my daughter and get her to posts some pics for you guys

adventurepdx

It can also be a 1985. From what I heard, the 1985 and 1986 bikes looked alike.

And yes, pics please!

mparker326

I had one for a while. It was a great bike, but at 6'5", it just felt too small for me so I moved it on.

vqstaphbeard

I have a friend that had one set up as a grocery getter at one point: Raleigh Crested Butte *SOLD on velospace, the place for bikes

adventurepdx

Nice specimen! Yeah, the fit with my Crested Butte is also a bit on the small side. But then again, the whole fit of the bike is weird with the very long (23") top tube. I'm thinking about getting a set of Nitto Bosco bars to see how they work.

adventurepdx

I remember seeing that one on one of my many Google image searches for Crested Buttes. It's interesting that your friend refers to the stem as "stock", as the stock stem on these bikes was the Bullmoose handlebar/stem combo.

vqstaphbeard

I believe that was his attempt at humor as a jab at the 'slam that stem' folks.

Also, I remember when he got it it had a full SunTour XC group on it (which is what that stem is) so he assumed it was stock.

Bikedued

Here's mine I picked up a month or so ago. It was mostly only missing the rear brakes and lever. I put on another set of wheels, as I was having too many bikes that needed wheel builds piling up. I wanted to ride it. The long top tube feels perfect for me, since I have a longer torso than some. It's mostly stock as found. Rear brakes were removed by the previous owner and lost in a move. I had to drill some new holes in the replacement for the weird outboard spring peg holes, but it worked out perfectly.,,,,BD

Bikedued

And if you EVER have a chance to get a set of these tires, DON'T!! After a ten mile ride it felt like I rode 20 uphill. No brake drag, wheels spin forever and day. The tires are the only thing slowing it down IMHO.,,,,BD

Camplex

I like the geometry on these quite a bit. It reminds me of some great older touring bikes. Being Raleighs, these hold their value quite well and being rare, are very expensive when found... one can get similar geometry in the early Stumpjumper Sport and a couple of other Tange MTB frames but not that many...

Hugeroost

Bikedued, mine is just like yours man, I've just upgraded components several times. I now have an original set of fatboy's on it and it rolls unbelievably smooth, I havnt seen a set of tires like mine in a long time though. I bought the biggest model they made but not sure on the size, but I'm 6.4 and its plenty big. I will say out of all the bikes I've ridden this Raleigh is the most balanced of all by far, reminds me of my Schwinn Varsity when I was a kid, you can literally ride it while eating a hamburger, you never have to touch the bars even turning corners. I had that Red Shred and a 2K Specialized and you literally could not ride them with no hands.

Camplex, good to know these bikes hold their value and I really like the geometry, they are very comfortable to ride for sure. My little brother has a Urban Assualt which was botl and we tore it down and went back with all totl components, they were black with red grapics and looked good. I bet he didn't put 100 miles on it, I asked about it a year or so ago and I was just sitting in his shed, I think I will try and talk him out of it

MeadMan2

I had a green Elkhorn. *I don't remember the year but mountain bikes were a new sensation at the time. *Maybe 1984. * *We took a trip to the Bighorn Mtns in Wyoming & camped along the Little Big Horn River. *Probably the coolest most beautiful place I have ever camped. *I remember cruising down a gravel road & that bike was a stable as a house. *I think the slack geometry had a lot to do with it. * **

Hugeroost

buddy of mine had the Elkhorn, nice, all the Raleigh's of that period were damm good bikes and your so right they were the new sensation at the time. I have owned several different Mtn bikes since then but kept my Raleigh and to this day rides as good as anything i've ridden, i dont ride very aggressive stuff though

adventurepdx

Are those the original "multi-pressure" tires?

adventurepdx

Which reminds me again: We still need to see photos!

fishwatcher

I love finding forum threads from fans of the old Raleigh Mountain Tour series.

Mine is one of those old green Raleigh Mountain tour bikes. It's an Elkhorn, circa 1984 or 85'.

A few of my cycling friends (with full carbon road or mtn. bikes) look down at my old reliable steel steed.

I am the original owner and this was my sole bike for over 25 years before I finally got into newer riding technology.

Here are a few pictures of my Elkhorn from just a few years ago.







More pictures here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjzebM4d

The wheels, cranks, bull-moose handlebars, bear trap pedals and brakes are all original. A few of the "upgrades" worth mentioning include: brown Rubena v99 City Hopper tires, Brooks B-17 saddle in green (looks olive though), tan Brooks Plump leather handle grips, Portland Design Works Payload rack (steel rack, bamboo deck), late 80's Deore thumb shifters/rear derailleur/XT front derailleur.