penlu

I got this bike at an antique shop a couple of years back and it has been my commuter ever since. Lately I've become interested in finding out what exactly it is, but I cannot seem to find it in the uploaded catalogs! I am posting here to ask whether anyone knows anything more about it.

The bike is gray with some light blue highlights. There's a big Raleigh decal on the seat tube and down tube, as well as a headbadge. The top tube has "triumph" (lowercase) on both sides. It seems that the Raleigh Capri and Marathon in the 1986 US catalog have "capri" or "marathon" on the top tube where my bike has "triumph", and in a similar font, which would suggest that my bike is a "Raleigh Triumph". But I have not found any evidence that the "Raleigh Triumph" is a line that existed, besides my bicycle and a few pictures of very similar bikes online. What's up with that? (Is it that: I missed the entry in the catalogs, it's not really a Raleigh bike, it's missing from the catalogs for some reason, the catalogs that have it just haven't been uploaded, ...?)

Some details:

• The seat tube decals say "Manufactured In Taiwan".
• The headbadge and seat tube decal have slashes in place of "Nottingham England". From what I've read, this is consistent with manufacture in Taiwan.
• Seat tube decal says "Raleigh 410". Raleigh bikes made of 410 steel tubing are discussed online but I've found no examples in the catalogs. (Is it because bikes made of 410 were too down-market to even appear in the catalogs? Or am I simply looking in the wrong places? Or some other reason?)
• Serial number is partially obscured, but seems to be 7D94G0597. This only fits into one of the serial number conventions I could find on the Raleigh serial number page: the "1983-1986+ Raleigh USA Serial System". There's not much information about this convention, but the single indicated known field would suggest that the bike is from 1987 if I understand correctly. Is that right?
• The chainstay has this huge black sticker with "SPORT TOURING GEOMETRY 10 SPEED 39-100". Anyone know what that means? Google turns up other bikes with this kind of sticker (and people wondering what it means), which are as expected Raleigh sport touring bikes like the Capri and Marathon. But nothing about a "Raleigh Triumph". If it's a Capri or a Marathon that I have, that would be cool to know!
• SunRace front and rear derailleurs and stem shifters. Cassette (not original!) is 14-28T (I believe 14/16/20/24/28) and crankset is 40/52. My measurement says the cranks are 170 mm.
• Perhaps unusually (?), there are two eyelets in the rear. Every bike in every Raleigh 80s catalog (with enough scan resolution for me to be able to tell) seems to have just one rear eyelet.
• There's no quickstand, which I understand (perhaps wrongly) to exist commonly on Capris from that era. (A quickstand is apparently an implement on the down tube that folds out to hold the front wheel in place. The bike does have a kickstand.)
• There's a decal on the down tube for "Bill & Andy's" in Chelmsford, MA (about 20 miles away). This bike shop apparently closed many years ago, perhaps circa 2003. I'd be interested in hearing more about it if anyone has any info!

Unfortunately as a new member I'm not allowed to post images (or links to other websites where I might upload images) until I've made 10 other posts. I will post images as soon as I'm able. I've got close-ups of many components; please let me know if there are any specific requests.

Edited to add: Images are in my gallery and are apparently public!

juvela

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"39-100" indicates the gear ratio range of the machine's drive train

i.e. in the lowest gear it moves forward 39 inches for one revolution of the chainset and in the highest gear it moves forward 100 inches for one revolution of the chainset


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visited your member page just now and it is stating that you have not as yet created any albums


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Aardwolf

Pic assist: https://www.bikeforums.net/g/album/33469545

penlu

Thanks for the info! A gear inches calculator confirms that 39-100 is the range of gear inches that my cassette and chainset cover!

The images are apparently in "My Post Pictures", but I have now created a separate album for them.

Thanks to Aardwolf for the pic assist!

cb400bill

Based on the decals, I'm going to guess that it is from the early to mid 90's.

Kontact

I'd agree with '87 or so. They used similar colors on Techniums in this period.

This is a high tensile steel frame, bolt rear hub, friction shifting and QR front. Kind of like Record or Capri in this catalog:
https://labibleduvelocataloguesralei...eigh-1986.html

penlu

I realize I should have mentioned components replaced while I have owned the bike: chain and cables, brake pads (now KoolStop), cassette (though I believe the replacement was the same as the original in all functional respects), and the rear wheel; I broke a spoke just two months ago and got the wheel replaced. Of course I kept the original.

They are very similar aren't they!! I'd been waiting to hit the 10 post limit in order to link to that 1986 US catalog, whose sport touring offerings are using a similar font, in a similar position, and similarly on top of a colored rectangle, as my "triumph" has on the top tube. In the catalogs, just comparing top tube decal styles, I think the similarity with the "sportif" is easiest to see; it's also visible for the others if you squint. See these threads 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 for some higher-resolution pics of bikes from a similar era with similar top tube decals.

Moreover, the specifications show some similarities: see e.g. the entry for the "capri" on specifications page 2, which also has a 14-28 cassette and 40/52 chainset, as do many of the other sport touring bikes. But no "triumph" is listed, and there are a couple of discrepancies: the catalog bikes have Suntour rather than Sunrace components, and (therefore?) have visually different stem shifters. Also, there are no entries for 410 steel. And my front wheel actually lacks a quick release!

What I'm still wondering about: Where's the catalog listing for the triumph? Is it common for a line to just be missing like this? Is it just in catalogs from some year that haven't been uploaded? I've never seen a Raleigh catalog listing for anything made of 410 steel; is there a known reason for this?

A ****** post that shows a very similar frame also claims the bike is from 1993! Besides the decals, I'm also interested in what times the other parts of the bike suggest to y'all. I'd like to see more catalogs from the 90s. I haven't found one from every year yet.

The 90s catalogs that I've found don't seem to show visually similar bikes. The particular detail I return to is the combination of that font over a highlight-colored rectangle. I've only seen this in the uploaded 1986 US catalog. Not that I'd claim that that's definitive of course!

Kontact

The 1986 catalog is of "lightweights", not the whole product line. Researching tons of bikes online, I have found tons of missing catalogs - they only exist if someone bothered to scan them.


I must say you are going to a lot of bother for a bike that is barely a step above a bike you could buy at Sears. Probably sold for $150 in the '80s. Is this worth your time?

penlu

This page has the 1986 catalog and seems sourced from the same scan. My impression was that the 1986 catalog covered more than just lightweights, though of course I don't know how complete it is. The summary at the top lists the categories "Lightweight Racing, Lightweight Touring, Technium, Sport Touring, Mountain Tour, Easy Ridin', BMX, and youth". Are the other ones e.g. BMX also lightweights?

Ok nice. This resolves my question of whether this is common. Suspected so because there were so many missing years, but I didn't know what the coverage was like. Is there a museum of these old catalogs sitting around somewhere?

Generally speaking the history of the bike per se is unlikely to be worth anything tangible to me; I'm just asking questions out of interest. Looking over old catalogs has been fun and educational. I appreciate the assistance! Hopefully I haven't been taking up too much forum bandwidth.

I have spent more than $150 on maintaining the bike. Guess I should perhaps stop doing that and look at new ones. So it was perhaps worth it just to have learned this!

Kontact

My experience buying used bikes is that the $500 bikes from the '80s are often $100 on today's used market. With such nice bikes available, it seems like you might consider upgrading to a fancier vintage ride that is nicer and more widely appreciated.

penlu

Such a thing would work great for me. Riding a bike that is represented in that 1986 catalog would be super sweet.

I suppose when I begin looking I'll make a new thread asking about what to look for. As a total noob, "I feel good riding it" seems unreliable and unidimensional to me, inasmuch as I feel good riding most bikes & have no idea what particular goods are most important!

Aubergine 

Oh, I agree with you that "I feel good" is a great way to evaluate a bike! And from that perspective, I have found that inexpensive bikes can be very enjoyable to ride . . . Although some can benefit from some easy modifications. For example, I bought a dilapidated early 70s Peugeot AO-8, bottom of the line, to use as an errand bike. I put aluminum wheels on it so I could brake better in the Seattle rain, and replaced the steel cottered crank with an old triple I had sitting in my bin of old parts. The bike turned out to be a dream to ride. After that experience, I had fun building up all sorts of old cheap bikes, riding them for a while, and passing them on. But I still have that AO-8, in its current incarnation here: