bottom on the range bikes

[Yellow Fang]

It's nice to see Raleigh making some decent bikes again; however I was just looking at the bottom of the range bike:

http://www.raleigh.co.uk/bikedetails.aspx?ID=5449

which is not that great, but looking at the spec, it's a lot better than the bikes I used to get about on as a youth, and probably for less money taking inflation into account. It's aluminium, not steel, and has 14 gears instead of 10. It says it has a durable alloy wheel set, which from what I remember used to be the worst thing on cheap bikes. The rims on my old bike buckled like butter. The best upgrade I did was replace them with slightly more expensive ones. In those days, I thought £30 was a lot to spend on new wheels. I thought £150 was a lot to spend on a bike.

 

[col]

It is good to see this price range,and the bike not bad at all really,like you say,our racers from our youth were not as good as these,and we seemed to get about all over with out any major problems.I can only remember the peddle arm coming loose,which my lbs tightened for me when we called in.buckled wheels were not an issue for us either,the odd kerb slam did give one or two,but that would be expected,but otherwise no real problems.So these look to be good bikes for the price.

 

[Yellow Fang]

I can only remember the peddle arm coming loose,which my lbs tightened for me when we called in.

That's another point. No more dreaded cotter pins.

 

[col]

That's another point. No more dreaded cotter pins.

Ah yes,the misshaped cotter pin,from hammering it home to stop it loosening

 

[Disgruntled Goat]

Not to be perdantic but Raleigh don't really make bikes. Raleigh is a brand stuck to Taiwanese made bikes. Which is common amongst many low end bikes..

 

[col]

Not to be perdantic but Raleigh don't really make bikes. Raleigh is a brand stuck to Taiwanese made bikes. Which is common amongst many low end bikes..

Good point,but it still evokes my youth,hearing about raleigh bikes

 

[mickle]

Not to be perdantic but Raleigh don't really make bikes. Raleigh is a brand stuck to Taiwanese made bikes. Which is common amongst many low end bikes..

Not to be even more pedantic but it's unlikely that any of their bikes are Taiwanese aside from their re-branded Dahon folders. ML China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Singapore and India are all undercutting Taiwan at the moment and Raleigh have no qualms about buying the cheapest available. The model in question certainly looks well specced for the money but if my experience of recent Raleigh bikes is anything to go by the BB shell wont be faced properly, the drop-outs will be axle bendingly out of alignment and to bring it in at that price it will have some seriously sh!te parts. Either that or it will have been manufactured in a sweat shop. Or both.

Agree with the OP though, they weren't like that in my day, pre-indexed five speed, steel sidepulls, cotter pins, solid metal tyres on wooden wheels, saddles made of bricks, if you could afford a saddle that is. Lycra? Ha! Our gran used to darn us a pair of shorts out of old potato sacks. And we didn't have proper roads till 1973. Cobbles the size of enormous cobbles. Kids of today don't know they're born!

 

[RedBike]

Cycling as a kid was great. I don't think I ever brought any parts for the bike. In fact I can't remember ever wearing out anything or getting a single puncture.

Mind you, 10 miles represented an all day adventure; And I never used my brakes or gears because they didn't work!

 

[walker]

their top ender has had some good reviews so far

http://www.raleigh.co.uk/bikedetails.aspx?ID=5479

 

[col]

Cycling as a kid was great. I don't think I ever brought any parts for the bike. In fact I can't remember ever wearing out anything or getting a single puncture.

Mind you, 10 miles represented an all day adventure; And I never used my brakes or gears because they didn't work!

This made me think,and remember that we didnt even take a puncture repair kit with us,even on those group trips to redcar,amazing we didnt get stranded really,but thats how it was then wasnt it.

 

[zimzum42]

I remember getting very upset as a little kid that my mum wouldn't give me the money to buy a bike from her catalogue, I think it was GUS.

It was 20 quid!!!!!!!!

and I'm only 27!!!!!!!!

It seemed expensive then........

 

[Chris James]

This made me think,and remember that we didnt even take a puncture repair kit with us,even on those group trips to redcar,amazing we didnt get stranded really,but thats how it was then wasnt it.

Funnily enouigh, one of my most vivid memories of teenage cycling (1980's) was puncturing near Mouldsowrth in Cheshire and my inner tube dust cap freezing to the black ice on the road whilst I mended the puncture!

Having said that, I went everywhere (including up the Horseshoe Pass and World's end near Llangollen) on a 5 speed Raleigh Winner and loved every minute of it.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Cycling as a kid was great. I don't think I ever brought any parts for the bike. In fact I can't remember ever wearing out anything or getting a single puncture.

Mind you, 10 miles represented an all day adventure; And I never used my brakes or gears because they didn't work!

The way I remember it was that we I get punctures quite frequently, which after my grandad was not around, I had to learn how to do myself. Bicycles had pump pegs in them days and a pump with a bit of flex at the bottom. I would never have got the tyres to over 100psi; I would never even have thought about it.

I would only ever be able to get 8 of the 10 gears working. Once I'd fiddled with them once that was it - I would never get all 10 back working again. Generally I'd only use gears 5 and 10.

Brakes worked too, just not very well. In fact, often the problem was getting them to stop working. v-brakes were a revelation to me.

 

[Chris James]

Brakes worked too, just not very well. In fact, often the problem was getting them to stop working. v-brakes were a revelation to me.

Alloy wheel rims were a revelation to me.

 

[col]

Funnily enouigh, one of my most vivid memories of teenage cycling (1980's) was puncturing near Mouldsowrth in Cheshire and my inner tube dust cap freezing to the black ice on the road whilst I mended the puncture!

Having said that, I went everywhere (including up the Horseshoe Pass and World's end near Llangollen) on a 5 speed Raleigh Winner and loved every minute of it.

If i remember right,my first brand new bike,was a raliegh scorpio,red colour and ten gears,when i pushed it out of our front gate for the first time,i felt proud as punch,i was about thirteen then i think?my next new one was a tour le mond,im not sure if thats its name,but i think it was?Im a bit unsure of the year,memory and all that?