Does Anyone Recognise What This Raleigh Bike is?

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Newbiebikeman

Regular
Location
Edinburgh
Hello everyone,

I recently bought this bike and am curios what type of bike it is and how old it is.

When I picked it up it was in good condition but the bikes were a bit worn. I've looked around the bike and there are some markings on it for example on the back bit (the pole that connects to the back wheel) it says 'Energiser seat stay' on it and on the pole near the pedals it it has a sticker that says "A product of Raleigh Industries LTD Made in England conforms to BS6102/1" and then has a 6 digit number beneath that.

The tires are 50-559 (26 X 190) c-860-13 so I think it may be a old style mount bike but I'm not sure to be honest.

I was thinking it may be an old Activator but there is no markings on it to indicate this.

I've attached some pictures of it so maybe someone might recognise it and shed some light as to what this bike is or when it's from.

Thanks all!
 

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simongt

Guru
Location
Norwich
May be a Raleigh Nitro. I had one in the early nineties and yours looks very similar, although mine had 'Nitro' in silver along the top tube.
 
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Newbiebikeman

Newbiebikeman

Regular
Location
Edinburgh
May be a Raleigh Nitro. I had one in the early nineties and yours looks very similar, although mine had 'Nitro' in silver along the top tube.
Amazing! I've just had a google and it does look like a Nitro! It is strange though that it is missing the word 'Nitro' and the font ofthe word 'Raleigh' is different. I wonder if the original stickers fell off and they replaced the 'Raleigh' one but left the Nitro sticker off. Seems like an odd choice though as the bike was pretty inexpensive and the crest showing it's a Raleigh is still on the front.
 

Cycleops

Legendary Member
Location
Accra, Ghana
Yes it's probably early nineties mountain bike and as Raileighnut says they produced many different models which were very similar. Its a budget model (no q/r hubs and basic groupset) but a great bike that should serve you well.
If you're using it mainly on the road you could put some narrower slicks on which would improve its performance.
 

I like Skol

A Minging Manc...
Cheap and cheerful but should be perfectly reliable and practical if looked after. You might want to check the handle bar stem is inserted sufficiently as it looks worryingly high and may barely be in the steerer tube by more than the depth of the wedge? There may/should be a minimum insertion mark somewhere on the stem but well worth popping it out to check it is there and is below the top of the steerer tube :okay:
 

I like Skol

A Minging Manc...
Need to learn how to lock it up properly
I've seen much worse!
To be honest, that has covered most of the essentials. Frame is locked to the stand and cable has got the easiest to remove front wheel.

Two things that could be improved;
1, Use the cable to secure both wheels.
2, Try to get the U-lock around the frame & tyre above the pedals, like this....

1602774969653.png


A few reasons for this;
It makes the lock less accessible to interference
It fills the lock, making it harder to get tools in to break it
It locks the frame and wheel with one lock, meaning you then only have to loop the cable to the other wheel to complete the job :okay:

You only need to be this conscious in a high crime area though. I lock my expensive bikes up at work with just a cheap cable lock around the top tube, but that is in a secured shed requiring i.d card for entry and that is within a fenced factory compound with security controlled entry.
 
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Newbiebikeman

Newbiebikeman

Regular
Location
Edinburgh
Nice, late 80's early 90's at a guess, Raleigh did a bunch of these mtbs in different models. I think the main difference was the paint job but they're all good solid workhorse bikes, any stickers regarding tubeset e.g 18-23, 4130 or cromalloy anywhere.

Thanks for the info. The design definitely has an early 90's vibe. I haven't seen anything regarding tubesets tbh but I wouldn't really know where to find that kind of stuff anyway.

I've never really looked into bikes before but there are so many different styles and types. I feel like I'm only scratching the surface!
 
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Newbiebikeman

Newbiebikeman

Regular
Location
Edinburgh
Yes it's probably early nineties mountain bike and as Raileighnut says they produced many different models which were very similar. Its a budget model (no q/r hubs and basic groupset) but a great bike that should serve you well.
If you're using it mainly on the road you could put some narrower slicks on which would improve its performance.

Ah thats great to hear! At first I was looking at road bikes but though maybe I should pick something that I can ride around town first and then move onto something a bit advanced.

I was thinking about getting these tires which are marginally thinner than the current one but in all honesty I was picking them for the ascetics more than for any other reason https://www.bikester.co.uk/continental-ride-tour-tyre-26-x-175-inches-wire-white-black-508221.html .
 
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Newbiebikeman

Newbiebikeman

Regular
Location
Edinburgh
Cheap and cheerful but should be perfectly reliable and practical if looked after. You might want to check the handle bar stem is inserted sufficiently as it looks worryingly high and may barely be in the steerer tube by more than the depth of the wedge? There may/should be a minimum insertion mark somewhere on the stem but well worth popping it out to check it is there and is below the top of the steerer tube :okay:


Cheap, cheerful and reliable, not a bad 3 word identifier. I ended up spending more for my helmet than my bike so the fact that it rides fairly smoothly and hasn't fallen apart yet has me happy enough.

I'll check the handle bars. I just bought it like this so didn't think (or know) to check so thanks for the heads up. I'll look out for the insertion mark as well! As I don't plan to use the bike much off road or anything I was thinking about replacing the handlebar with this https://www.bikester.co.uk/humpert-ergotec-holland-handlebar-o254mm-silver-980102.html or something like it. Do you think that'd be reasonable or should I stick to the current set up (as long as the handle bar stem is inserted sufficiently)?
 
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Newbiebikeman

Newbiebikeman

Regular
Location
Edinburgh
I've seen much worse!
To be honest, that has covered most of the essentials. Frame is locked to the stand and cable has got the easiest to remove front wheel.

Two things that could be improved;
1, Use the cable to secure both wheels.
2, Try to get the U-lock around the frame & tyre above the pedals, like this....

View attachment 552615

A few reasons for this;
It makes the lock less accessible to interference
It fills the lock, making it harder to get tools in to break it
It locks the frame and wheel with one lock, meaning you then only have to loop the cable to the other wheel to complete the job :okay:

You only need to be this conscious in a high crime area though. I lock my expensive bikes up at work with just a cheap cable lock around the top tube, but that is in a secured shed requiring i.d card for entry and that is within a fenced factory compound with security controlled entry.


Thanks so much for the advice with this! That diagram is ace. I think I just kind of haphazardly locked it up but now I know how best to do it. Sounds like your bike is locked up more securely than Fort knox, there have been a few thefts around the Uni (pre-covid) so I'll take your advice and lock it up properly!
 

Paul_Smith SRCC

www.plsmith.co.uk
Location
Surrey UK
I remember selling the Nitro, back in the day when Raleigh were the most popular brand in the UK. That style of frameset was often used , 'Mustang', 'Lizard', 'Boulder', 'Mustang again'. In effect all were their entry level mountain bikes or a series of years and in effect a new name a colour. Although entry level I had one retired customer spend the entire summer cycle touring all over Europe on one and when he got back he popped into the store (I was the manager of Pearson Cycles Sutton a 5 star Raleigh dealer) he sang the praises of his two wheeled friend, 100% reliable and didn't even get a puncture!

They were late's 80's if I recall, I still have mid 90's Raleigh Optima which was a range that replaced 'Dynatech', their higher end frames; lovely frame and bike. Raleigh were starting to face competition from the likes of Trek and Specialized (to name just two) at that time, by the late 90' UK frame production ceased; shame.
Optima.jpg
 
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