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Kempstonian

Kempstonian

Has the memory of a goldfish
Location
Bedford
A nice tidy 22" Mercian in Loughborough here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercian-...688551?hash=item3fe9194ae7:g:ua8AAOSwGs9fXlOZ

Edit: Another one (23" this time) from the same seller:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercian-...707633?hash=item3fe9199571:g:0WgAAOSwxElfXlma
 
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wafter

wafter

I like steel bikes and I cannot lie..
Location
Oxford
rogerzilla said:
Very optimistic, in that size. Well into the tail of the rider height bell curve.
Click to expand...
Thanks - out of casual interest what would you think is more realistic; I'm guessing less than half the asking price..?


I couldn't resist and have spent a lot of the morning browsing ebay. Perhaps not what this thread's about but I've spotted lots of really nice, if ridiculously expensive higher-end Raleighs.

Seems like the higher end of the price range is dominated by those who've owned the bike in question for decades (so probably find it hard to get rid and expect the buyer to pay for their sentimentality) or "restorers" who expect to claw back their sunk costs and actually make a profit on what they're selling... which from the "completed listings" mostly looks very optimistic. I'd be interested to hear what those in the know actually think some of these are worth..

I probably shouldn't be surprised given that it's ebay (and won't clutter this thread with examples) but there seem to be a good amount of dreamers on there asking ridiculous sums of money for knackered, entry-level "rare" tat (Bananas, Milk Race's, Winners, Equipes, flyers, hipster fixed-gear conversions etc...).

There also seems to be a disproportionately high amount of bikes on offer with enormous frames too, for some reason.

I've also thrown in a few lower-priced bikes that to me looked interesting, rightly or wrongly as I've not got much of a clue what I'm looking at :laugh:


Raleigh Team Ti Replica (don't know a lot but I'm assuming it's an original, period-correct replica of the bike of the time, rather than one of the two(?) more modern imitations if that makes sense, a snip at £850 start (and surprisingly no bids):

s-l1600.jpg



Late-ish Raleigh Road Ace, £299..

s-l1600.jpg



Unknown Raleigh model, £175. Looks like mid-late '80s from the decals. Possibly a custom build frame from the description and lack of name. "British racing green" my arse, but looks like a nice bike for what it is, even if it doesn't look like the seller is going to get their asking price.

s-l1600.jpg



Raleigh Royal, £49. Sadly looks tatty with the two headliners apparently being a large ding in the top tube and another in the seat tube that the seller's not gone out of their way to highlight (possibly attempted theft damage and I'd guess not easily repaired :sad: ). Not familiar with what these are worth, but with 3hrs left nobody seems bothered at the starting bid.

s-l1600.jpg



Raleigh Team Ti Replica, £1500. From the mention of RRP I'm guessing this is the latest Ti rep that was released in the last few months. Going by the general rule of thumb that used bikes tend to lost about 50% of their RRP in the first year or two the asking seems high, but then I have no idea of how pricing works with these supposedly collectable reps. Personally I'm dubious..

s-l1600.jpg



Raleigh Road Ace, £500. Really nice, really large, really expensive...

s-l1600.jpg



Raleight Road Ace, £75 (starting bid). A bit tatty but looks nice and honest. Listing says 1973 but the aesthetic looks later to my uneducated eye.. can anyone please confirm? I really like the understated styling of these bikes with the single / minimal colour scheme and discreet badging. One of the apparent few in a sensible, medium-ish frame size too! Think I'd be tempted by that as a resto were it closer..

s-l1600.jpg



Raleigh 8803 build, £500 starting bid. Absolutely love this (athough not sure about all that brake cable!); will be interesting to see if anyone bites..

s-l1600.jpg



Raleigh SPD build, £525. Again, looks nice (8spd cassette too) but pricey..

s-l1600.jpg


I think I've finally had enough for this sitting :laugh:
 
Gunk

Gunk

Guru
Location
Oxford
@wafter The first Raleigh Ti is a 2012 Reynolds 525 Raleigh Team Ti replica frameset with a 531 frame sticker, built up with older components to look like an authentic 1980's bike, shows that it is a case of ''caveat emptor' with these bikes.

The second one for £1500 is the same as mine (2012) but more than twice what I paid, needless to say it's been for sale for a while.

Here is my "Imitation" :whistle:

547963
 
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wafter

wafter

I like steel bikes and I cannot lie..
Location
Oxford
Gunk said:
@wafter The first Raleigh Ti is a 2012 Reynolds 525 Raleigh Team Ti replica frameset with a 531 frame sticker, built up with older components to look like an authentic 1980's bike, shows that it is a case of ''caveat emptor' with these bikes.

The second one for £1500 is the same as mine (2012) but more than twice what I paid, needless to say it's been for sale for a while.

Here is my "Imitation" :whistle:

View attachment 547963
Click to expand...
Thanks - love the amalgamation of old and new on yours :smile:

Not that I have more than a passing interest in this particular model (although I've quickly become hooked on learning about 80's-ish onwards Raleighs).. am I correct in thinking that there are essentially three "proper" variants of this bike - the original which was a high-ish end replica of the contemporary team bikes (late '70s / early '80s?), the replicas like yours from 2012 / 2013 and the one that's just been released..?

Obviously there are numerous people out on the blag as you've intimated (I'm cautious and not in the market but at this moment in time certainly wouldn't have known what I was looking at). I've seen at least two frames on ebay listed as Ti or Panasonic replicas; both of which are in fact much later cheapo tigged chromo gas pipe frames with unicrown forks with a set of stickers thrown in and a hopeful screen grab of an ad for the real deal at a grand plus :rolleyes:

I also saw some muppet had a Ti rep (I think one of the current / recent ones) up at £3.6k :blink: What muppet would pay that sort of money for a later rep when you could spend less than half on the real deal?

I don't know the market at all and have no desire or ability to spend such silly sums on old steel (as much as I love some of it), and while I can appreciate that the originals may well be appreciating assets (as the value of our FIAT paper plummets what isn't now an over-inflated "asset"?) I'm highly dubious of the suggested value of these later reps.

Some of those SPDU bikes are lovely and I hope I'm not being led up the garden path towards that end of the market... for now I'd be very happy with something like that Corsa in 501 / 531 with a modern groupset hung off it. I think if nothing else that's set the scene for the aesthetic I'd go for if building a retro/modern project - cream, subtle Raleigh badges on the downtube, Reynolds badge on the seat tube, modern but shallow ally rims and 105 R7000 throughout... but I digress!
 
Kempstonian

Kempstonian

Has the memory of a goldfish
Location
Bedford
avecReynolds531 said:
Beautiful 531 Helyette Speciale Tour de France needs restoration- looks like the 1963 model featured at Classic Lightweights here: http://classiclightweights.net/france/helyett/1963-helyett-speciale/

Currently £28 (with 6 bids) in Hawes: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353207986921?ul_noapp=true
Click to expand...
Lovely bikes. My mate had one years ago but his must have either been a UK model or it had been resprayed, as it said 'Helyett Special'. It was a genuine Helyett though. He was a great admirer of Jacques Anquetil!
(I posted a pic of it somewhere on here)
 
C

carpenter

Veteran
Location
suffolk
wafter said:
Raleight Road Ace, £75 (starting bid). A bit tatty but looks nice and honest. Listing says 1973 but the aesthetic looks later to my uneducated eye.. can anyone please confirm? I really like the understated styling of these bikes with the single / minimal colour scheme and discreet badging. One of the apparent few in a sensible, medium-ish frame size too! Think I'd be tempted by that as a resto were it closer..

View attachment 547945
Click to expand...

That would be the one for me too - bit of work needed but "doable" for not a lot and Worksop build
 
Gunk

Gunk

Guru
Location
Oxford
wafter said:
Some of those SPDU bikes are lovely and I hope I'm not being led up the garden path towards that end of the market... for now I'd be very happy with something like that Corsa in 501 / 531 with a modern groupset hung off it. I think if nothing else that's set the scene for the aesthetic I'd go for if building a retro/modern project - cream, subtle Raleigh badges on the downtube, Reynolds badge on the seat tube, modern but shallow ally rims and 105 R7000 throughout... but I digress!
Click to expand...

I’m not convinced with older framesets built up with ultra modern groupsets and I don’t think the market is either as they seem difficult to sell.

My perfect bike would be a 1980’s 753 frame built up with an older square taper Super Record EPS 10 Speed groupset with modern Brifters, a bit like the new Ti rep but more authentic.
 
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