New Project. Raleigh Scorpio.

[raleighnut]

Bit of a "holy thread resurrection!" moment, but I have a 1995 Scorpio that I've owned from new.
Just looking at the photos of yours in its original colours, it looks almost the same, although I think in the intervening couple of years some cost-cutting must have gone on, as the forks on yours are far nicer, and the brakes appear to be genuine Weinmann, where on mine they were far-eastern knock-offs; now replaced with Weinmann Type 500s. The chainset also got a serious downgrade by the look of things; mine was an awful steel Thun Silverton, now replaced with an eBay bargain find Stronglight Impact.
Once I have proceeded beyond newbie status, I'll post some photos.

Yeah Raleigh went through a period of fitting 'boat anchor' cranksets, on the upside you'll never wear them out just don't drop em on your tootsies when removing them.

 

[Illaveago]

Bit of a "holy thread resurrection!" moment, but I have a 1995 Scorpio that I've owned from new.
Just looking at the photos of yours in its original colours, it looks almost the same, although I think in the intervening couple of years some cost-cutting must have gone on, as the forks on yours are far nicer, and the brakes appear to be genuine Weinmann, where on mine they were far-eastern knock-offs; now replaced with Weinmann Type 500s. The chainset also got a serious downgrade by the look of things; mine was an awful steel Thun Silverton, now replaced with an eBay bargain find Stronglight Impact.
Once I have proceeded beyond newbie status, I'll post some photos.

. We like digging up old relics !

 

[Paulus]

Looks a nice colour.
Has the chain stay bridge become detached on one side?

That seems to be a Raleigh thing. I have an identical stay on a Raleigh Pioneer.

Must save loads of weight, 😊

I think it was a Raleigh thing, not really a bridge for stability, but just to attach the bottom clip of a rear mudguard to. Either a clip or a small bolt, the hole is there.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

That seems to be a Raleigh thing. I have an identical stay on a Raleigh Pioneer.

Must save loads of weight, 😊

Probably saves no weight, just a few pennies off the build costs due to less fabrication time required. Raleigh must have employed people whose job was purely to look for ways of cheapening the manufacturing costs.

The early Pioneer frames had a conventional chainstay bridge up until at least 1991. The later ones, including my 1995 501 frame, used the bean counter version. The later welded Pioneer frames reverted to a conventional bridge!

 

[Astore]

A few pics of my Scorpio. I've owned it from new in 1995, this is how it looks today. It has had a few updates to mitigate the Raleigh cost-cutting

 

[Astore]

Probably saves no weight, just a few pennies off the build costs due to less fabrication time required. Raleigh must have employed people whose job was purely to look for ways of cheapening the manufacturing costs.

The early Pioneer frames had a conventional chainstay bridge up until at least 1991. The later ones, including my 1995 501 frame, used the bean counter version. The later welded Pioneer frames reverted to a conventional bridge!

I think round this time, a number of British manufacturers looked at ways of cutting costs which usually meant de-contenting and just taking quality out of the product. You may have noticed my old Rover 75 in the background of my photo. After BMW cut Rover loose in 2000, there was a creeping cancer which really took hold from 2002 to 2004, known as "Project Drive" even items down to wiring loom clips were disposed of, and paint and rustproofing cut back. Basically if you remove every other loom clip from a vehicle and fit cheaper quality trim and multiply that by thousands of cars, it's a big saving. Thankfully my car is an early one. I guess the same applied at Raleigh and the Scorpio is a good example. Swapping the Weinmann brakes for cheap Asian knock-offs, the change in the front forks to a cheaper design, the dreadful Thun chainset and resin pedals all made a saving. Sadly it also made a difference in the riding experience too, but the beancounters don't care about that, or the lost repeat business. It's all about the bottom line.