Raleigh Pioneer Classic

[Little Butch]

Picked this up earlier with the idea of tinkering with it and getting some road miles in. I’m pretty sure the frame is too big but took It for a short blast and didn’t feel uncomfortable to ride.

It’d be great to find out what I’ve actually bought (year made etc) and some advice as to what to upgrade as although I’m always tinkering with stuff, I’m a long way from a bike expert! plan is to get some miles under both me and the bike with the aim to do some long distance adventure stuff!

I’ll give it a proper clean tomorrow and see what’s what but after a quick inspection the gears seem to want to change whilst riding, the crank has a bit of play and the brakes are useless.

 

[mjr]

Looks suspiciously like V-brake levers, which are the wrong cable pull ratio for sidepulls. That won't help.

I'd love a spoof "Raleigh 18-23 finest gas pipe" sticker

Looks ok otherwise. Good luck with it.

And paging @raleighnut

 

[Little Butch]

I was tempted to spray it in the future so spoof sticker could happen haha!

 

[Cycleops]

@SkipdiverJohn is our resident Pioneer expert so I'll leave it to him to give you a run down but looks to me to be from the nineties with good old 18-23 gas pipe tubing.
With a clean and a bit of fettling it'll be good for another twenty-five or more years.

 

[mjr]

Nothing wrong with most gas pipe for town runabouts. You're never going to win a race up Mont Ventoux on it but would you ever enter it anyway?

 

[Little Butch]

Thanks for tagging him! i can’t decide if its too big as the frame looks like it’s made for a giant I’m only 5ft 8 but with the seat in its lowest position I can touch the peddles on their lowest stroke with a slightly bent knee and tip toe the ground. I do have long arms for my height so I think I might just roll with it.

 

[rogerzilla]

Jeremy Clarkson used to have one. Maybe still does.

In another universe, a cyclist called Clark Jeremyson has a £12,000 Storck in the garage and an R-reg Xsara Picasso outside.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Did someone call??

From the looks of it I would say it was made in 1990, or possibly 1991 at the latest. It's quite an early one, as the very first ones appeared some time in 1989, but they had traditional brazed forks not welded unicrowns. The first digit of the frame number on the BB equates to the year, so I think in this case it is likely to start with a zero.
These first ones have more bottom bracket clearance, rather like an MTB, which makes the standover height greater.
The 18-23 hi-tensile frames have decent geometry and ride well enough. I've done a lot of miles on Raleigh Pioneers, both with 18-23 and Reynolds 501 frames.
My Pioneers aren't caliper braked as they are newer than this one, but I have other bikes that are, and there's no reason why they shouldn't work ok. The brake blocks might have gone hard and glazed, and need roughing up a bit to increase their coefficient of friction.
Other than stripping out the BB, headset, and wheel bearings and regreasing them, I would be inclined to leave it alone if it works. Some of the Pioneers had bars that are way wider than they need to be and they ride better if over-wide ones are cut down to 23", which is the most you can do whilst keeping enough space to mount the brake & gear hardware.

 

[raleighnut]

Looks suspiciously like V-brake levers, which are the wrong cable pull ratio for sidepulls. That won't help.

I'd love a spoof "Raleigh 18-23 finest gas pipe" sticker

Looks ok otherwise. Good luck with it.

And paging @raleighnut

Nope definitely not V-brake levers (they'd not been invented when that was built) I had exactly the same on my Mustang with Cantilever brakes.

I've posted it before but the term 'Gas Pipe' actually comes from a time when makers used to proudly advertise 'Made with highest quality Gas specification tubing' as that was the best pipe around at the time.

Best improvements for that bike would be Aluminium handlebars and seatpost and ditch that boat anchor of a crankset for an aluminium one (just don't drop the crank on yer foot once you take it off)

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I've posted it before but the term 'Gas Pipe' actually comes from a time when makers used to proudly advertise 'Made with highest quality Gas specification tubing' as that was the best pipe around at the time.

There's no shame in hi-tensile tubing, and for some purposes it's actually preferable to the exotic heat-treated highest strength alloy steels.
Raleigh used to be proud of their roadster frames like my Dawn Tourist....

 

[biggs682]

Looks a sensible purchase to me especially with the aerodynamic crankset

Clean and lube it up and replace brake pads with some koolstop items ie these would be my suggestion https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/brake-blocks/kool-stop-continental-brake-blocks-salmon/ but also clean the rims and enjoy

 

[Little Butch]

Thanks for the detailed replies guys, much appreciate! I’ll get those pads ordered today as these seem way past it. I was thinking about some drop bars, what’s the thoughts in that?

 

[Little Butch]

Also, really keen as suggested to strip out the bb, headset and wheels to grease up the bearings. Having never done this before, do I need any special tools and which grease is reccomended?

 

[simon.r]

Are the rims aluminium? I’d have expected a 1990 Pioneer to have steel rims.

 

[raleighnut]

Are the rims aluminium? I’d have expected a 1990 Pioneer to have steel rims.

Nah judging by the black gunk on and around the wheels they're Aluminium