Raleigh road bikes

[Scruffy]

Hello. I got some brilliant advice on this forum last year and bought a Giant Cyclocross. It's a great ride but not the right bike for me - think this is actually more related to the fit. Anyway, I've really not been riding as much so selling it on Ebay in favour of a road bike. Am looking at one that I can happily go long distance on and it will be second hand as made redundant at the end of March.

So, I've seen some nice Raleigh bikes on Ebay and was just wondering if they were still as good as they used to be. Don't see many people riding them. My very first bike was a Raleigh and I loved it, but I was ten and just roamed around on it.

Sorry for the over long post, I was just wondering what people thought, would you buy a Raleigh road bike?

Thank you

 

[Sale Madrid]

I had a Raleigh Roadrunner once but it was rubbish. You probably don't see many around now for the same reason you don't see any tesco 2 stripe imitation adidas trainers - there are a lot of cyclists with big ego's I've noticed. I'd buy a Raleigh bike.

 

[black'n'yellow]

I would in principle - but bear in mind none of them are 'made in Nottingham' anymore - these days they are pretty much all made in Taiwan & China.

The name doesn't have as much 'street cred' as it used to, which is odd when you consider that a name like Bianchi (with a very similar history to Raleigh) has bucketloads over here...

 

[Scruffy]

Thanks Sale Madrid and black'n'yellow. I think I read about them being made abroad a while ago. Hmm, you've given me something to think about. Someone must be riding them or maybe that's why Ebay has so many. They still look good and the spec on some of the models isn't bad either.

I am seriously tempted. I'm very unfashionable anyway, maybe I could raise it's 'street cred' in Lancashire. As long as it's a good bike, that's the main thing. Thank you

 

[Manonabike]

I ride a Raleigh bike..... but mine was manufactured in 1989/90 - I bought it new and I love it. Built around a Reynolds 531 frame.

 

[Scruffy]

Yay! Thanks Manonabike! Went to bed thinking about the bikes I'd seen on the internet so I think that's decision made. Am really excitied about owning a Raleigh again.

 

[Hacienda71]

I have a Raleigh chromo steel frame from the early nineties I use as a winter bike.
Raleigh do some high end bikes now and had a team in the Halfords tour series of kriterium races that has just finished on ITV 4.

 

[Psyclist]

Old school Raleighs and the higher end, newer Raleighs look good, but I doubt I'd ride anything like their £250 models.
Taiwan - as mentioned most bikes are made there now, and I've heard that Taiwan make bikes better than another world wide manufacturer.

 

[Scruffy]

Hello Hacienda71 and Kinetic-uk. I went on the Raleigh site today and was looking at the team, didn't realise they had one.

Sadly, don't have the budget for a high end one at the moment, but they do look really good!

I'm looking at a second hand one from the Airlite series at the moment. Price wise they are good, and the spec is OK. I'm guessing sort of middle end of the range so will be great fun to ride.

 

[Hacienda71]

The Airlite ones I think are ok if you make sure the spec is reasonable. I have a feeling that Raleigh lost their way and reputation a little when they started badging up some really cheap tat as Raleighs to sell in volume through supermarkets etc. You can't blame them for trying to stay a major player. Mind you, for me growing up in the 70's and 80's, Raleigh made some fairly cheap rubbish in Nottingham as well as some pretty high tech stuff like the Dynatech offerings.

 

[User269]

Beware the Dynatech! Good bikes in their time, light and fast, but the bonded frames were inclined to become............er............unbonded.