Which Raleigh is this?

[GlasgowAli]

Hi all!

New member here, Ali from Glasgow.

I'm new to the retro bike world having only bought brand new to date. During lockdown however I got hold of a couple of old Raleigh's on the local second hand markets. The pick of the two is an 82' Esprit hybrid, which was found in a garage in full working condition having only been ridden by the owner a few times when brand new. I'll post pics of that elsewhere.

The other bike is a bit of a mystery to me. It's a steel frame of '87 vintage (serial number on the BB shell starts WN7, which I gather means Nottingham built in late June / early July 1987). The bike has been resprayed a nice British Racing Green. It came without decals, so I've been trying to decipher the model myself as I'd like to replace them. My guess was a 531 tourer like a Royal or Granada, however it seems they came with rear cantilever brakes around this vintage whereas this only has a rear caliper mount.

Some other features:
- The top tube braze ons for the gear cables are on the underside on the non-drive side
- Single pump peg on the head tube
- Eyelets for mudguards front and back
- Embossed logo at top of seat stay
- Braze ons for the downtube shifters

The bike came with 105 caliper brakes front and back. The freewheel is a Regina Gran Sport Corse 5 speed. The front mech is Campag Veloce and the rear mech 8-speed 105. The chainset is Biopace 52/42. Assume all of that was installed later though.

Any help would be massively appreicated! Cheers for reading, I'm looking forward to interacting on these forums going forward.

Ali

 

[Paulus]

Welcome to the forum.
I have seen Granada's with centre pull brakes before so it is feasible that these 105 calipers could have been fitted at some point later.
That's quite a nice frame though even if it is a mishmash of equipment.
A brake cable outer is needed for the rear brake as I'm sure you have noticed.
Is there any clue as to the original colour bounder the green?

 

[wafter]

Looks nice for what it is; somewhat squiffy paint job notwithstanding.

From the logos on the chainstays I'd definitely say it's a lightweight of some description; you can find the '87 catalogue here if you want to have a sift through.

More details of components fitted might help identify it (although granted as suggested they've probably been changed). I'd not get too hung up on the brake format as even with canitlever brakes fitted the frame and forks to have provision for calipers (and/or reflectors ).

Unless the wrong fixings have been used your frame and fork appear to have non-recessed brake fittings, which for a lightweight of '87 vintage would seemingly restrict it to the Ventura or Record Ace in the road range; however neither have the pump mount. The only two that do are both tourers; the Royal and Randonneur so those are my best guess; rightly or wrongly.

Worth having the seat out to look for original overspray which might give us a better idea?

 

[raleighnut]

I'd say a tourer with the 2 sets of bottle cages, very nice

 

[GlasgowAli]

Thanks all, seems I have some more detective work to do.
What's the best way to try and reveal the previous paint? Rub away with thinners on the underside of the stays (out of sight) and hope for the best?
Paulus, I took the pics whilst replacing the cables, hence the lack of outer on the rear. Agree on the mish mash; I've got plenty of period correct components though so will make it as late 80's as possible in due course. It certainly feels really nice to ride.

 

[Cycleops]

This is a difficult one with so many conflicting bits of evidence. If it were ‘87 wouldn’t it have recessed brake nuts? And five speed? Could have been changed I guess. The best clue might be the Raleigh stamped seat stays. My best guess would be a Randonneur but that had cantis. The Volant is a possibility but only had one bottle mount? Could be a Veloce but that was later and had recessed brake nuts. Might be a case of trawling through the Raleigh catalogues on line.

to the forum.

 

[wafter]

This is a difficult one with so many conflicting bits of evidence. If it were ‘87 wouldn’t it have recessed brake nuts? And five speed? Could have been changed I guess. The best clue might be the Raleigh stamped seat stays. My best guess would be a Randonneur but that had cantis. The Volant is a possibility but only had one bottle mount?

to the forum.

I'm not sure the tourers were as quick to go to recessed brake nuts as the racers... looking at the pics in the '87 catalogue both the Royal and Randonneur use the "brake" mounts to fit a pannier at the back and reflector at the front. It's hard to tell from the pics but the Royal looks like have standard nuts, the Randonneur recessed. Both models are 6-speed which is the same hub spacing as 8-speed so straight swap from this perspective. The Granada is 5 speed so would need the frame modifying to fit the wider 8sp hub. The Volant wasn't an '87 model.

The Randonneur has a biopace triple chainring, but that's obviously different to this example's double. Missed the point in the OP about the cantilever brake mounts having been removed from the frame and fork; although if it's been refinished it's possible that these have been removed.

An alternative, could it be an SPD frame or are these marked up differently? Ruling out major mods it seems like we've exhausted all off-the-peg offerings from '87..

 

[Cycleops]

Bearing all that in mind could be a Randonneur with a different fork?

 

[GlasgowAli]

Thanks Cyclops.
I understand Randonneurs had spare spoke holders on the drive-side chainstay but mine doesn't.
Excuse my ignorance here, but is it the case that non-required braze-ons are occasionally removed, particularly when repainting?

 

[Paulus]

Bearing all that in mind could be a Randonneur with a different fork?

Probably not as there are no bosses for cantilever brakes on the seat stays.

 

[wafter]

Bearing all that in mind could be a Randonneur with a different fork?

Could be bloody anything really, couldn't it?

I think the pump mount is a good tell; as it's unlikely to have been retro-fitted while it's more likely that other stuff will have been removed.

It seems like in 1987 Raleigh doubled-down on the pump mounts at the head tube as most models had them including the Royal and Randonneur or in the racer linup the Criterium, Record Sprint, Competition, Triathon, Road Ace.... all of the road bikes had recessed brake nuts however; although that's not to say that this frame doesn't too and that the wrong nuts have been fitted to accomodate incorrectly-fitting calipers. Also the Biopace double crankset is in keeping with a number of these models, assuming it's original.

Bottom line taken on face value from its features this bike doesn't correspond exactly with any of the listed '87 models, so something as been altered somewhere - of course what that is is anyone's guess

 

[Cycleops]

The only other thing to throw in the mix is the Raleigh USA race bikes which had the stamped in seat stays.

 

[GlasgowAli]

The only other thing to throw in the mix is the Raleigh USA race bikes which had the stamped in seat stays.

Thanks Cycleops. I think the Raleigh USA bikes were being produced in the far east by then, so I can rule that out based on the Nottingham-build serial number.
I had a look for any evidence of the old paint but I can't see any, just bare metal. It seems this one is an enigma!

 

[Gunk]

Looks to me like a mid 1980’s North American 531c Raleigh Prestiege

 

[classic33]

Shifter cables are fitted incorrectly.
Fitted over not under.