A bit of long-winded preamble first:
I'm troubled by the use of the word 'build' when it comes to bicycles. I find it pretentious and it overstates what is being achieved, certainly by me anyway. Wheels are built because it's a skill. Chas Roberts, Dave Yates and Charlie Cunningham build / built bicycles because they possess skill. Me wielding tools is not the same thing. I prefer to use the word 'assemble', like Saracen did.
I'd wanted a welded ti frame, particularly a Raleigh, for a long time, well before joining rb, but I hadn't tried very hard to get hold of one and I'd, kind of, talked myself into believing it was unachievable.
During Lockdown 1 I, like many, found myself with time on my hands, spending far too much of it searching for bicycles. After a while it became evident that finding any titanium frames in my size was going to be a challenge.
I compromised with my first purchase, buying a slightly larger than my usual size Raleigh MT4 frame from @johndeverill . He was kind enough to drop it off at my Mum's shop in Sheffield, where it remained a secret from my partner, 170 miles from home, and unseen by me for over 6 months. I was thrilled that I'd got a titanium frame, but it was a bonded frame, not as I saw it a 'real' ti frame. It was around this time that I passed, briefly regretting it, on a tatty Torus XT rolling chassis that was suffering from Covid tax.
Then I came across a Raleigh M-Trax 500 frame. OK, it was only part ti but it was really cheap, so I bought it. The M-Trax was Fisher Price My First Bike Build. I'd tinkered and swapped components before, but not started with a bare frame. I surprised myself, and yet didn't. I knew I could put a bike together i just hadn't tried before. It was a nice runabout, if about an inch too big. A photo of this bike taken along the River Stort Navigation at Roydon is the lock screen on my phone.
By June (2020) I'd stopped being sensible, secretive, and cheap, buying a low mileage 2000 model Raleigh RSP 550 - essentially the final iteration of the Torus frame and the last proper bike made by Raleigh. I suspected that it was too big for me when I Cummings'd my way to get it, but I couldn't help myself and bought it anyway. I owned it for a week, rode it for about 50 miles, which was enough to know I really liked it, and then hurriedly sold it and got my money back. So, I could have a titanium mountain bike, and I was going to get another one, and I was going to put it together myself, and it was going to be a Raleigh, and I didn't care what other people thought of them.
Fast forward approximately 8 months. I'd ended the relationship, moved out, across country, and was starting again. My hobby didn't have to be secretive anymore.
I'd tracked this 97 RSP frame through rb because it was a 16" frame. I had to have a 16 and they don't often come up for sale because parents rarely buy their kids expensive bikes.
This particular frame spent some time with @8lezard and he'd run it as a single speed before selling the frame to another rb member in 2012. I messaged that member in February 21 on the off chance that he might still have it and, if so, to see if he could be persuaded to part with it. He did still have it but didn't want to sell. Remarkably the frame was still just a frame. He'd never used it in 9 years of ownership.
After refusing my, as I believed, generous offer - bigger more desirable frames were selling for less - he said he might consider selling if I offered more, and he could find something else that he could replace it with. The conversation ended. I was disappointed and resumed my search, thinking I'd have to make do with the MT4. Not to worry I could make a nice bike out of it.
At the end of April (21) I received an unexpected email: Was I still interested? He'd found something else and was willing to sell. Great. Off to Matlock on a miserable May Day to collect it. Happy days.
About a six weeks later a really nice original 16" Torus STX popped up in a FB group. Oh no! I had to have it. I made a (very) cheeky offer, while the other group members complained about how over priced they thought it was, and the seller accepted. I now had two.
At the end of July I got a message from @ibbz - top bloke - 'would I be interested in an RSP 550 f&f package?'... Absolutely I would. Then there were 3. (https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/2000-raleigh-rsp-550.432926/)
So out of the three I bought the 97 first and it has been assembled last. I've taken a bit more time and effort with this one, rather than rushing to accumulate parts as quickly as possible and then bolting it together in an afternoon as I've done before...
More later
I'm troubled by the use of the word 'build' when it comes to bicycles. I find it pretentious and it overstates what is being achieved, certainly by me anyway. Wheels are built because it's a skill. Chas Roberts, Dave Yates and Charlie Cunningham build / built bicycles because they possess skill. Me wielding tools is not the same thing. I prefer to use the word 'assemble', like Saracen did.
I'd wanted a welded ti frame, particularly a Raleigh, for a long time, well before joining rb, but I hadn't tried very hard to get hold of one and I'd, kind of, talked myself into believing it was unachievable.
During Lockdown 1 I, like many, found myself with time on my hands, spending far too much of it searching for bicycles. After a while it became evident that finding any titanium frames in my size was going to be a challenge.
I compromised with my first purchase, buying a slightly larger than my usual size Raleigh MT4 frame from @johndeverill . He was kind enough to drop it off at my Mum's shop in Sheffield, where it remained a secret from my partner, 170 miles from home, and unseen by me for over 6 months. I was thrilled that I'd got a titanium frame, but it was a bonded frame, not as I saw it a 'real' ti frame. It was around this time that I passed, briefly regretting it, on a tatty Torus XT rolling chassis that was suffering from Covid tax.
Then I came across a Raleigh M-Trax 500 frame. OK, it was only part ti but it was really cheap, so I bought it. The M-Trax was Fisher Price My First Bike Build. I'd tinkered and swapped components before, but not started with a bare frame. I surprised myself, and yet didn't. I knew I could put a bike together i just hadn't tried before. It was a nice runabout, if about an inch too big. A photo of this bike taken along the River Stort Navigation at Roydon is the lock screen on my phone.
By June (2020) I'd stopped being sensible, secretive, and cheap, buying a low mileage 2000 model Raleigh RSP 550 - essentially the final iteration of the Torus frame and the last proper bike made by Raleigh. I suspected that it was too big for me when I Cummings'd my way to get it, but I couldn't help myself and bought it anyway. I owned it for a week, rode it for about 50 miles, which was enough to know I really liked it, and then hurriedly sold it and got my money back. So, I could have a titanium mountain bike, and I was going to get another one, and I was going to put it together myself, and it was going to be a Raleigh, and I didn't care what other people thought of them.
Fast forward approximately 8 months. I'd ended the relationship, moved out, across country, and was starting again. My hobby didn't have to be secretive anymore.
I'd tracked this 97 RSP frame through rb because it was a 16" frame. I had to have a 16 and they don't often come up for sale because parents rarely buy their kids expensive bikes.
This particular frame spent some time with @8lezard and he'd run it as a single speed before selling the frame to another rb member in 2012. I messaged that member in February 21 on the off chance that he might still have it and, if so, to see if he could be persuaded to part with it. He did still have it but didn't want to sell. Remarkably the frame was still just a frame. He'd never used it in 9 years of ownership.
After refusing my, as I believed, generous offer - bigger more desirable frames were selling for less - he said he might consider selling if I offered more, and he could find something else that he could replace it with. The conversation ended. I was disappointed and resumed my search, thinking I'd have to make do with the MT4. Not to worry I could make a nice bike out of it.
At the end of April (21) I received an unexpected email: Was I still interested? He'd found something else and was willing to sell. Great. Off to Matlock on a miserable May Day to collect it. Happy days.
About a six weeks later a really nice original 16" Torus STX popped up in a FB group. Oh no! I had to have it. I made a (very) cheeky offer, while the other group members complained about how over priced they thought it was, and the seller accepted. I now had two.
At the end of July I got a message from @ibbz - top bloke - 'would I be interested in an RSP 550 f&f package?'... Absolutely I would. Then there were 3. (https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/2000-raleigh-rsp-550.432926/)
So out of the three I bought the 97 first and it has been assembled last. I've taken a bit more time and effort with this one, rather than rushing to accumulate parts as quickly as possible and then bolting it together in an afternoon as I've done before...
More later
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