1989 Raleigh Avanti 531 Restoration FINISHED page 3

[street]

Re: Re:

Egad - how the heck did you break all those bones?

I got t-boned by a truck running a red light :?
I got off very lightly though considering he hit me at 40mph because the survival rate drops to something like 15% at that speed. And less than 4% of people come away without life changing injuries which, fingers crossed, is a club I will be a member of too. So I really am extremely fortunate.

My much loved and virtually mint old 'Dale... Not so much:

 

[cherrybomb]

Re:

Holy crap! :shock:

Hope you make a full recovery. When you said you were lucky, you weren't kidding!

 

[markdoyle75]

Re: 1989 Raleigh Avanti 531 Restoration Project

Hi there again,
When you look at the wee details on these frames they are awesome. I think Raleighs suffered from the influx of cool and different bikes and brand names from the states and such. I must admit I was pretty scathing of Raleigh back in the early 90's mainly due to owning and experiencing a few of their cheaper models and it was probably these that helped give Raleigh their reputation for not so good bikes, although in hindsight it could be argued that all Raleigh were doing was providing a bike at every price point which is fair enough. For most young people at the time the Avanti, Moonshine etc would have been totally unobtainable denying young folk the chance to experience the decent stuff that Raleigh could design and build.

 

[street]

Re: 1989 Raleigh Avanti 531 Restoration Project

Hi there again,
When you look at the wee details on these frames they are awesome. I think Raleighs suffered from the influx of cool and different bikes and brand names from the states and such. I must admit I was pretty scathing of Raleigh back in the early 90's mainly due to owning and experiencing a few of their cheaper models and it was probably these that helped give Raleigh their reputation for not so good bikes, although in hindsight it could be argued that all Raleigh were doing was providing a bike at every price point which is fair enough. For most young people at the time the Avanti, Moonshine etc would have been totally unobtainable denying young folk the chance to experience the decent stuff that Raleigh could design and build.

I was just the same, I really didn't have a lot of good things to say about Raleigh but that was because when I was working there in the late 90s the cheaper end of the market really was awful and it tainted the whole brand. The cheap end of the range in the 80s and 90s were still a good quality bike (I always loved the Chi Shi brake levers!) and they still offered a 15 year guarantee on the things.
But you're right, these frames do have some lovely details. I was waxing this one up today and I realised how much I like it. I haven't even ridden it yet and it puts a smile on my face

 

[street]

Re:

A little update since I'm calling this one finished now
I want tell you something interesting about this particular bike's provenance, but first here's some pics: (please excuse the washed-out pics, Photobucket is not playing ball :roll: )














It's pretty much back to stock, except for the Brooks Conquest saddle, which I wanted on it from the beginning, and the white cable outers which I think suits it. The white Fibrax brake blocks were a happy accident- I ordered black (or perhaps didn't specify the colour) and these arrived, which I think is a nice touch.

I got the Timbuk IIs this week which it would have had spec'd as standard, and everything else was cleaned, serviced and put back together.
The cassette was showing signs of wear so I replaced that along with the chain, and replaced the middle ring which was also getting a little worn. In fact all of these things as well as the replacement cartridge bottom bracket indicates a life of fairly heavy or regular use. And now she's ready for much more
The seatpost is letting it down a little but I'm not too bothered, it's not meant to be perfect. I'm calling it finished now.



This is how it's spent the past few months- Strapped to an indoor trainer while I recover from an accident and get my strength up. I haven't actually ridden the Avanti yet other than on the trainer but I'm hoping to maybe this week. Note the ill-fitting racks...



...I rather fancy doing some touring once I can ride again, and thought the Avanti made the perfect choice of bike. I bought these Axiom racks for it without remembering the Avanti doesn't have any braze-ons for racks on the seat stays or on the drop outs front or rear.... In fact it doesn't even have a chainstay bridge for fitment of mudguards! :facepalm:
Naturally I used this as an excuse to buy another old steel frame to build into a tourer but I do still think this bike is the right choice for comfortable touring and expeditions.


So lastly then, the provenance I was talking about. Here's a little story.

I bought this Avanti from the widow of the previous owner, along with her Kona. Something was ever so familiar about both bikes with their additional stickers (particularly the Mint Sauce ones on the Avanti and a huge Shimano one on the Kona forks) but for a while I just couldn't place it. Then a few months ago it hit me, I knew the previous owner and this bike! A quick and morbid check of the obituaries confirmed it.

The previous owner once lived near me. He was a guy who worked at Raleigh and was known locally as the go-to guy for bike spares. His house and garage was better stocked with new parts than any bike shop in the area, so when we wrecked a part or wanted to upgrade our bikes we didn't go to a shop, we went to this guy and got anything we needed at heavily discounted prices. For example, as soon as the 1993 Deore LX groupset came out I had it on my bike, and for paper round money

Anyway, after a few years of going to this guy, my mate got comfortable enough to ask "What bike do you have then?" The guy pointed over to the Avanti (which would have been about 3-4 years old at that time) hanging in the garage, which to our eyes wasn't so special. I guess we couldn't see what it was equipped with or made out of... It just looked like a low-end Raleigh at a glance. So my friend then said "I would have expected you to be riding something better than that"... To which the guy exploded into a tirade about how we don't know quality when we see it and all we care about is flashy suspension and fancy coloured parts (which was true) and didn't know a decent bike when we saw one (also true).

I then looked a bit closer and saw that it was the 531 with full XT top-of-the-range MTB from the 1989 range, and tried to back-track a little but the damage was done. He was genuinely annoyed that we didn't appreciate his Avanti and I never forgot it. Well, this is that bike, his old Avanti. And Brian if you're up there, I'm about to finally appreciate your old bike for what it is. (I still like flashy annodised stuff though )

Thanks!

 

[raidan73]

Lovely bike and a great tale to finish it off. I remember lusting after these bitd. Glad you're on the road to recovery

 

[drcarlos]

Re: Re:

A little update since I'm calling this one finished now
I want tell you something interesting about this particular bike's provenance, but first here's some pics: (please excuse the washed-out pics, Photobucket is not playing ball :roll: )














It's pretty much back to stock, except for the Brooks Conquest saddle, which I wanted on it from the beginning, and the white cable outers which I think suits it. The white Fibrax brake blocks were a happy accident- I ordered black (or perhaps didn't specify the colour) and these arrived, which I think is a nice touch.

I got the Timbuk IIs this week which it would have had spec'd as standard, and everything else was cleaned, serviced and put back together.
The cassette was showing signs of wear so I replaced that along with the chain, and replaced the middle ring which was also getting a little worn. In fact all of these things as well as the replacement cartridge bottom bracket indicates a life of fairly heavy or regular use. And now she's ready for much more
The seatpost is letting it down a little but I'm not too bothered, it's not meant to be perfect. I'm calling it finished now.



This is how it's spent the past few months- Strapped to an indoor trainer while I recover from an accident and get my strength up. I haven't actually ridden the Avanti yet other than on the trainer but I'm hoping to maybe this week. Note the ill-fitting racks...



...I rather fancy doing some touring once I can ride again, and thought the Avanti made the perfect choice of bike. I bought these Axiom racks for it without remembering the Avanti doesn't have any braze-ons for racks on the seat stays or on the drop outs front or rear.... In fact it doesn't even have a chainstay bridge for fitment of mudguards! :facepalm:
Naturally I used this as an excuse to buy another old steel frame to build into a tourer but I do still think this bike is the right choice for comfortable touring and expeditions.


So lastly then, the provenance I was talking about. Here's a little story.

I bought this Avanti from the widow of the previous owner, along with her Kona. Something was ever so familiar about both bikes with their additional stickers (particularly the Mint Sauce ones on the Avanti and a huge Shimano one on the Kona forks) but for a while I just couldn't place it. Then a few months ago it hit me, I knew the previous owner and this bike! A quick and morbid check of the obituaries confirmed it.

The previous owner once lived near me. He was a guy who worked at Raleigh and was known locally as the go-to guy for bike spares. His house and garage was better stocked with new parts than any bike shop in the area, so when we wrecked a part or wanted to upgrade our bikes we didn't go to a shop, we went to this guy and got anything we needed at heavily discounted prices. For example, as soon as the 1993 Deore LX groupset came out I had it on my bike, and for paper round money

Anyway, after a few years of going to this guy, my mate got comfortable enough to ask "What bike do you have then?" The guy pointed over to the Avanti (which would have been about 3-4 years old at that time) hanging in the garage, which to our eyes wasn't so special. I guess we couldn't see what it was equipped with or made out of... It just looked like a low-end Raleigh at a glance. So my friend then said "I would have expected you to be riding something better than that"... To which the guy exploded into a tirade about how we don't know quality when we see it and all we care about is flashy suspension and fancy coloured parts (which was true) and didn't know a decent bike when we saw one (also true).

I then looked a bit closer and saw that it was the 531 with full XT top-of-the-range MTB from the 1989 range, and tried to back-track a little but the damage was done. He was genuinely annoyed that we didn't appreciate his Avanti and I never forgot it. Well, this is that bike, his old Avanti. And Brian if you're up there, I'm about to finally appreciate your old bike for what it is. (I still like flashy annodised stuff though )

Thanks!

Nice finish there. Did you get another 531 series Raleigh for the touring? The lesser models all have braze-on for racks and an Appalachian would make a nicer tourer.

Carl.