1989 Raleigh Banana Team Bike - Dave Rayner

[citrixccea]

I can't believe that it's a year ago today, I posted this link, titled "Mystery Frame 1989 753". Since then, this thread has had more than 8,000 views, and appropriately enough this will be post "one hundred & eighty"

It's not been the easiest year, in May last year I was made redundant - I put in days of cycling and restoring this bike, stayed positive and had a job lined up before the end of the month. My youngest daughter has been hospitalized a couple of times with her Wheeze, but she's doing fat better than a year ago.

Over the last year, I've gone from a guy who's cycle a couple of dozen times a year at most, to a guy who gets out two or three times a week in winter.

I've signed up to do the etape de yorkshire following the route of day 1 of le tour, a mere 122 miles.

So a heartfelt thank-you to all who've contributed to the thread, to Karmarider for the tubs, and Old Ned for his help with the sprockets.

Meantime I've got a little update, and some pics

 

[Matt_wood55]

I can't believe that it's a year ago today, I posted this link, titled "Mystery Frame 1989 753". Since then, this thread has had more than 8,000 views, and appropriately enough this will be post "one hundred & eighty"

It's not been the easiest year, in May last year I was made redundant - I put in days of cycling and restoring this bike, stayed positive and had a job lined up before the end of the month. My youngest daughter has been hospitalized a couple of times with her Wheeze, but she's doing fat better than a year ago.

Over the last year, I've gone from a guy who's cycle a couple of dozen times a year at most, to a guy who gets out two or three times a week in winter.

I've signed up to do the etape de yorkshire following the route of day 1 of le tour, a mere 122 miles.

So a heartfelt thank-you to all who've contributed to the thread, to Karmarider for the tubs, and Old Ned for his help with the sprockets.

Meantime I've got a little update, and some pics

Good for you, onward and upwards!!

Matt

 

[citrixccea]

So as discussed previously I discovered that for all my "forensic" analysis of the team photo, in '89 the team ran with ITM bars and stems, not Cinelli. What really drove me to change them was the combination of unpainted alloy bars with a painted black stem. First up I heard first hand that the painted ones were swapped after some of the team kept snapping the unpainted ones - but I couldn't find a pic anywhere. Eventually I happened upon this one, where you can see clear as day, DR riding with black bars with a black stem.

I'm really delighted about this , as I always had it this way, and I think black just looks better with the yellow/black livery

I guess I'm "Back in Black"....

 

[citrixccea]

This bike's biggest one day win back in '89? It wasn't with DR in the saddle, and it sure as heck wasn't with me...

I finally found the pic I wanted of Tim Harris winning the UK national road race championship in '89 on this bike. Tim had told me this when we met while setting up at the DR dinner - how can someone tell you they won a massive title like that, in such a casual matter of fact way ?

I think it speaks volumes about how close they were as a team, that Dave "lent" Tim the bike for the race...

Tim's an absolute gent, and as my mate Pete might say "an ambassador for the sport"

 

[Andy69]

Hi, I came across this thread and forum totally by accident and just wanted to say what an amazing job you've done with this bike.
I was a big Dave Rayner fan and saw him race quite a bit. I also met and spoke with him at the Lincoln Grand Prix in '94 when he was in the Lex Townsend team with Chris Walker...such a nice friendly chap.
I have various photos of Dave, but pretty sure none with your bike, though I have pics of other members of the Raleigh Banana team in '89, mainly on the Kelloggs Tour at Birmingham.
The team bidons were plain black too....I had one, and I think some had a yellow outer valve.
I have this pic of Dave with Stuart Coles, but I reckon this is '88 and the bike looks fitted with Dura Ace. Anyway, cheers and good luck with it, Andy

 

[citrixccea]

Thanks Andy,

I've watched the '89 kelloggs tour some awesome racing, it's all up on YouTube, and well worth watching. Feel free to post pics, and thanks for your kind words!

 

[Andy69]

Nice one,
here are two pics. The first is Chris Lillywhite in '89; not your bike I reckon, but it's a cool detailed pic nonetheless.

The other is my prized pic of Dave, after the '94 Lincoln Grand Prix. Chris Walker had just won, thrashing the rest of the field on a really stormy day and looked like he'd been on a club run. Both were really cool...and very funny too

I think this is as good and as fitting a place as any to share this pic, with your bike and links to the Rayner Fund and all.
Cheers, Andy

 

[citrixccea]

Andy, they're both cracking pics. The one from '89 is a real rarity as you rarely get to see the little Pinky Purple 753 on the seat tube, awesome details, most of which it seems I got right !

The picture of Chris & Dave is a belter - I'm in touch with Dave's father John, so I'll share this one with him.

 

[Andy69]

Andy, they're both cracking pics. The one from '89 is a real rarity as you rarely get to see the little Pinky Purple 753 on the seat tube, awesome details, most of which it seems I got right !

The picture of Chris & Dave is a belter - I'm in touch with Dave's father John, so I'll share this one with him.

Wow, that's really great, thank you.
Andy.

 

[citrixccea]

Old Tubulars....

Had an interesting experience this week, doing a site survey for a security project I'm working on me and a colleague had to don hard hats, hi-viz, and toe cap boots. My colleague chose to change into his boots just before we went in. Because of a mix up he was wearing his 10 year old boots that had been sat in the garage. Within 100 yards he said they were falling apart...
Literally the soles were melting as he walked!! Within 10 minutes the soles had all gone.

So where am I heading with this? Well if 10 year old safety boots can degrade that quickly, how quickly will 25 year old tubs go the same way?

In a similar vein, has anyone used sealant in old tubs. The rear corsa Cx retains pressure really well, but the front will go down overnight, and with the plans I have for the bike over the summer it's going to be a real pain! The front is a 19mm corsa Cx if it makes any difference?