1995 Raleigh M-Trax Ti1000

[Jasper1983]

I picked up a 1995 Raleigh M-Trax Ti1000 last night as a retro project.

It was a great price with mid 90s Raleigh bikes not being as cool as the more exotic Konas ect, but these era bikes are unusual with the mix of tubing types and the frames were hand built in England (nothing gets built here anymore). I think even Orange frames of this era were built elsewhere.

It appears to be in good condition and mainly original spec mnus the original rigid forks, bar ends, toe clips and the left hand shifter, someone swapped the shifter with a gripshift item. It has the original tanwall tyres although the sidewall on the front is splitting.

I am planning to swap the forks out for some P2 rigids I have and will probably put some other wheels on and keep the others in original condition.

I'm not sure what to do with the drive train as I need to sort out the gripshift, but I may singlespeed it I am not sure yet

 

[shinobi]

Re:

Looks in pretty good nick , most including mine have chunks of lacquer missing all over the ti tubes

very under rated bikes though , mine rides great

Paul

 

[tjs129]

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I have one of these awaiting attention too!

Looks to be original except shifters, forks and handlebars - originals are titanium I believe.

Nice 'sleeper' bikes & good to know the frame was the same up the range, so well worthy of some better components. Apparently it's more or less the same as the sub 2kg Dynatech frames.

I read mixed reports on these - some people love them while others pan them for using 'commercially pure' titanium & say they're too flexy.

Either way an interesting find!

 

[Jasper1983]

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I Had heard mixed reviews over the feel of the frame, this will be for light off road and a bit of road use so I hope the flex doesnt bother me too much.

 

[Jasper1983]

Re:

Made a little bit of progress today, stripped most of the old kit off the frame and test fitted the forks and a different wheel set.

I need to swap hubs on the wheel I'm going to use on the front and I'm not sure I like the bars I've put on, they were the only ones that would fit the stem. I was hoping on keeping the stem and the bars it came with were super narrow.

I might swap the stem to have riser bars as the frame is a little small for me and higher bars will help with that.

Next is brakes, if I can find some heap enough I'll put maguras on otherwise v brakes will do

 

[tjs129]

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Nice to see you're cracking on! Mine's been sitting a year or so.

Are those 410mm P2s? I think the shorter ones would be better suited to the geometry, but then there's a school of thought that it makes no difference..
Also, is it me or does the rake look massive?

I'm in favour of changing out the stem if you're going for wide bars too.

Hope that doesn't sound too critical - looking forward to seeing this one progress!

 

[Jasper1983]

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Yes the forks are 410mm P2s, the shorter ones would be better but I've had my ones lying about for about 15 or more years.

I will just have to see how it rides, if it's too bad I'll probably put the Rock Shox back on. Likely it may not make too much of a difference overall?

I have just picked up some Scwalbe black ja k tyres for it and I'm going to have a go at making it 9 speed using the 7 speed deraliers

 

[tjs129]

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I'll be interested to hear how it rides one way or another..

How heavy did it feel stripped down?

There's another modern/retro build on here somewhere of one of these that looks really nice.

 

[Jasper1983]

It does feel pretty light but that is compared to my one one 456 evo (that thing weighs a tonne). Not sure overall on the weight, I'll weigh it once it's done

 

[Racin'snake]

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Lovely frames that ride beautifully. I have a frameset for sale as is sadly too small for me if anyone fancies it