1999 Raleigh RSP 300

[BarryWilson55]

After thinking about buying a project for a couple of years, and a major hit to my health over the past 6 month, I've finally taken the plunge and got myself a frame to hopefully rebuild and slowly get myself back into sports.

Since I've always been into the old school bikes and living within a short walking distance of where the old Raleigh factory used to stand it only felt right to get an old Raleigh, so after a couple of months of searching I've got my hands on a yellow and blue 1999 RSP 300.

The frame arrived Tuesday and so the project began!

My plan is to do a thorough rebuild of the bike with updated parts while sticking to a very tight budget, so after a while of trying to split the frame ready for painting and new bearings, and with my slight lack of experience and tools, I've had to drop it off at a local bike shop since all 6 bearings and bushings are determined not to budge and are in desperate need of replacing.

Hopefully I'll have it back by Thursday so I can get some pictures and properly start!

With this being my first build all advice you'd wished you'd had at the start will be greatly appreciated

 

[BarryWilson55]

Re:

Some things have been happening to the frame since I last posted, I picked the bike up Thursday evening after a long day of driving and sitting in hospitals so I completely forgot to take any new photos and only have the ones from the original eBay ad which I've attached:

Friday morning came round and since I'm off uni for a few weeks yet I decided to go out and get the new bearings and also find a company that will powder coat the frame in the original colours it left the factory after trying a few places I decided to use a Nottingham based enamellers called Thornix Coatings Ltd, they're swamped with work at the moment so they said it may take a couple of weeks but they gave me a very reasonable quote, I'm not sure if anyone else on here has used them but I'll post pictures of the end results when I get it back.

That then brings me to today and after getting some professional advice on the original RST 22a shock which appears to have a slight oil leak I've decided it will have to be upgraded since I cant find any information on sourcing new seals and also the poor reviews the original shock has, which is a shame since I was hoping to keep the bike looking rather original and also since I cant really afford to replace it . Anyway I've just managed to get my hands on a brand new Rockshox Monarch RL someone bought for a project but never used, which I think is quite a steal at half the price of a brand new one, so hopefully it will be arriving later this week and when the frames finished I'll be able to start assembling it again and will actually have something to show for all the money I've spent so far!

 

[Duxuk]

I have never heard of this bike, which surprises me. I had an M Trax Ti 2000 which was a 1994 hardtail. I later fitted a Rockshox Quadra 10, my first suspension fork. Anyway, I found this picture of one like yours............

 

[Duxuk]

I see that the suspension compression relies on flex in the blue seat/chain stay part. That's years ahead of it's time. Some contemporary FS bikes rely on this but most use an extra pivot around the rear axle location.

 

[BarryWilson55]

Yeah I'm not too surprised you haven't heard about them, when trying to find information on the bike apart from a couple of old forum posts there isn't really much, from what I have read though they all agree that its an excellent frame and like you say quite ahead of its time, I'm suspecting it may be to do with the state of Raleigh's reputation around that time, although thats just from what I've read, I was 2 when this bike was originally built , Ive heard a lot of good things about the old m-Trax Ti frames.
I should hopefully be getting my frame back tomorrow, I've already messaged Gil about getting some decals done but they're a bit out of my student budget at the moment so theyre on pause. Im considering getting some Rockshox xc30 forks for mine, they seem to be quite good value but im not too sure since I've only recently got into mountain bikes but I know theyre one of the best brands, I'm also on the look out for a used groupset, if only I had a better budget theres so gorgeous ones about

 

[sam_white]

I see that the suspension compression relies on flex in the blue seat/chain stay part. [SNIP] ... but most use an extra pivot around the rear axle location.

If you look closely, there is a Horst link on the chainstay in front of the rear axle. These are a proper 4-bar bike.

 

[nelincsretromtb]

There is this NOS one on eBay at the mo too.

1999 Raleigh RSP 300

We have a couple on our facebook page too, and the owners really rate them to be fair

 

[Markybeau]

NOS or not, that's expensive

 

[scarletrider]

NOS or not, that's expensive

expensive in comparison to what? all the other New Old Stock ones that are for sale?
Can I ask how you came to this conclusion or what you use as a benchmark to determine that it’s expensive?

 

[scarletrider]

I’m not the seller of this bike by the way. I’m more of a viewer rather than a commenter here on RB and I see this kind of flippant “its expensive” comment all the time. Just wondering how people decide what’s a good deal or what’s expensive when something is a one off or unique item and they’ve nothing to compare it too.