80's Raleigh Record Ace

[lorenzo]

Just made a splurge and bought this of ebay. She's a big old girl, but then I'm 6'4" so we should go well together. It's all pretty priginal, certainly original paint on the 531 frame and forks, weinmann quick release brakes, nuovo gran sprt front and rear, concave alloy 27" rims, and a slightly buckled back wheel aside, she's a beauty. I'm goig to give her a wash and a polish, see how she scrubs up, ride it over summer, then if the mood takes me, strip it all off and then paint it over the winter. That huge gel saddle will have to be moved on too.
I've not even had a proper ride on it yet, literally just got it, so that'll be another update soon enough.
Anybody know any snippets of info, especially age and where it stood in the raleigh line up at that time?

 

[lorenzo]

Done a little bit of research, it was built in Worksop, early march '84.

Spent last night polishing up the rims, they'd got several years of corrosion on them, a bit of autosol soon sorted them out. Need to sort out these buckled wheels now, fingers crossed I don't slash my face open as the spokes snap...

 

[Fat Mike]

That brings back memories! My first decent bike was an RRA.

I loved it until some (expletive deleted) driver decided - after watching me approach - to turn right in front of me. Not a chance of stopping. Cue 6' 7" of rider flying over car roof while my front wheel and frame made a mess of her car. Luckily, this was right outside Southall police station in West London. The (expletive deleted) was swiftly marched in for a statement to be taken.

The replacement was nice too. Wish I hadn't skipped her years ago.

IIRC, the RRA was just below their full-blown tourer (can't remember the name but it was a lovely burgundy and silver beasty) in the Raleigh (non racing) line-up. I'm pretty sure mine cost about £270 in 1983 so it wasn't exactly a cheapy.

Nice.

 

[SilverSurfer]

I'll be watching this one - I have one which I ran fixed and now SS.

Somehow it just fits right, better than all the other bikes I have had.

I've kept mine the same original vile colour and touched it up badly with smoothrite.

 

[lorenzo]

Yep, I'm going to stick with the 'advocado' colourscheme for the time being, even though it looks like it's been dangled off the back of a gritting machine; there's thousands of little scratches and chips on it, all over it. Then over winter it'll be getting painted, bright red with white decals at the moemnt, but as and when my mind changes, this plan will vary greatly. I have a slight urge for a heavy heavy metal-flake job, so it looks a bit like a dodgem car. Purple and orange...

 

[lorenzo]

A few bits been done with this; I've popped a pair of new hoods on the brakes, to replace the perished ones, plus I've replaced the brake blocks as the old ones were like solid blocks of oiled oak. Scary. Also, the saddle's been replaced with a nice little selle regal copy, which looks the part, and replaces the big fat foamy one that somebodys mum had put on there to keep little Kevins* cheeks nice and soft. I've also taken the black insulating tape off from the edges of the bar tape and would you beleive it; it's lovely underneath there, with some nice red white and green tape over the ends. Just to finish things off I've levelled the bars out a bit too.
The only big problem is that the back wheel is that buckled that I've had to wind the back brake off completely as it'd be on for about 50% of the time. The front is a bit buckled, but there's a plan afoot to swap both of them for some slightly smaller 700c wheels (27" on there at the moment).


*Kevin, I'm sorry, if you're reading this, I mean no offence. Now get off home, your tea's ready.

 

[fingers]

I have an old 1983 Clubman (perhaps the maroon one you mention?) and its such a smooth ride, not fast, but rides well.

Let us know how you get on with 700c's - Im still using 27"s!

 

[Goldie]

I was in Withington Cycles today - they reckoned they could still get 27's and tyres if you fancy keeping it stock...

 

[alanf1968]

I have a growing collection of these, an immaculate, though not quite perfect 82/83 model with original tyres, seat, pedals, bar tape and mudguards, the bits that are almost always wrong now, a very good 84/85 model, campag but not gran sport rear mech, no mudguards and tape wrecked, could do with a re-paint but looks ok and wheels cleaned and rebuilt or replaced, michelin world tour tyres fitted too wide and caught frame with slight buckle at rear, going to make good as an every day bike and preserve the 82/83 bike as it is.

I have a Gran Sport frame being given this RRA paint job and modified to build up with sti gears, nice set of gold Roval ES wheels I will upload pics in the next few weeks when I have all 3 together.

How is this one coming along now? Seen some ok looking Konnect tyres in 27 x 1 1/4 for £5 so tempted to see if I can keep the 27s going for now

 

[twigatoes]

Record Ace

I bought mine in '89 from the original owner and rode it reguarly for trianing and triathlons for 5 or 6 years. It then became the winter bike, and for the last 15 years has been garaged - save for the occasional spin and wipe down.

The specs are predominantly as per the original. The 1983 Raleigh catalogue entry can be found on the web.

The only non-original equipment (besides the wearing parts) are the brake leavers, which i changed for Shimano 105 with concealed cables when using as my winter training bike. Now wish i had kept the original!

Not sure of frame size - but i am 6ft 2, with a 35 inch inside leg....so likely to be 64 cm.

:? There's a little rust breaking out around the lugs. Any comments on whether it is worth cleaning her up and then giving her a coat of clear laquer to stop any further rust. And if so, what type of paint to use?

What do these sell for?