Anyone know what Raleigh this is?

[allenh]

Sorry I don't think I'm going to help much. I've had a good look over your photo's and compared them to my Raleigh Rapide and I'm still not sure, whilst there's a lot that looks the same there's bits that are not.

Lugs, look the same
Rear stays, look the same
Dropouts, look the same
Rear brake bridge, looks the same
Top tube cable guides, look the same
Rear mech cable stop, looks the same
bottle cage bosses, look the same
Forks, look the same
Colour, the white looks the same, and that is quite a distinctive colour.

But

No down tube lever bosses (they could have been taken off I suppose), the silver grey paint (could have been applied after the bosses were removed) and I'm still not sure about the top of the seat lug and possibly where the stays meet the seat lug but this could be just the angle of the photo as in the last photo (hard to tell with such a small photo) it does look a lot closer.

 

[Southwestslacker1]

Thanks for having a look, to be honest I thought it would be more straightforward! It’s not the end of the world though, it’s destined to be a beater/pub bike anyway (I got far too carried away with the last pub bike and don’t want to leave it locked up in Bristol anymore).
If I decide to strip and spray it down the line I can investigate the downtube for evidence of shifter bosses.

 

[Southwestslacker1]

Re:

So dragging this up again for the want of something to do during these interesting times. Here’s a few more photos of the seat cluster, lugs and chain peg.
The silver blue paint isn’t particularly straight on the downtube so could be an addition later on.
The seatpost is 27.2mm.
If we can figure out what it is then I’ll do a restoration respray with reproduction decals (and probably braze on shifter bosses) when the workshop re-opens.
It’s not ideal for what I wanted it for as it’s not really got clearance for mudguards or any eyes so I can tart it up and give it a new home.
It does ride nicely though when the mudguards aren’t rubbing.

 

[marshalllucky]

Re:

The Raleigh Equipe came in this colour scheme , I had one in my youth , they weren`t 531 though just gaspipe tubing , . Here is a random photo of one. Mine also had no mudguard eyes but I have seen them with and without. .

 

[Southwestslacker1]

Yes the colour looks similar, had a look at others on the googleweb, the dropouts and forks are all wrong though.

 

[droppedout]

The frame and fork don't match, the fork looks newer. Check the frame for crash damage. Perhaps someone sold the 531 forks but more likely the frame came with heavy forks and someone replaced them with 501 as an upgrade. It all looks good stuff to my eye.

 

[marshalllucky]

Re:

Its not uncommon for Raleighs to have very different frame characteristics, I`m by no means an expert on Raleigh but I`ve had a few and even examples of the same model can be very different , in particular seat stays and fork crowns. Most people are familiar with the 70`s / 80`s model Europa and I`ve had them with and without mudguard eyes and also forks with and without lamp bracket braze ons and pump peg braze ons and varying drop outs. Production of some models was moved between sites during Raleighs very interesting history. There are those on here that can probably explain it better but the battle for Raleigh in the 80`s was always to cut production costs as they battled ( sadly in vain ) to save their market dominance.

 

[Southwestslacker1]

Re:

So after a lot of google image searching and zooming I reckon it is a Rapide that’s somehow lost its shifter bosses.

It’s not ideal for me as a pub beater as it doesn’t have mudguard clearance. So I’m replacing with a Dawes Renown (which does) that I’ve just found locally.

As for the Raleigh, I’m going to strip it back while there time to spare, and once the workshop is open again I’ll reinstate some shifter bosses and restore it as close as possible to original paint and decals.

I don’t think I’ll have the budget for a full restoration build but it can give someone else a good start with a fresh paint job.

 

[Southwestslacker1]

Re:

As promised I’ve reinstated the shifter bosses, stripped and painted it. I also added a second set of bottle bosses as they’re always useful.
The colour is ‘Charlie white pearl’ which is close but not spot on to original. Reproduction decals from H Lloyd. I’ll put it up on the classifieds once I’ve got some better pictures.