Banana Raleigh 531c

[mrjrcallahan]

Hi all,
Wanted to find out a little more about my Banana Raleigh 531c.
Would be great to know it's age and aprox value as I've heard a few have gone for good prices.
The main serial number is covered up but I can see is W8 something 7.
I have attached a few photos below to hopefully help to see if the parts are original. Other than moving the gears up and getting new tape I'm pretty sure all parts are genuine and original to the bike.
Any info would be amazing.
Thanks in advance.
I've uploaded a high res image here for download if anyone wants to see it in more detail http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=725516

 

[terryhfs]

It's not a banana. It's a frame that was sold as frame and forks only by Raleigh in about 1987 that someone has built up with 105.

The model is something like "Club 531" - someone on here probably has a catalogue.

It's a nice bike, it's just not a Banana team replica.

 

[mrjrcallahan]

thanks terryhfs. hopefully someone can help out. Really like the ride and look of the bike. Would just love to know a little more about it.
Thanks

 

[mrjrcallahan]

more info

Would be great if anyone else did know anything else on this bike. I heard a very rare version was once up for 40,000 on ebay??
Thanks
J

 

[1duck]

Re: more info

Would be great if anyone else did know anything else on this bike. I heard a very rare version was once up for 40,000 on ebay??
Thanks
J

I can't tell if you are being serious or trolling?

 

[mrjrcallahan]

Honestly

I'm a newbie to this but I swear I read that once. No trolling here, honest.
Just keen to nail down the details of the bike to know if it's worth spending the time and money cleaning it up and restoring it or selling it and upgrading to a newer model.
A friend of mine is a very keen cyclist and on seeing the bike suggested I do a bit of digging around as he thought there may be a few very rare versions of my model that were pretty sought after???

 

[David B]

The Banana version of the Raleigh 531c race frameset is a pretty rare bird so I can imagine it going for a fair whack on eBay; a pukka ex-team 753 machine even more so.

David

 

[David B]

Re: Honestly

Just keen to nail down the details of the bike to know if it's worth spending the time and money cleaning it up and restoring it or selling it and upgrading to a newer model.

Worth hanging on to. If you look after it and maybe go for a repaint it should give you a good few years of fun to come. The Raleigh 531c series (there were a few paint schemes down the years and subtle differences in spec; there was also a Luxe version - or similar name - which I think used a better lugset) are all well-designed, well-built frames which make for a nice ride.

David

 

[1duck]

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=153741&sid=7841334f1754eefd9da383d1d741c702


There's a rough indication of price, but that was a pretty nice example.

There is also a post at the bottom indicating what was thought of the guy trying to sell his raleigh for £40,000...It got thoroughly mocked on here at the time when the advert was up.

 

[bikemeister2000]

Hello mrjrcallahan, nice frame.

Can you have a look at the decal at the bottom of the seat tube below the front mech band and tell me what it says and what colour it is please.