Early 80s Raleigh Tourer model ID (Record??) and options for period-/original spec-correct "downgearing"

[non-fixie]

14-28 will offer no headaches, those Stronglight 86bcd chainsets have been around since the early 80's I was running a Stronglight 99 is '84. So all is good, my best advice would be to stick a wanted ad up on the forum first before paying Ebay prices, you never know what people have lurking in their sheds on here. The Raleigh all steel letter opener also doubled as a tooth pick for all the happy cyclists to pick the flies out of their teeth... I am of Irish decent so I am good at the old blarney...

+1.

BTW, 14-28 6-speed freewheels can be purchased new for very little money from SunRace and Shimano, and the profiled teeth on those shift nicer than the old stuff.

 

[keithglos]

If you can measure the diameter of the saddle pillar/seat post and the outside diameter of the seat tube is 1 1/8 inches then you can assume the type of tubing used. most likely seam welded.
531 plain tubing would be about 26.8 mm, heavy Raleigh or Taiwan tubing around 25.4.
If you lift out the saddle pillar you may be able to feel the weld seam.

For the gearing problem there is another way, learn to pedal. You need to attach your feet to the pedals and start pedalling round continuously instead of using about one third of the pedal stroke. Back in the 50s I used to train with the toe straps undone a little then pedal with my feet just clear of the pedals, just using the upstroke. You will find muscles you didn't know you had.

Also it looked like a Raleigh bottom bracket cup which would be 26 tpi, does it have the octagonal headset?

Keith

 

[vcballbat]

Your frame is not the Reynolds 531 version which has forged dropouts with gear hanger. Your frame has stamped dropouts, an outer cable guide for a Suntour front mech with the addition of a kickstand mount. The bottom bracket is Raleigh 26tpi. Maybe Raleigh had a lot of these racer frames built and repurposed them into other models.

 

[Mark Manley]

Keep an eye out for Sakae Ringyo aka SR cranks, Raleigh used them a lot on their medium range bikes and there are some Raleigh branded ones out there, watch out for the ones with integral chainrings which cannot be changed, some of the changable ones are 118mm bcd which can be hard to come by in smaller sizes but some are 86mm bcd with a much bigger choice especially in smaller sizes.
I live in a hilly area and prefer low gearing, most of my bikes which are all hub geared have 36 tooth single chainrings which works well for me.

 

[vcballbat]

Raleigh used the Suntour Comp V on many different models and they had their own Raleigh branded version..

 

[z23]

Thanks all! Just catching up with the posts from over the weekend now. Some very helpful info there esp. the info from ID-ing it not to be a 531 frame and the tip on the front derailleur cable guide and possible Raleigh-branded front derailleur from @vcballbat and on the SR cranks from @Mark Manley (I must admit I'd be looking at some of those as an option on ebay)

Also thanks to @keithglos for the tips on frame id and.... on pedalling!! I take your point though honestly I did ride the bike over 100km round the hills of Donegal last summer and it nearly did my back in (admittedly the position with the flat bars might not have helped given that I'm usually used to drops). Looks like you're from the Cotswolds, so I presume you know a fair bit about hilly riding yourself, but the terrain really is very rolling (to put it mildly) with plenty of short sharp 15 to 20% kickers, plus longer more sustained climbs too, also often with heavy asphalt and sometimes gravelly surfaces on the smaller lanes, making riding a 46-24 a pretty challenging proposition (especially with the bike as it is without toeclips - I've been riding race bikes since the mid-1980s so am just about old enough to remember clip pedals but I fear simply fitting the bike with some toe clips and digging out an old pair of cleated shoes isn't going to be enough to do the trick here!).

Believe me, I'd pedal it if I'd could (and as I say I have done) - I'm not the kind of person who just fits a subcompact and a granny wheel at the rear at the first sight of a hill....

The roads round those parts are beautiful though so if you've never been I suggest taking a trip over some time to test your pedalling technique . If you want to get an idea of what the roads and views are like you can watch the GCN video on the Donegal 555 (trailer here, full video here). Not in any way comparing the riding I do over there to that (which in my view is pretty much madness!) but it certainly gives you an idea of the toughness of the roads and terrain!

my best advice would be to stick a wanted ad up on the forum first before paying Ebay prices, you never know what people have lurking in their sheds on here.

Anyway to get a bit more back on topic....

As suggested by @KermitGKona88 have now posted a Wanted in the Road Wanted forum related to this post so will see what that brings....

 

[jim haseltine]

Re. the Comp V front mech, be aware that it's default rest position is on the outer chain ring so you pull on the lever to drop onto the smaller chain ring. The earlier Spirt mech from Sun Tour was the same.

 

[z23]

Re. the Comp V front mech, be aware that it's default rest position is on the outer chain ring so you pull on the lever to drop onto the smaller chain ring. The earlier Spirt mech from Sun Tour was the same.

Thanks @jim haseltine. Good to know . But I think I could live with that

 

[Canuk]

Do like a good utility bike, the French pretty much pioneered the format with their racks and dynamo systems but this Raleigh is very nice