So, I know there's not a great deal of love for Raleigh on here, but their top end MTBs always did it for me bitd....long story, but I've always had Raleighs for as long as I can remember as my Dad's mate had a Raleigh bike shop and could always give good discounts on Raleighs (my previous 89 Montage and still current '93 Apex came from that shop from new).
Anyhow, two large boxes arrived this week and the missus wasn't happy. I was now the proud owner of two impulse purchases off eBay - a 1987 Raleigh Ozark and a 1989 Raleigh Avanti. I always fancied a 531 framed Raleigh bitd, and I've now got two!
The Ozark is a real old school ride - any more upright and you'd fall off the back - COMPLETELY original she's still wearing her original tyres and foam(!) grips and the black anodising hasn't completely worn off the braking surfaces, so I suspect she's had little use. Full strip down, re-lube, replace rusty bolts , new chain & cassette, T-cut and polish and I'll call this one done. Hopefully get it done at the weekend.
The Avanti was (I seem to recall) top of the lightweight Raleigh MTBs. Its got 531 forks as well as frame (the Ozark has a 531 frame but generic forks), and a FULL Deore XT II groupset - and I mean full - including seatpost and headset).
The Avanti needs a bit more work as there is rust coming through the paint in places and the white "spray" effect is more yellow. Not sure what to do about this one - the paint is fairly good on the main sections of the tubes, but chainstays, bb and headset are and rusty and fairly manky. Not sure whether to Nitromors and then touch these bits up with a spraycan (should be easy to fade in, given there is already a gradient effect). However, I'm tempted to bite the bullet and have her powdercoated gloss black and just apply some Reynolds decals to the frame and forks - stealth approach!
Pictures below - I got a bit carried away and stripped the Avanti before I got a chance to get any pics of her complete!
Anyhow, two large boxes arrived this week and the missus wasn't happy. I was now the proud owner of two impulse purchases off eBay - a 1987 Raleigh Ozark and a 1989 Raleigh Avanti. I always fancied a 531 framed Raleigh bitd, and I've now got two!
The Ozark is a real old school ride - any more upright and you'd fall off the back - COMPLETELY original she's still wearing her original tyres and foam(!) grips and the black anodising hasn't completely worn off the braking surfaces, so I suspect she's had little use. Full strip down, re-lube, replace rusty bolts , new chain & cassette, T-cut and polish and I'll call this one done. Hopefully get it done at the weekend.
The Avanti was (I seem to recall) top of the lightweight Raleigh MTBs. Its got 531 forks as well as frame (the Ozark has a 531 frame but generic forks), and a FULL Deore XT II groupset - and I mean full - including seatpost and headset).
The Avanti needs a bit more work as there is rust coming through the paint in places and the white "spray" effect is more yellow. Not sure what to do about this one - the paint is fairly good on the main sections of the tubes, but chainstays, bb and headset are and rusty and fairly manky. Not sure whether to Nitromors and then touch these bits up with a spraycan (should be easy to fade in, given there is already a gradient effect). However, I'm tempted to bite the bullet and have her powdercoated gloss black and just apply some Reynolds decals to the frame and forks - stealth approach!
Pictures below - I got a bit carried away and stripped the Avanti before I got a chance to get any pics of her complete!
Look forward to seeing it fully put back together 
