Raleigh Activator I / II appreciation thread

[Chopper the ex Copper]

Fair question. The one I tried did feel extremely hefty, with the soft and inefficient suspenders amplifying the feeling g by sipping away most of the riders pedalling effort.

Anyone actually weighed one, or have one they could weigh?

 

[The History Man]

Just found this :


"Not offended at all

Bad points are,steering and brakes ,suspension is almost non existant
Good points ...it will take as much abuse as you give it,and no one will nick it

I weighed it to compare with my work mates kona.....his is 15 kilo .......:

The craptivator...............18 kg so not much in it " (jontomjoe 31/12/2011)


So a little heavy at just under 40lb?

 

[jimo746]

Anyone actually weighed one, or have one they could weigh?

Someone on here has weighed one I think, or did they weigh it once it had been "upgraded" with trick parts? I can't remember now, but I do remember that the "new" weight wasn't actually all that bad, if the scales are to be believed.

As for the pic below, it does remind me of the old Offrad Proflex's.... it's not a million miles away in design, just built out of scaffold tube instead of decent cro-moly steel or aluminium...

 

[Jussa]

1.8 tonnes.

But seriously, how bad could they be? Or is this a bit of a cause célèbre ?

It does amuse me as to all the debate over the Activator, yes it was bad, but by todays BSO standards it was pretty good, and yes we all know there were many other bike around far better for same money.

BITD i knew very little about bikes, often standing looking through the LBS window, looking at the nice shiny frames, bright colours, and carrying names some of which i'd never heard before, like some weird but wonderful language. Parents (Who often were the financial providers of subsequent purchases) of said bikes also lacked the knowledge and it was only as time went by that we knew the difference between low budget and high end groupsets and frames.

Today, its a different story with a lot of opinions based on our knowledge of what we restore and ride today. We can be critical on the past, but c'mon back then if it had two wheels it was fair play, my early attempt at an off roader was an old Raleigh Arena racing Bike with Cow horn handle bars and Cobra Grips from my old BMX, knobbly tyres on the 27 1/4" rims and away i would go to the local gravel pits. I even put a crossbar pad onto the Top-tube just to protect the crown jewels, yes i did come a cropper on many occasion lol.

Anyway the continued discussion of the 'Activator' will further secure its place in MTB history and continue to cause a stir amongst the RB community, much in the way that 'Kleins' do, but thats another thread...........

 

[poweredbypies]

http://www.usedsandwell.co.uk/classifie ... r_22189203

If anyone wants to scratch that itch.

 

[Jussa]

http://www.usedsandwell.co.uk/classified-ad/raligh-activator_22189203

If anyone wants to scratch that itch.

Is that close to you???

Can you email me some pics???

Cant view on my damn work PC

Cheers Pies

 

[johntomjoe]

Ok so how much does one actually weigh?

18kg but ten of that is probably forks,on flat off road its a bit hard on the body,the rear rubber shock moves about 5 mm,the heavy front end makes steering a bit heavy,(after riding the cannondale) i will whip the forks off over the weekend just to see how bad they really are

if anyone got any bombers or similar light forks,free or cheap id like some
i only have charity bikes for sale at mo so funds a bit tight

 

[The History Man]

Choice of 6 on eBay! Nice.

 

[poweredbypies]

Piccys sent jussa and yes its close to me and looks to be a quite tidy activator 1

 

[johntomjoe]

And when you have finished with any activators ,baldricks bike museum will take them on