Raleigh Activator I / II appreciation thread

[drcarlos]

Can't say as I remember the Mirage? The Montage was kind of mint green, had 501 tubing, alloy wheels, and Suntour XCD indexed gears.

Montage, that's the one. There was a Mirage but it was better then the Montage and purple

Mirage started out as white and had Exage Trail parts, Montage was mint with XCD4050, SR and Sakae, they were starting to get into serious MTB territory back then (with me being 13/14) and a couple of friends with well off parents had them.
The following year they changed Montage to royal blue with Suntour XCT, Mirage to Purple with 300LX and added the Moonrun which was black and came with Suntour XCM and is really quite rare.

Carl.

 

[johntomjoe]

Here's my montage all 33 lb of it,used everyday between two work buildings towing a trailer,seperate thread later,nice ride except extremely noisy brakes

 

[velomaniac]

If the Montage weighed 33lbs what did the Massif weigh, same frame geometry but in high tensile steel with cheaper spec. Had a Massif for a bit, Raleigh did get the handling spot on, but boat anchor weight, although still far less than the fat tubed welded monsters.

 

[marc two tone]

I had a mustang way back. All aspects of what it was meant to be good at were poor, but it all worked and rarely let me down. I got on with no problem and upgraded to 200gs. You see, i were the poor kid, so if any of my mates got hold of 400LX or DX and suchlike, i would gain there cast-offs. Never complained In short, nowt wrong the mustang and the lizard is virtually the same thing.

Here's my point. The activator was raleighs' way of marketing 'new technology' to the masses. It was poorly designed and just didn't work like it was meant to do, according to the press. With a few tweaks i would take a lizard or mustang to the yorkshire moors where, a activator? no thanks busta!

You were in a bad, bad place if 200GS was an upgrade for you!

, but, the mileage i did on that 'upgraded' mustang was epic, very little issues. 200GS cantis/levers and the shifters simply fail in the end, all generally bad performers. the rear mech however goes on for what seems like ever. only really out performed by DX and above.

chainsuck= nil

cracks to frame, fork=nil

alloy threads stripped or tapers stretched=nil

nipple pull-through on rims=nil

fiddley little nuts and bolts lost=nil

numb ass on after-market saddle=nil

street cred=nil ignore that one

right, i just bet you are all looking for a 'vator II now. rear elastomer can be replaced with sink plug for an extra 2mm travel on the 4mm standard.

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

Glue and unopened condom in place of the elastomer to radically improve the suspension.

 

[johntomjoe]

Stripped mine. ,frame weighs 11lb. Forks weigh 4lb

Just to let you know :|

 

[polarhare]

hello all first post! and on here activator thread! couple of questions ive got a 2", what size is the seat post???? the piece of steel in there has no print on it! and has anyone stripped the forks down?? i want to see its theirs a midget hiding in them! or drugs?

 

[johntomjoe]

I will measure mine ,if your serious,u probably have a spare steel seat post if you want one for karma ?

 

[polarhare]

johntom if you could measure it that would be cool! iam gonna try and strip down the fork next week end, ill post pic and let you know how i get on! defo gonna upgrade the brakes because ive seen lorry's stop better than mine.

 

[johntomjoe]

I'll do that tonight ,gotta dig some frames out