Raleigh Activator I / II appreciation thread

[The History Man]

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

Re Facebook pages in your sig, I don't do Facebook so is there a website?

 

[makster]

"Activators - A Warning From History."

 

[brocklanders023]

So which was worse, the Raleigh Activator or the Raleigh Mustang? :?

 

[johntomjoe]

So which was worse, the Raleigh Activator or the Raleigh Mustang? :?

I need a mustang.

 

[johntomjoe]

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

Re Facebook pages in your sig, I don't do Facebook so is there a website?

There was but they demanded money so told them to do one ,I do need to redo one especially to help the charity builds

 

[Neil]

So which was worse, the Raleigh Activator or the Raleigh Mustang? :?

Never owned an Activator. Did have a Mustang, though - and heavy, primitive and rather pretend it might have been, but I did upgrade mine quite a bit, and nothing ever broke.

Truth be told, both are kind of gateway bikes, really, aren't they - just of a time when crap bikes were a little less crap than the supermarket BSOs of more recent times. Which is, I think, why some still hold some sentimentality for them - not because they were actually any good - merely that they took a lot of punishment and started something.

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

Was the Mustang as bad as my sister's Lizard, which appeared to be made from heavily reinforced and butted railway tracks? I was surprised when it was stolen. Surprised the thief was fit enough to ride it away.

 

[Neil]

Was the Mustang as bad as my sister's Lizard, which appeared to be made from heavily reinforced and butted railway tracks? I was surprised when it was stolen. Surprised the thief was fit enough to ride it away.

Dunno. It was what was stickered as Raleigh's ATT23 tubing - which was as far as I know, damned heavy, plain gauge, hi-ten steel.

Dropouts looked truly agricultural.

They came with steel, chromed rims, and probably the heaviest kit imaginable. With a lot of parts changed, it was still a heavy, dull, dead frame, with slack angles, that was still heavy and cumbersome. Yet all the same, they were robust, the kit did work, and they didn't tend to break. That's not a convincing endorsement, it's just context, given the sorts of bikes at the bottom of the range, now - like supermarket specials.

 

[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!

 

[drcarlos]

Just read through this and I'm too old to have started my MTB career on an Activator as I'd already done the low end bike by then and was on my 3rd MTB when they came out. I just saw them as comical bikes really (I guess they were more of a cynical marketing exercise though) when they came out.
My MTB career started out with a ride on my mates 1st Gen Mustang (Black/White fade, One piece tripple chainset and SR BMX stem with risers) which although being made of pig iron did actually last quite well and he upgraded it until he got his Muddyfox.
It may have been poor but compared to what you get from Tescos today it was marvelous as the brakes could be made to work (with decent pads) the huret friction shift gears held a gear and they were quite comfortable. I don't think we can say any of this for todays BSO's so we were quite fortunate.
I bypassed this and ended up with the Maverick GT white still had the ATT23 tubing but had decent forged dropouts, decent alloy cranks and rings, Shimano light action gears, Alloy Rims with sealed hubs. This cost me about £180 and with the Mustang at £150 it was £30 well spent I think.

Carl.