Allshownogo
Dirt Disciple
It is with a heavy heart that I offer up my beloved Raleigh Banana re-production up for sale.
This bike is an accurate re-production of the late 80's version of the bike and was painted to match those race machines (hence why the join between top-tube, seat tube and seat stays is yellow unlike the cheapo factory models that were black at this point!).
The frame is a Raleigh Special Products division Reynolds 853 frame that was made in 1992. It is a traditional 23" frame which measures out at about 58cm for those of us used to modern sizing these days, although the top tube is 57cm so it's around a similar length to a modern 56cm frame. This frame had a bent mech hanger so it was ideal to be modified into a singlespeed machine, and I was never intending on selling it so I removed the front mech hanger and downtube bosses prior to paint. The original serial number was carefully retrieved by myself from the frame before it was stripped down and sent to paint.
The frame and forks were then stripped, sanded, and painted in the base colours by Lustrecoatings at Hethel in Norfolk (these guys paint the Aston Martin £25K road bikes and all the carbon fibre panels for the Tesla sports cars) before being returned to myself for sanding and application of all the correct decals. At this point the frame gained its Reynolds 753 badges as the original race frames were made of that steel tubing. I also applied a Reynolds 853 badge under the down-tube near the headset as a reminder of the true heart of this bike. The frame was then returned to Lustrecoatings for them to apply the top clear-coat. Upon return to me the original Raleigh Heron badge was returned to the front of the bike and the build commenced.
The bike is running as a singlespeed on a standard pair of Easton road wheels with a singlespeed converter on the freehub. This is mated up to a 172.5mm Driveline chainset which is fitted with a 48T Gebhardt track chainring. The bottom bracket is a very very smooth square taper and has only just been re-greased and re-fitted. This runs to a 15T Halo fat-foot sprocket and runs a proper track width chain for strength leaving you with an 85" gear at the moment.
It then was fitted with Dura Ace 7800 dual pivot calipers for something with proper stopping power, and these are matched up with ultra rare Dura Ace 7403 aero brake levers (took me months to find a pair of these!).
The forks are traditional threaded versions and so are mated up with a seriously smooth Shimano 105 headset, but have then been fitted with an A-Head adapter. This then means that the bike takes an A-Head stem and has oversize bars. Both stem and bars are carbon fibre and the handlebars are ITM ovalised versions that give a nice flat top surface for riding on the tops.
The bike has been used for winter riding and therefore is fitted with SKS Raceblades (the long versions) to keep you reasonably dry when riding in all conditions. It is also fitted with brand new Bontrager Race Lite hard case tyres which are bombproof commuter tyres.
It also has a brand spanking new San Marco saddle on it too as I wanted to keep my nicely worn in Adamo for myself.
£500
This bike is an accurate re-production of the late 80's version of the bike and was painted to match those race machines (hence why the join between top-tube, seat tube and seat stays is yellow unlike the cheapo factory models that were black at this point!).
The frame is a Raleigh Special Products division Reynolds 853 frame that was made in 1992. It is a traditional 23" frame which measures out at about 58cm for those of us used to modern sizing these days, although the top tube is 57cm so it's around a similar length to a modern 56cm frame. This frame had a bent mech hanger so it was ideal to be modified into a singlespeed machine, and I was never intending on selling it so I removed the front mech hanger and downtube bosses prior to paint. The original serial number was carefully retrieved by myself from the frame before it was stripped down and sent to paint.
The frame and forks were then stripped, sanded, and painted in the base colours by Lustrecoatings at Hethel in Norfolk (these guys paint the Aston Martin £25K road bikes and all the carbon fibre panels for the Tesla sports cars) before being returned to myself for sanding and application of all the correct decals. At this point the frame gained its Reynolds 753 badges as the original race frames were made of that steel tubing. I also applied a Reynolds 853 badge under the down-tube near the headset as a reminder of the true heart of this bike. The frame was then returned to Lustrecoatings for them to apply the top clear-coat. Upon return to me the original Raleigh Heron badge was returned to the front of the bike and the build commenced.
The bike is running as a singlespeed on a standard pair of Easton road wheels with a singlespeed converter on the freehub. This is mated up to a 172.5mm Driveline chainset which is fitted with a 48T Gebhardt track chainring. The bottom bracket is a very very smooth square taper and has only just been re-greased and re-fitted. This runs to a 15T Halo fat-foot sprocket and runs a proper track width chain for strength leaving you with an 85" gear at the moment.
It then was fitted with Dura Ace 7800 dual pivot calipers for something with proper stopping power, and these are matched up with ultra rare Dura Ace 7403 aero brake levers (took me months to find a pair of these!).
The forks are traditional threaded versions and so are mated up with a seriously smooth Shimano 105 headset, but have then been fitted with an A-Head adapter. This then means that the bike takes an A-Head stem and has oversize bars. Both stem and bars are carbon fibre and the handlebars are ITM ovalised versions that give a nice flat top surface for riding on the tops.
The bike has been used for winter riding and therefore is fitted with SKS Raceblades (the long versions) to keep you reasonably dry when riding in all conditions. It is also fitted with brand new Bontrager Race Lite hard case tyres which are bombproof commuter tyres.
It also has a brand spanking new San Marco saddle on it too as I wanted to keep my nicely worn in Adamo for myself.
£500
