Raleigh Dyna Tech appreciation and information thread

[ultrazenith]

OK, I'm thinking of looking into having a few replicas made of this one. Any other Dynatech owners interested in joining forces?

 

[ibbz]

Here's a photo showing me, my brother and a riding buddy up on Dartmoor one summer afternoon in 1994.

Special Products Division role call:
1993 M Trax 400 Duo Tech (me)
1994 Dynatech Diablo STX with UGLI forks (my brother)
1994 M Trax Ti 1000 (our friend)

Excellent!
That you on the floor?

I'm the one in the Dynatech Jersey.

Really like this photo - seems like such a good time and memory! And you look like Neo (from Matrix)

 

[ultrazenith]

I'm starting to plan the build of my new, pristine Dynatech MT4 (the frame used for the 92 Ogre and Orge XT), and I've been trying to find out which steels were used for the seat stays and fork. The catalogue (see attachment) says they were Mang-Moly, and although Raleigh almost never revealed which grades of steel they used, it's widely known they favoured Reynolds, using 501 / K2 / Optima for their chromoly frames (including the M Trax Duo Tech series and the Diablo series).

But for their Mang-Moly models, like the Ogre or MT4, it's harder to guess because Reynolds had several Mang-Moly MTB tubesets available at the time: 531, 653, and 753. Do any Raleigh experts have a clue about which Mang-Moly was used on the MT4 / Ogre?

Edit: after asking Terry Bill (who worked at Reynolds during the Dynatech era) and looking at a Reynolds Mang-Moly brochure scan (see attachment), I think it's safe to say that the fork and seat stays of the MT4 / Ogre are almost certainly Reynolds 531.

In the case of the fork, the 753 MTB and 653 MTB tubesets both used 531 blades, so 531 is the only possibility there. For the seat stays, 753 was expensive and difficult to join, requiring brazing with silver solder (and a special license from Reynolds to be able to buy!), as overheating the 753 would cause it to revert to its pre-heat-treated 531 strength, and thus is unlikely to have been used here. Reynolds 653, a mixed tubset between 753 and 531 in terms of price and tensile strength, also (I believe) used 753 seat and chain stays, so '653' seems unlikely here too.

 

[ultrazenith]

At last I'm back in the UK and have access to my Dynatechs! As I have 2 steel Dynatech Framesets, I've been trying to figure out which to build up first.

My Dynatech Mission has a bonded 2070 frameset (Reynolds 653) with a straight-blade Mang Moly fork (Reynolds 531).

The Dynatech Encounter has a 2060 frameset (Reynolds 531) with a cromo fork, but is in better condition and has the matching stem and bar.

Any suggestions?

 

[BoyBurning]

I have a 753 DynaTech MTB I need to focus on building next year.

It was outed on here in the ebay section, with comments querying it's authenticity, but I have no doubts over it being genuine. Really nice internal cable routing, bonded joints into the lugs - which obviously gets around the welding issue - and cable stops the same elegant design seen on the contemporary high end Raleigh road bikes.

I bought it from a chap over in Ilkeston - where RSP was based - and am fairly sure it was a proto of some variety, which an ex employee probably made off with after closure of the factory.

Some certainty that 753 in DynaTechs was experimented with, that the rear cable noodle was a suggestion by then team rider Paul Hinton, and that internal cable routing was tried but never put into production.

Luckily for me, the uncertainty of it's origins kept the price down as it seemed to put people off, but it's a nice little piece of development history in the DyanTech story.

Will get some pics up as and when - it's really rather nice, with a rear end the same as my MT4...

Cheers,
BB.

 

[ultrazenith]

Is it an MTB or road bike? It sounds excellent either way.

 

[BoyBurning]

Re:

MTB, sorry thought I had mentioned that...

It's certainly very nice. I think the DynaTechs were in general really.

Certainly understated, and 'cleanly' designed and made. If anything, the rear brake noodle is a little clumsy - certainly the routing on my Miyatas [another lugged frame manufacturer] is more successfully and elegantly resolved...

BB.

 

[Jaytrue]

Re:

I'm very much looking forward to seeing this frameset being built up. I love the Dynatech design and it comes from a completely different engineering angle than that of the Klein frame I've just built up from the same era.
My Dynatech Encounter rides really well......I would love an MT4 frame or very similar, just to see how that rides in comparison.
Good luck with your build BB ;-)

 

[ultrazenith]

Looking forward to the photos! I guess the frame sticker would say it has '2080' tubing then, as it has 753 main tubes.

 

[BoyBurning]

Re:

I would love an MT4 frame or very similar, just to see how that rides in comparison.
Good luck with your build BB ;-)

^^^

Cheers - pics next year when I get round to it...

In the meantime, not wanting to clog this thread up unnecessarily but I have an MT4 for sale at the moment in the classifieds if you want to get on with your comparisons.

Search the for sale section, or PM me for details, rather than replying on here as this is a good thread with a specific purpose and I don't want to the one that screws it up before it reaches page 111 - surely a record on here...?!