Raleigh SB8029 753r - Team Spec Banana

[Maca]

Thought it was about time that I shared my latest build .........

Ever since I was 15 I've always thought there was something special about the Raleigh Team Banana bikes. And remember always wanting the 531 version way back when.

Best part of 30 years later and with a little more money behind me than that of a paper round I thought it would be nice to build the high end 753 team version. I needed to find the right 753r SBDU frame (my size, correct fittings, correct year). These meant finding a 60cm ctt SDC frame that had a front mech braze on, twin bottle mounts, number plate tag and the correct rear cable fittings as well as being 87 / 88 build.

18 months ago I found one, it was SB8029 and had all the right bits. It was looking a little sorry for its self and in Panasonic colours.

A deal was done and a few weeks later this arrived:

 

[Maca]

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There were a couple of areas that had more surface rust than 1st thought so it was sent straight to my painter who took it back to bare metal and primed it for me.

 

[Maca]

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Once back it sat under the bed while I gathered the parts.

The frame was an 87 build so was perfect to build the bike the 88 team used. They changed the frame slightly in 89.

This meant a full complement of Dura Ace 7402 the hunt was on. As you may have seen from my other builds I like to go down the NOS route. My reason behind this is that a. I like my builds to look like they have just come out of the show room in the 80's and b. because its then down to me to look after it all and keep it in the condition I want it in.

After around 12 months I had what I needed, full group set even down to the chain. Thanks have to be given here to Neil who spotted the pedals for me.

I had the NOS rims I wanted, Open 4CD. I had the stem, bars. Even thou I was building a 88 bike I liked the yellow saddle and bar tape they used in 89 so opted to go that way.

I found an old 80's saddle and sent it off to be re-covered, once it was back my sticker guy made me some new water transfers so we had the names back. I then tracked down some original Benotto yellow tape.

Also managed to get 2 TA cages and black bottles.

 

[Maca]

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it was now time to get the frame painted. Unfortunately my painter was now on a 2 month lead time but there was no way it was going any where else as we'd spoken about it and I knew exactly how I wanted it ........... no decals !

The only decals this frame was going to have were the Reynolds ones, GVD and foil logo. Every thing else would be painted.

I managed to track down an original 753r frame decal but it was the slightly older one which didn't say 531 along the bottom. And I got a pair of fork shields from a supplier. Wanting this to be 100% or as close as I could get I sent these off to be re-produced.

The guy I use for stickers managed to re-produce the shields for me but so they have the clear edge like the originals and he combined the original 753 decal with a 531c one so that I had a 753r one which said 531 along the bottom.

 

[Maca]

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I then sent off for 2 sets of decals, these were needed so that 1 could be used to show my painter where they went and so that the 2md set could be used for making templates.

 

[Maca]

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It was now time for paint ..... so off it went to Mark Ralph at MRCreations.

About 2 weeks later he started to tease me with some pictures, couldn't believe how well it had come out.

Arranged a time to collect ..... couldn't wait.

 

[Maca]

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Once picked up I started to build ........

 

[Maca]

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These pictures should have gone 1st, close ups of the frame details. Remember its all painted.

 

[Maca]

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And the finished bike.

I'm so pleased with this I just keep sitting looking at it.

I even put it in the show at Eroica to show it off, they liked it to

I hope you like it and as always any and all comments welcome.

 

[Maca]

I'll add some more out door pics when I get chance to put it out in the sun. Its phenomenal in the daylight.