You were probably just unlucky with the head tube, as the RRS had the exact same frame and I've not heard of an epidemic of broken 'aerospace contour' frames
I had the Quasar's 'brother', the Pulsar (gas pipe tubing and lower spec) back in 1985, and between then and 1989 went through no fewer than 4 frames under the 15 year guarantee. (broken brake bridge on 2, and a failed BB on one)
The last time it was changed Raleigh themselves called me and said that the LBS had submitted the claim but they had no Pulsar frames left (it had been discontinued in 1986) so I would have to have something different and respray the original forks to match. I wasn't best pleased, and between Raleigh and myself we realised that they no longer fitted a rear mech hanger on their low end frames in 1989, and as my rear mech needed one we were 'stuck'. After some discussion they said that they would replace my frame with that of the Raleigh Criterium which was Reynolds 501, which I was pretty chuffed about...
Therefore imagine my surprise when a week later I went to collect my bike and discovered that they had managed to 'find' the last Pulsar frame they had, and had used that instead, but it had no decals applied to it (it looked awful)
With no Pulsar decals available, they found a set of Quasar ones, which were duly fitted.
I still have the frame today, albeit the decals are long gone
So I think it was standard practice of Raleigh to replace broken frames with whatever they had left, which sometimes meant a completely different colour scheme. (back in those days a 15 year guarantee on frame and forks meant lots of model changes happened in the guarantee period)
Does your frame have twin bottle mounts on it, and the space shuttle decal on the seat tube?
I had the Quasar's 'brother', the Pulsar (gas pipe tubing and lower spec) back in 1985, and between then and 1989 went through no fewer than 4 frames under the 15 year guarantee. (broken brake bridge on 2, and a failed BB on one)
The last time it was changed Raleigh themselves called me and said that the LBS had submitted the claim but they had no Pulsar frames left (it had been discontinued in 1986) so I would have to have something different and respray the original forks to match. I wasn't best pleased, and between Raleigh and myself we realised that they no longer fitted a rear mech hanger on their low end frames in 1989, and as my rear mech needed one we were 'stuck'. After some discussion they said that they would replace my frame with that of the Raleigh Criterium which was Reynolds 501, which I was pretty chuffed about...
Therefore imagine my surprise when a week later I went to collect my bike and discovered that they had managed to 'find' the last Pulsar frame they had, and had used that instead, but it had no decals applied to it (it looked awful)
With no Pulsar decals available, they found a set of Quasar ones, which were duly fitted.
I still have the frame today, albeit the decals are long gone
So I think it was standard practice of Raleigh to replace broken frames with whatever they had left, which sometimes meant a completely different colour scheme. (back in those days a 15 year guarantee on frame and forks meant lots of model changes happened in the guarantee period)
Does your frame have twin bottle mounts on it, and the space shuttle decal on the seat tube?
Yeah, I can see your point though - although the parts are £300, not £500 (though I do need new wheels and handlebars too). Or could save money and just use wheels from my Trek when that's off the road during winter... Before I do anything though, I'll be stripping the paint this weekend, hopefully, to check the condition. There are quite a few heavy rust patches but they all feel really solid so I think KuRust should sort them. But my feeling is that the bike always suffered from poor componentry on a decent frame, so spending just a little bit more for some decent parts could be worth it. In theory, I'd be spending a similar amount of money as if I was to buy that £400 Argos carbon one, and I think I know which one I'd rather have.
