the unofficial 'cool' 1980's Reynolds 531/501 bike thread

[mrkawasaki]

Orbit 531 with Mavic Oxygens and a fullish XC Pro MD groupset to add to this Great British Steel gathering...

I'm really liking that ....apart from the forks (pet hate of mine Pace forks) were they original to the bike?...kinda looks like some nice steel rigids with matching paint should be in there.

Hi Kev - long time since I read a post from you! You at MM this year??

Strangely, the NOS frame did arrive with a matching fork - that turned out to be for a 700c wheel! Hence the PACE solution. The comments have made me think that I might try a spare pair of Track 2s I have in the cellar (as I agree that this bike ought not to have a suspension fork at all...)

 

[Coleman]

Orbit 531 with Mavic Oxygens and a fullish XC Pro MD groupset to add to this Great British Steel gathering...

The Orbit is really very nice indeed - maybe you should try some of the 531 straight blade forks on it - they were supplied with dynatechs of the same era and are as on my Nigel Dean - I think they'd compliment the frame well.

Cool bike either way though

 

[jaypee]

raleigh avanti 531 '87

What a great thread! Nice one monsieur fromage
Just got myself this beast, very chuffed and grateful to learn a bit about it from these pages. Almost entirely original I think, though pretty well used. 531 all through. I like the huge bars and stem with 4 massive allen bolts and I see the FW Evans appears to have the same one. I'm not looking to sell but I always get my bikes cheap so I'm always willing to sell if the price is right, there's always another bike on the horizon! I'm off to France on it in a few weeks though with a trailer and tent, not going too far, just pootle around near dieppe with my wife. The avanti's ideal for that, solid and comfortable, from the time before decent mtbs became predominantly about speed, more like a tourer.

 

[jaypee]

what no pics?

Hmm, attachments from my Android phone didn't work will see what I can do.

 

[jaypee]

still no pics!

Will have to wait for a real computer, the file sizes are too large. In the meantime it's the blue and white one from the catalogue on the first page of this thread. :?

 

[jaypee]

pics!

et voila! It's exactly as I got it though I've tightened a few bits up. I'll test it before France over the next few weeks but I don't think anything needs changing. The carrier rack looks dodgy but its solid and there's a little label on saying Tonard Brazing Co. Croydon, if that means anything to anyone.

 

[jaypee]

a few more...

Although its a Raleigh, my investigations have led me to a new appreciation for them, the quality ones at least. This is from the Lightweight Unit and apparently designed by Gerald O'Donovan, known to fans as GOD. You probably knew that already but I'm new to this stuff...

 

[mrlee]

my 1987 dawes nomad

 

[legrandefromage]

For kaiser type 'bump'

 

[coomber]

Re: the unofficial 'cool' 1980's Reynolds 531/501 bike threa

Rescued this but its in a bad state. 1986 according to LGFs comment on a similar on ebay recently: Orbit Frontier 501

Weights a bit but looks great in the flesh (needs a repaint badly as covered in surface rust - looks to have had a hard life)