** The original text below was before I discovered this Raleigh was from the SBDU **
I believe it is one of the last 1993 Reynolds 531ST Raleigh Randonneur/Royal frames out-shopped from the Raleigh SPU in a Dynatech livery. My guess is that either an employee or a friend of an employee wanted a non standard Randonneur with a completely different spec. Note though that the Raleigh imprints at the top of the seat stays are missing, but I've seen this on very late Randonneurs too. Build quality and alignment appears to be very good.
The prior owner (not the original owner) had no idea what he had and thought the horrific high foam content saddle was of greater note than the Campag hubs. He was also the sort that would never clean a bike. He did know the bike had some value though.
All the kit on it dated to 1993 apart from the Campag Record / Mavic A519 rims which I cannot accurately date. Rims have plenty of life left and it really doesn't look like the bike has been used for serious touring. It had Cinelli Eubius drops and 1A stem. The drops were not a good shape to my mind so I converted it to flat bars. I left the Suntour downtube levers but didn't fancy using them with a triple which was a rare Exage ES M520 (exactly the same as an LX M560 but with a different finish), so I decided to substitute an older 600EX 48/38T Biopace double which is almost NOS. The Campag hubs were smooth so no immediate need to strip them, same applied to the Campag headset. The seat stem is a 27.0 polished steel Proponent that has evidently aged well. I like the Shimano LX polished brake shoes which you don't see too often.
The original freewheel was a Megarange which I instantly took a disliking to on visual grounds. I stripped and cleaned it and then identified it as a HG50-7 of superior design to your usual Shimano offering and very much rated by Sheldon and quite a few tandem riders apparently.. I've never yet seen another on Ebay.
New Tortec mudguards
New KMC Chain
New 700x28 Vittoria Randonneur tyres and new inner tubes
New CNC machined Tranz X handlebar stem
New carbon wrapped 2014 alu Tranz X handlebars
New Ritchey grips
New all alloy Ahead/quill stem adaptor.
New rear brake cable.
New Sunrace 13-28T freewheel
It's a handsome machine and it rides well, but whether it's a long term keeper, I'm not sure. The front 38T / rear 28T combo is geared a bit too high for the local hills in the Peak District, but I don't want to change the build.
If any Raleigh Dynatech experts have a different theory about this bike, I'd be please to hear about it.
I believe it is one of the last 1993 Reynolds 531ST Raleigh Randonneur/Royal frames out-shopped from the Raleigh SPU in a Dynatech livery. My guess is that either an employee or a friend of an employee wanted a non standard Randonneur with a completely different spec. Note though that the Raleigh imprints at the top of the seat stays are missing, but I've seen this on very late Randonneurs too. Build quality and alignment appears to be very good.
The prior owner (not the original owner) had no idea what he had and thought the horrific high foam content saddle was of greater note than the Campag hubs. He was also the sort that would never clean a bike. He did know the bike had some value though.
All the kit on it dated to 1993 apart from the Campag Record / Mavic A519 rims which I cannot accurately date. Rims have plenty of life left and it really doesn't look like the bike has been used for serious touring. It had Cinelli Eubius drops and 1A stem. The drops were not a good shape to my mind so I converted it to flat bars. I left the Suntour downtube levers but didn't fancy using them with a triple which was a rare Exage ES M520 (exactly the same as an LX M560 but with a different finish), so I decided to substitute an older 600EX 48/38T Biopace double which is almost NOS. The Campag hubs were smooth so no immediate need to strip them, same applied to the Campag headset. The seat stem is a 27.0 polished steel Proponent that has evidently aged well. I like the Shimano LX polished brake shoes which you don't see too often.
The original freewheel was a Megarange which I instantly took a disliking to on visual grounds. I stripped and cleaned it and then identified it as a HG50-7 of superior design to your usual Shimano offering and very much rated by Sheldon and quite a few tandem riders apparently.. I've never yet seen another on Ebay.
New Tortec mudguards
New KMC Chain
New 700x28 Vittoria Randonneur tyres and new inner tubes
New CNC machined Tranz X handlebar stem
New carbon wrapped 2014 alu Tranz X handlebars
New Ritchey grips
New all alloy Ahead/quill stem adaptor.
New rear brake cable.
New Sunrace 13-28T freewheel
It's a handsome machine and it rides well, but whether it's a long term keeper, I'm not sure. The front 38T / rear 28T combo is geared a bit too high for the local hills in the Peak District, but I don't want to change the build.
If any Raleigh Dynatech experts have a different theory about this bike, I'd be please to hear about it.
