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1984 Raleigh Gran Course

By davkt on 12/01/2013. Bike tags: Road bike | 1980s | 1984 | 531 | 531c | more tags >>
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Raleigh Gran Course 531c August 1984. 23"

ITM

Raleigh 531

Shimano 105 hub, Mavic Open SUP CD rim

Shimano 105 hub, Mavic Open SUP CD rim

RX100 crankset, 105 BB

Zoom/Brookes

Shimano 105

Shimano 105

Shimano 105 Golden Arrow levers EX500 Exage callipers

Biopace 40/52 and 105 8 speed 12-28

Its a road bike!

Self built in the 80s, being refurbished for L'Eroica Britannia, need to swap the brakes to some external cabled ones and loose that hideous 90s bottle cage but just about ready to go (well when I've found a climbing cassette for it, might have managed to spin those gears up the hills round here (where L'Eroica will run) back in the 80s and my early 20s but doubt I could now in my late 40s!). First photo is how it looks after a couple of decades stored in dads garage, but a quick check over and it seems it just needs the tires blowing up to be good to go!
The third photo is the bike now in Eroica Britannia trim, gearing has been swapped from 12-23 to 13-26 at the back and 42/52 to biopace 40/52 at the front, about the lowest I could go staying true to period and without a total rebuild of the gears. Of course the brake levers had to change from what were new fangled aero levers from the 80s to a pair of Golden Arrow levers. Tyres have been swapped from 22mm Zephyrs to 28mm Gatorskins, don't look as good I know and I'm pretty sure the frame builder never imagined anyone would do that to his creation but a lifetime of riding the tracks and trails we will be on this weekend has taught me the original tyres would last about 400yds before being shredded! Plus not being as young as I was a bit of extra padding will be welcome. Last photo is me and it out on the strade bianca of Derbyshire in the 2015 Eroica Britannia

People who friended this bike davkt, END00291, campystamp, Smiley, per.k, Splined
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Front skewer doesn't look

Submitted by vqstaphbeard on 06/22/2014.

Front skewer doesn't look closed in the photos.

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Nope it wasn't in the first

Submitted by davkt on 06/26/2014.

Nope it wasn't in the first 2 photos, just decided to snap a photo before I took it into the the cellar so just stuck the wheel back into place.
Had a great time on the Eroica Britannia, the bike was perfect, I know some people round the web say these things are twitchy and a bit hard to control but I love it. Sure it is a full on race frame and isn't anything like as docile as a longer wheelbase tourer but then if they wanted tourer handling thats what they should have bought! This thing as long as you ride it like you mean it is perfectly predictable and oh so comfortable on the rough roads and dirt trails on the ride at the weekend.

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Sounds ripe for a 650b ;)

Submitted by vqstaphbeard on 06/26/2014.

Sounds ripe for a 650b conversion ;)

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Next will be giving it the

Submitted by davkt on 06/26/2014.

Next will be giving it the 1980s Dura Ace or Super Record group set the fame merits. When I was building it in the late 80s it was more about what I could afford than the bits I really wanted!

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All ready for L'Eroica Britannia!

Submitted by davkt on 06/21/2014.

Well me and the bike are all ready for L'Eroica Britannia tomorrow, one interesting thing I spotted about when putting the new fatter tyres on is while the catalogue says these come fitted with Gipiemma dropouts mine has Campag ones. One of the special things about a hand built frame I guess, for some reason the person who built this one decided to vary the specification a bit.

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Cool bike, wish I could

Submitted by Smiley on 12/02/2013.

Cool bike, wish I could attend Brittanica as well...

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Thanks

Submitted by davkt on 12/02/2013.

I'm really looking forward to it, such a classic event now running over the roads and tracks I've ridden all my life. And what better to ride it on than a bike built round a frame made just a couple of dozen miles down the road from the start?

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Good to Go

Submitted by campystamp on 12/02/2013.

That's going to be a treat to ride.

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It is!

Submitted by davkt on 12/02/2013.

Yep it is, just hope my reactions are fast enough to deal with its somewhat lively handling now I'm twice as old as when I last rode it much!
Amazingly even though it hasn't been ridden regularly since the early 90s and probably only once or twice since then in late 90s everything is running as smoothly as it ever was. Sure it will get a load of TLC (and grease!) over the winter but all it really needed to be ride-able was the tyres pumping up. I somehow don't think my modern factory bikes would cope with sitting in an unheated garage for a couple of decades half as well.
Think I'll stick to the CX bike over winter and wait till the nice weather is back to stick some serious miles on this old girl though!

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