Old school cool

8valve

Couple of projects recently done.


1983 Raleigh Road Ace; possibly one of the coolest, most iconic racers ever produced by Raleigh.


Early 90s MBK Super Record; built with a mishmash old old/modern parts, just cos I love the retro neon colour scheme!


Late 80s/early 90s? Allsop Softride, built in the USA and sold through the Allsop factory near where I grew up here in waterford...a holy grail find for me.

koutoubia

The Allsop was always a cool bike.
Nice build!

magicbastarder

do you build these to order, or build them as you feel best suits them and keep them, or sell them then?
i do recall you were looking for the softride, i assumed for your own ends?

magicbastarder

what's the cassette on the softride? by the looks of it, the sprocket is an 11-11.5-12-12.5-13...

MojoMaker

That Raleigh Road Ace is really sweet.

fat bloke

Does the saddle on that mad looking yoke not boingggg up and down like a mad thing? Can't imagine what it must be like to ride.

The Raleigh is lovely alright. Does the saddle have to be retro as well? I wonder would it modern skinny saddle suit it a lot better?

Mefistofelino

8valve wrote: »

Couple of projects recently done.


1983 Raleigh Road Ace; possibly one of the coolest, most iconic racers ever produced by Raleigh.


Early 90s MBK Super Record; built with a mishmash old old/modern parts, just cos I love the retro neon colour scheme!


Late 80s/early 90s? Allsop Softride, built in the USA and sold through the Allsop factory near where I grew up here in waterford...a holy grail find for me.

The Road Ace is great - you weren't tempted to fit the Ax cranks with the humongous pedal axles?

Mefistofelino

magicbastarder wrote: »

what's the cassette on the softride? by the looks of it, the sprocket is an 11-11.5-12-12.5-13...

I was clearing out a few months ago and found one of my old racing freewheels 13-18 straight through, for use with a 52-42 chainset. It's no wonder my knees are shagged.

iwillhtfu

That raleigh is gorgeous but that's big boy gearing if ever I've seen it

ratracer

Class job, fair play to you!

As an U12 racer in the late 80’s that Road Ace was pure bike porn!!

8valve

magicbastarder wrote: »

do you build these to order, or build them as you feel best suits them and keep them, or sell them then?

i do recall you were looking for the softride, i assumed for your own ends?


Some are bikes that I've always wanted, or admired. They're the keepers.


Others are just enjoyable to save and rebuild with whatever parts I have to hand.


They tend to be sold (usually at a loss!) to keep the cycle (pardon the pun!) going.

The softride is something I've wanted since they came out, both for tthe interesting design, and the local connection.

fat bloke

fat bloke wrote: »

Does the saddle on that mad looking yoke not boingggg up and down like a mad thing? Can't imagine what it must be like to ride.

The Raleigh is lovely alright. Does the saddle have to be retro as well? I wonder would it modern skinny saddle suit it a lot better?

Wondering the same, I reckon there are a tonne of options you could go with and have a great looking bike such is the quality of that frame.

8valve

magicbastarder wrote: »

what's the cassette on the softride? by the looks of it, the sprocket is an 11-11.5-12-12.5-13...

The guy i got the wheel from, used it solely for time trials.


It feels like 11-11-11-11-11-11- with a 12 thrown in for hills!

8valve

fat bloke wrote: »

Does the saddle on that mad looking yoke not boingggg up and down like a mad thing? Can't imagine what it must be like to ride.

The Raleigh is lovely alright. Does the saddle have to be retro as well? I wonder would it modern skinny saddle suit it a lot better?

It does flex, not to the point of bucking you off like a disgruntled donkey.


I tend to favour San Marco rolls saddles for a lot of my restorations; I've used them since 1984 on all of my bikes, practically. Either my ar5e suits them, or they suit my ar5e...not sure which! I'm waiting on a blue retro saddle (currently on the slow boat from China), to finish the anorak-level colour matching of saddle and bartape on the Road Ace.


I've tried a couple of Brooks (B17, Swift) with no success, but I'm willing to keep trying, so I've a C15 on the way for an ebike frankenbike project, so I'll document that and the subsequent pain in my hole on another thread, when it's built.

8valve

Mefistofelino wrote: »

The Road Ace is great - you weren't tempted to fit the Ax cranks with the humongous pedal axles?

I actually turned down a set from a friend who supplied the gear levers and derailleurs, as I have no spare organs to sell to finance the pedals.

8valve

Mefistofelino wrote: »

I was clearing out a few months ago and found one of my old racing freewheels 13-18 straight through, for use with a 52-42 chainset. It's no wonder my knees are shagged.

I used to cycle up Seskin, which is local to me, and the long drag up to Mahon Falls in the Comeraghs, in a 42/21 gear.....driving up nowadays makes me tired and my knees don't work from October through to March each year!

crosstownk

That Road Ace brings back memories.

Back in my teenage years, I bought a Raleigh Road Ace Select 600 rather than going to my debs. IR£644 in 1987/1988. 53/42 up front. Shimano 600 Select with SIS gears on the downtube.



Fast forward a few years when with women, cars and beer and I sold the Raleigh along with my Peugeot Triathlon (the model with the chrome 531 forks) that I used as my winter bike.

I rue the day I sold them. Poor decisions in hindsight.

Nowadays I have a rule - I don't sell bikes or musical instruments.

Mefistofelino

A couple of lads in the club used to have Allsops. The trick was to ride just slightly behind them on a climb. As they got out of the saddle, you'd pull down on the beam and release it, so it sprang back up and hit them in the gooch.

hesker

Nice Road Ace. Paint looks in great condition. Original or respray?

Raleigh did a few different models with that decal scheme, Competition, Corsa, Scirocco, Road Champion, Pro Super and maybe some others.

secman

I still have a 1992 custom build Rapparee, 52/42 chain ring, original block was an 8 speed 12 to 19. Used to save the 19 for the tough climbs
Did the Wicklow 200 on it one year. When i got back on it after a 10 yr break i eventually changed the block to 11 to 25. It took ages to get used to the 2 teeth changes.

magicbastarder

ooh, that's nice.
a colleague used to have a custom raparee, which he lent to, or left with, his father. a couple of years later, he mentioned to his dad, 'i've created some space at home so i'll take that bike back off you'
'oh, i gave that to the nuns a while back for their charity sale'.

Quigs Snr

8valve wrote: »

The softride is something I've wanted since they came out, both for tthe interesting design, and the local connection.

I spent a weekend in Sydney a few years ago. Went out riding with a local club at 6am.. folks still falling home drunk from the clubs, stopped at a traffic lights and a very large man, 20 stone or more tried to sell me a (likely stolen) bright red softride about 5 sizes too small for him that he was wheeling along for 100 dollars. It was the first and last one I had ever seen for sale in my size.

The tax man

Nice to see another clean Road Ace, lovely build.
I raced one back in the 80's and sold it when I gave up racing. As above I regretted selling it many years later.
Traveled to the UK to collect the one below. Luckily I found a NOS Dura Ace ax brake set on ebay so swapped out the 600 ax levers and perished hoods for as good as new looking ones.
Sold that frame onto Brendan and picked up a slightly smaller one and transferred the parts over.

Fugs!!

Super work there Paul.

magicbastarder

were people taller in the 70s and 80s? the vast majority of the bikes you see from that period look like they're 56cm or bigger.

Finnrocco

Museeuw on an MBK

8valve

magicbastarder wrote: »

were people taller in the 70s and 80s? the vast majority of the bikes you see from that period look like they're 56cm or bigger.

The rule of thumb used back then was 12.5 inches deducted from your inside leg gave you your frame size.


I was a tall, skinny, lanky teenager with a 34in inside leg, so I was taught that 23.5inch frames were my size.

The last 'modern' bike I bought new (a 2009 Giant Rapid at the inception of the BTW scheme; coincidentally the bike that got me back into cycling after a long hiatus due to spinal injury) was sized Giant M/L.


Nowadays I ride anything from 55-59cm and just flooter around with seatpost height and stem length to get roughly where I'm happy.


I got a professional bikefit after spinal surgery in 2010, on my 1986 Merckx and have just applied those measurements, give or take a cm here and there, until I feel comfortable on the bike.


I don't cycle massive distances, or competitively. I cycle to generally keep fit and enjoy the spin. None of my bikes has a speedo, never mind a garmin whatchamacallit (I think too many modern cyclists are getting too caught up in the whole marginal gains and science 5hite, and missing the enjoyment because of it...but that's a whole other thread right there!)

secman

magicbastarder wrote: »

were people taller in the 70s and 80s? the vast majority of the bikes you see from that period look like they're 56cm or bigger.

No I'm still the same height
Back then my off the shelf was a 21" frame , the Rapparee was custom built so it was 21.5" with a slightly longer crossbar... build like a gorilla so i am..short with long arms

MadYaker

That Allsop is mad looking, never seen anything like it.

Large bottle small glass

I have a notion of doing L'erocia sometime, and I would need something like the Raleigh to keep within the rules.

How low a gear can you get on those bikes using parts of same vintage?

8valve

secman wrote: »

build like a gorilla so i am..short with long arms

A handy fella to have for clearing blocked drains or changing lightbulbs, so?


Every cloud has a silver lining!:)

Idleater

Large bottle small glass wrote: »

I have a notion of doing L'erocia sometime, and I would need something like the Raleigh to keep within the rules.

How low a gear can you get on those bikes using parts of same vintage?

I run 42*23 i think.
You can get 25 or 27 I'd say. And easily a 39 up front.

The folks on 1x 58*14 or something zigzagging up the hills just laugh.

Large bottle small glass

Idleater wrote: »

I run 42*23 i think.
You can get 25 or 27 I'd say. And easily a 39 up front.

The folks on 1x 58*14 or something zigzagging up the hills just laugh.

Yeah I thought I was a great lad after riding the Paris Roubaix sportive until a few hardy old timers rolled in on vintage fixed bike and woollen gear

8valve

Large bottle small glass wrote: »

I have a notion of doing L'erocia sometime, and I would need something like the Raleigh to keep within the rules.

How low a gear can you get on those bikes using parts of same vintage?

Most old school rear mechs will cope with a 28 tooth sprocket.


Old shimano chainsets can usually take a 39 tooth chainring and they're readily got, if you don't want to run a 42 tooth inner ring.

Seaswimmer

ratracer wrote: »

Class job, fair play to you!

As an U12 racer in the late 80’s that Road Ace was pure bike porn!!

I owned one in 1984. Bought in Tony Kealys Walkinstown for £395. It was in the family and extended family for years. Last I heard it was in a shed on the Dublin/Meath border with a friend of a family member. I really must go out and look for it or at it after Covid.

8valve

Seaswimmer wrote: »

I owned one in 1984. Bought in Tony Kealys Walkinstown for £395. It was in the family and extended family for years. Last I heard it was in a shed on the Dublin/Meath border with a friend of a family member. I really must go out and look for it or at it after Covid.

Retrieve it.
Clean it.
Service it.
Cycle it.
Smile smugly at your own awesomeness for having such a cool vintage machine.

Quigs Snr

magicbastarder wrote: »

were people taller in the 70s and 80s? the vast majority of the bikes you see from that period look like they're 56cm or bigger.

My modern bikes include a 49cm Sworks Roubaix, a 50cm Pinarello F8, a 51cm Cervelo S5... so its always weird when I am in my parents Garage and see the Raleigh Pro Race (reynolds 501) that i used to ride to school and even a race or two in my first year of college... it works out as being the same as a modern 56cm if not a little bigger. I think our projections for just how much I would "grow into it" were off by a solid 6 inches or more.

Still.. back in the day we didnt have bike fitters and the common wisdom was that if you could do a fosbury flop high jump over the cross bar you needed to go a size up.

magicbastarder

i see there's a company in rathmines now selling vintage italian frames. some nice ones there too.

https://mastroclassics.com/collections/frontpage

there's one there asking €25k, if anyone is feeling flush.

Peter T

25k ? Perfect, strap it to a turbo trainer in the shed

Finnrocco

magicbastarder wrote: »

i see there's a company in rathmines now selling vintage italian frames. some nice ones there too.

https://mastroclassics.com/collections/frontpage

there's one there asking €25k, if anyone is feeling flush.

I want this one!

Finnrocco

Actually I would prefer this one!

Boschetti made some crazy bikes.

8valve

looks like he found an old shed in Italy full of Boschettis!

Seaswimmer

8valve wrote: »

Retrieve it.
Clean it.
Service it.
Cycle it.
Smile smugly at your own awesomeness for having such a cool vintage machine.

I already have an Olmo, a Carlton and a Rossin.

However unlike your lovely examples they are all a mixture of modern and old but fantastic old frames for comfort and durability..I don't think I would have the patience or knowledge to restore fully like you do.
But I am happy to admire your work!

cletus

Seaswimmer wrote: »

I already have an Olmo, a Carlton and a Rossin.

However unlike your lovely examples they are all a mixture of modern and old but fantastic old frames for comfort and durability..I don't think I would have the patience or knowledge to restore fully like you do.
But I am happy to admire your work!

Sure it's probably no use to you at all. I suppose I can take it off your hands, I won't even charge you...

8valve

Seaswimmer wrote: »

I already have an Olmo, a Carlton and a Rossin.

However unlike your lovely examples they are all a mixture of modern and old but fantastic old frames for comfort and durability..I don't think I would have the patience or knowledge to restore fully like you do.
But I am happy to admire your work!

Go for it.


Feel free to ask if you need any tips/advice.