Road bike question...

j williams

j williams

Joined
Nov 14, 2005
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Anyone own a Raleigh? I have a chance to score a single speed one very cheap, and was wonderin if they make good frames...

Thanks!!
 
Road a Raleigh Mt. bike years ago. It was built like a tank and weighed about as much as one. I always figured a heavy bike was just a better work out.:D
 
Raleigh makes relativly heavy production bikes of acceptable quality at a decent price. Good enough for riding around the neighboorhood for exercise, but if you want to get serious about your riding you will probably not be satisfied with it for long. ;)
 
I have been an avid mountain biker for 20 years, and im 28. I log almost 90 miles a week on my singlespeed mountain bike doing my fitness rides, and trail rides. Ive never owned a road bike, but Id like to get a singlespeed roadie to jam around town on. I can get either the vintage raleigh thats been converted to single speed, or I can get a 79 schwinn tour le thats been built into a single speed for the same price.

What do you guys think I should do? Or I can get the raliegh ss complete, and just the schwinn frame together for 140.00, 200.00 for both bikes complete, or 90 for the raleigh, 110 for the schwinn each complete singlespeed.

My thing is I have been building mountain and BMX bikes most of my life, so I know to me the frame is all that matters as I cant ever leave well enough alone and will upgrade components as I go. Im just torn between the 2 as far as which frame is better. Weight doesnt matter much to me as its just gonna be a bike to have some fun jammin around town on. Durability is what im after. I dont wanna just buy the frame and build one though. Id like to have a bike that is road ready when I get it so I can get a feel for it, and change stuff as I go.

Is it worth it to buy the bike and the other frame together or should I just pass up the raleigh and get the schwinn off the bat?
 
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j williams said:
My thing is I have been building mountain and BMX bikes most of my life, so I know to me the frame is all that matters as I cant ever leave well enough alone and will upgrade components as I go. Im just torn between the 2 as far as which frame is better.
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Neither company is known for cutting edge products, but without knowing specifically what bike from each manufacturer you are looking at I would in general expect a better product from Schwinn.

(Caveat! I have owned a number of higher end Schwinn road bikes, and have some good friends who have owned Raliegh bikes but my first hand knowledge of both lines is probably 5-10 years out of date. Things may have changed)

Weight doesnt matter much to me as its just gonna be a bike to have some fun jammin around town on.
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You are one weird biker, Williams! :p

I don't know any one who bikes seriously who does not worry (some would say obsess!) about the weight of their frames, wheels, and components.
 
mdauben said:
Neither company is known for cutting edge products, but without knowing specifically what bike from each manufacturer you are looking at I would in general expect a better product from Schwinn.

(Caveat! I have owned a number of higher end Schwinn road bikes, and have some good friends who have owned Raliegh bikes but my first hand knowledge of both lines is probably 5-10 years out of date. Things may have changed)


You are one weird biker, Williams! :p

I don't know any one who bikes seriously who does not worry (some would say obsess!) about the weight of their frames, wheels, and components.
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:DHa!! I do obsess over weight, but im just not worried about on this bike, not for its intended purpose. :D:thumbup:

Thanks man!
 
How old is this Raleigh? Back in their 3 speed days of the 50s and 60s they made good bikes with Reynolds steel. I'm not sure when they went downhill, probably in the 70s but an old road bike might be decent.

Chad
 
Jake, does either frame have a tubing sticker on it? That would help if they do and you can tell us what the sticker says.

Like mdauben said, without knowing exactly which bike it is it's hard to give an opinion. One quality area you might look at is the rear dropouts, on a lot of cheaper bikes they appear to be pinched on whereas on a better bike they are brazed on. Also, check if the dropout is cast vs. stamped.
 
As Chadhan says. I built up a very nice lightweight roadster from one of the Raliegh "technium" (bonded aluminum) frames and it was quite nice. I have another one in the works right now, needs all the bearings re-done.

Older frames with horizontal dropouts are much sought-after for single-speed conversions.
Look at the frame decals and such to see what it's made out of.
 
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