Cycling UK Forum

I looked at the Dawes Clubman as they had them on offer earlier this year at £485, was very very tempted.

I'm after a steel audax bike now.

Hopefully the forks will be a chunk towards it.

I have a set of 1 inch threadless carbon forks.

Everything now is 1 1/8th

Is it worth much or just obsolete?

Raleigh frame warranty is 5 years. Bike is a 2001.

Salvaged all the bits off it.

BB threads seized also so noted the size (122.5) and will source another frameset.

Off to the recycle centre (no punn intended). Frame has been rendered inop (hacksaw through top tube) so no crafty salvagers can rebuild it.

Today when I was cleaning the bike I bought second hand last week I noticed the paint on the left hand side of the head tube where the top tobe meets was slightly cracked. I removed the stem and dropped the fork out. There are two tiny cracks in the headtube visible on the inside. one is about 3/4 inch one about 1/3 inch.

I guess the frame is junk now.

I'm not too gutted as the bike only cost a tad over £100, the Rigida wheels, carbon forks, ITM bars and Sora triple groupset are worth more than £100 anyway.

Now looking for a frame to it swap to.

I don't think this was official advertising, but it works for me !

Accell Group - who own Koga and Batavus bought Raleigh today for £62M

Not the first time the Dutch have had ties with the company (Raleigh Ti)

Interesting reading. The history reminds the whole BMC-Leyland-Rover saga. Companies merging, takeovers, buyouts, bankruptcy, rebirth in the Far East.

Always had Raleigh bikes since I was a nipper, this is actually a decent machine. I have one of their later Avanti models as well as this.

I found an ad from Malleys bikes retailing it at £499, URL is dated 2001 http://www.malleys.co.uk/bike/thebikes/ ... 1/r200.htm

The article states:

"The May 2002 price list included ...4 racing bikes, ranging in price from £229.99 to £499.99"

So 2001-2 I conclude.

Will be out on it with Donny CTC on Sunday if I get it cleaned up in time.

I have acquired a Raleigh road bike.

Sora 3303 Triple, 7005 Aero frame, Carbon forks, ITM bars, Rigida Nova wheels.

The sticker on the frame says 'Made in England'

I'm guessing it's only assembled in the UK.

Any ideas on date for this model? I seems to predate the Airlite series.

Sora 3300 (square taper) was launched in 2001 and ran to 2004, Raleigh ceased in the UK about 2003 I think.

The Shimano Altus CT90 crankset was recalled in 1994 due to cranks snapping. I got mine replaced by Madison for free in 2011.

If it's a design fault or manufacturing defect then it was present from day 1 so you have a right to a replacement.

Definitely worth sending it back to manufacturer with a covering letter about how disappointed you were with their product.

2.5 years isn't a lot, I'm riding a 20 year old Shimano Deore M550 chainset.

Sustainable bike

Mainly carbon/cellulose

mrjemm wrote:Kinda off the direct matter, but...

CF may be a bit of a dead end in the long run as it's non-recyclable and rather hazardous when damaged/waste.

There are other hi-tech materials in use, and there will be many many more, hopefully some of which will be a bit more "green", and safe.

To me it's day's are numbered, and something more sustainable will come along soon. Spider's web/bamboo hybrids?

.

How about a frame made from Flax - although I suspect it is still bonded with nasty epoxy though

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/museeuw-flax-bike-launch-15198/

Schwalbe has some info here

It has directional arrows on its tyres for front and rear usage.

http://www.schwalbetires.com/tech_info/tire_tread

Most SCHWALBE tire sidewalls are marked with a "Drive" arrow, which indicates the recommended rolling direction. When in use, the tire should run in the direction of the arrow.

Many MTB tires are marked with a "Front" and a "Rear" arrow. The "Front" arrow indicates the recommended rolling direction for the front wheel and respectively the "Rear" arrow is the direction for the rear wheel.

Try cold setting a composite frame

I'm not overly tempted by composites, one of my bikes has composite forks, steerer, chainstays and seatstays. It's light and quick, but my Tange Cr-Mo tourer is more comfy.

It's more challenging to fabricate a composite frame than a steel or aluminium one. The carbon fibre matting has to be laid correctly in the mould and the curing process carefully controlled to acheive the right mechanical properties. I think it's harder to fabricate a composite frame than a metal one, hence I have my doubts over some of the really cheap unbranded Chinese frames you can buy off ebay. Some of them weigh as much as a reasonably good aluminium frame. The majority of the weight of a composite frame is the epoxy resin used to set the matting into the required shape.

Metal frames are welded in a jig, quicker and simpler.

There's always issues where composite materials join metal, such as bottom brackets. Fatigue fractures often occur at these boundries. Composites fail rapidy, metals tend to deform more slowly.

Not had any problem with the composite parts on my bike, but it is a named brand.

I wouldn't buy unbranded frames though.

Yep, that seems to have worked better. Luckily I had 2 600mm bungee cords spare.

Bungee over the pannier top hooks then hooked onto the rack via the bottom D ring on the back of the pannier.