Raleigh Randonneur- touring?

[markjohnobrien]

I paid £400 on e-bay for a blue Reynolds 708 Randonneur, Deore LX, but with a Son dynamo hub.

Toured, fully loaded, from Newcastle to Berwick upon Tweed and thence onto Edinburgh through the Borders; fantastic bike. Only thing I changed on the bike, as it had light use, was improve the original 28 cassette to a 34 and more suited to loaded touring.

Never rode a 531 ST Randonneur ; but used a Raleigh Royal extensively (virtually similar frame) and a nice ride.

Snap their hand off at £270...

[andrew_s]

My late 531ST Randonneur had all the touring braze-ons you might expect, but...

The spoke holder on the chainstay is good at protecting the paint (when it's got spokes in), but it's difficult to get the spokes out if you need one, as there isn't the space around the nipple to use a normal spoke key, and a screwdriver needs to be pretty long. If you rely on the spokes, make sure you can get them out with the tools you'll be carrying on tour.

Also, the rear cantilever cable hanger was unthreaded. I put an M4 (iirc) tap through, and used a gear adjuster off an old rear mech.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

My late 531ST Randonneur had all the touring braze-ons you might expect, but...

The spoke holder on the chainstay is good at protecting the paint (when it's got spokes in), but it's difficult to get the spokes out if you need one, as there isn't the space around the nipple to use a normal spoke key, and a screwdriver needs to be pretty long. If you rely on the spokes, make sure you can get them out with the tools you'll be carrying on tour.

True.

Also, the rear cantilever cable hanger was unthreaded. I put an M4 (iirc) tap through, and used a gear adjuster off an old rear mech.

You need no thread just an adjuster with a lock nut, the lock nut sits on top the cable hanger?
Unless you are saying that the hole through the cable hanger would not take the adjuster (threaded) that you had?
Mine but a 708 had a plain tube which accepts the threaded adjuster with nut on top, your 531 might well have been different?

[andrew_s]

Unless you are saying that the hole through the cable hanger would not take the adjuster (threaded) that you had?

That's right.

If the hole had been big enough to take the threaded adjuster, relying on the nut and not using the adjuster threads, it would also have been big enough for the tap to drop straight through.

It came with just a cable ferrule.

[Steve O'C]

Thread resurrection alert

True shimmy is a rather rare and somewhat mysterious phenomenon that some people like to debate about until the cows come home. If you are getting some sort of vibration or wobble or whatever regularly, there is a problem that should be investigated. There is nothing inherently wrong with the Randonneur frame. Quite the contrary, it's an excellent design, but used ones can be out of alignment or have other issues that could lead to problems with the handling. BTW, the alignment of the frameset I sold was absolutely spot-on.

I bought that frame. Brings a smile to my face every time I ride it.

[markjohnobrien]

Nice: hope you enjoy and get lots of use out of it.

[jimlews]

That's nice. Just like mine but a tad smaller.
Did you pay the full 270? Worth it, I should say.