Raleigh Randonneur

[rjbrown1979]

Hi,

I was fortunate to buy a restored Raleigh touring bike this weekend. I *think* it's a Randonneur, but I'm not 100% certain. The chap I bought it off thought that it was, and it definitely looks like a Randonneur. I have the frame number as A18095 - but I can't seem to find any information about the Raleigh serial number convention that matches with this.

Would any one of you knowledgeable folk on the forum know anything about Randonneurs and old Raleigh tourers? Regardless of what it is, it's a lovely bike to ride.

Thanks for your help,

Rich

[andrew_s]

Mine is no. B29083, marked to be read from the right-hand side of an upside-down bike (Grey 531st with white head tube, from 1989, give or take)

[rjbrown1979]

Thanks Andrew. Presumably the number code links to place / year of manufacture? I'd like to try and verify what I have if at all possible.

[broadway]

Randonneurs of that age where built in Nottingham in the Raleigh Special Products.

I have a C which is 1991 (I have the manual) , which suggests yours is 1989 and maybe Andrew's is a 1990. If

If it has spoke holders on the right hand chain stay it is almost certainly a Randonneur.

Random photo from flickr

[rjbrown1979]

Great, thanks Broadway. That's really useful. The spoke holders are indeed on the right chain stay, so from what you say it looks like I do indeed have a 1989 Randonneur. I'd be interested to know the original spec - mine has been (nicely) resprayed, and I don't know if the mostly Shimano 105 componentry is original or not. Would you be able to mail a scan of the manual?

[whitehorsewheeler]

I bought mine in either 1989 or 1990 and it was equipped with Shimano Deore throughout.
It had/has the biometric chainrings, i.e. oval rings which were the fashion at the time and seemed to have reappeared in the past few years in the peloton.
it has the spoke holders too on the rhs chainstay.

[jackg]

They were called Biopace and the oval was 90 degrees out so the ring had a smaller diameter when it should have been a larger diameter. So instead of being easier to pedal they were harder to pedal.
I had one on my 1988 Dawes and it was the fashion at the time, should have bought a Raleigh. A bit like politicans (Biopace that is), best avoided.

[andrew_s]

With mine, the brake cable hanger for the rear brake was originally unthreaded with a plain ferrule on the end of the outer. This made adjusting the brakes a bit of a pain.
I stuck an M4 (?) tap through, and used the adjuster from an old rear mech.

The spoke holders aren't as useful as they ought to be, as the nipple is too close to the chainstay for any spoke key to work, and a screwdriver in the end slot has to have a blade at least 6" long to reach past the dropout.

[speedsixdave]

I had one on my 1988 Dawes and it was the fashion at the time, should have bought a Raleigh.

Sadly, 1988 Randonneurs had Biopace too.

One easy thing to check, Rich, is whether your Randonneur has the seatstay braze-ons for a four-point rear rack, as in Broadway's photo. These only appeared in 1988. My 1987 Randonneur (first year, I think) had a three-point Showa rear rack and no braze-ons at the back, but fork braze-ons for the included front low-riders.

The 1987 bike had: XT Biopace 28/38/48 chainset, Sachs Huret gears (6 speed, friction), Maillard hubs on Mavic M3CD (?) rims, Tange headset, SR Sakae bars, stem & seatpost, Brooks Professional saddle, Shimano 600 non-aero levers pulling unlabelled Shimano cantilevers, and really good Shimano platform pedals. From memory!

By 1988 most of the European stuff had been replaced by Shimano, Deore IIRC. Probably a better thing.

Mine is now running 9-speed Shimergo and absolutely no original parts, and is still a cracking bike. I rode it to work today.

[speedsixdave]

The spoke holders aren't as useful as they ought to be, as the nipple is too close to the chainstay for any spoke key to work, and a screwdriver in the end slot has to have a blade at least 6" long to reach past the dropout.

Agreed, although they worked well as a chainstay chainslap guard. Whether you'd want to use the spokes after a few years of that is another matter!

I've always thought that they were a really nice bit of detailing though, something that makes me happy to this day. Like the stamped 'RALEIGH' on the seatstays, picked out in gold. That sort of thing costs money to do and doesn't make the bike ride any faster, but certainly adds class.

[meic]

Like the stamped 'RALEIGH' on the seatstays,

I have that on my 1989 Raleigh Cajun from the Lightweights Division but I notice that a lot of Randonneurs do not.
I am not sure when they dropped the habit, was it when they stopped using 531 tubing?

My bike still has the normal type frame number WH......

[rjbrown1979]

Yup, mine has the seat stay mounted racking points and the low rider front mounts, and the chain stay mounted spoke carriers. And as everyone has said, it's really nice to ride. Definitely a keeper!

I had one on my 1988 Dawes and it was the fashion at the time, should have bought a Raleigh.

Sadly, 1988 Randonneurs had Biopace too.

One easy thing to check, Rich, is whether your Randonneur has the seatstay braze-ons for a four-point rear rack, as in Broadway's photo. These only appeared in 1988. My 1987 Randonneur (first year, I think) had a three-point Showa rear rack and no braze-ons at the back, but fork braze-ons for the included front low-riders.

The 1987 bike had: XT Biopace 28/38/48 chainset, Sachs Huret gears (6 speed, friction), Maillard hubs on Mavic M3CD (?) rims, Tange headset, SR Sakae bars, stem & seatpost, Brooks Professional saddle, Shimano 600 non-aero levers pulling unlabelled Shimano cantilevers, and really good Shimano platform pedals. From memory!

By 1988 most of the European stuff had been replaced by Shimano, Deore IIRC. Probably a better thing.

Mine is now running 9-speed Shimergo and absolutely no original parts, and is still a cracking bike. I rode it to work today.

[SteelEdd76]

Sorry to reliven this one, but I'm trying to find out something about my Randonneur (actually, al three of my Raleighs) how does the frame numbering system work? Fr. No. F "backwards C" 5221, Reynolds 708 Tubing, running Deore with 7spd triple STI's, would this be standard? I'm deeply curious as I was given the bike (along with a Raleigh Royal) I know, so many questions.....

[Clipper_2018]

SteelEdd76, the "backward C" is almost certainly a badly stamped zero, giving F05221.

That said, I have failed to find this particular numbering system documented anywhere.

The Raleigh Randonneur was a high-spec version of the Raleigh Royal, of which I have two:

1. (earlier) frame number from the old series starting WA0 (Worksop, Jan 1990)
2. (later) frame number is of the same format as F05221, but starts with "C"

A current Ebay listing indicates Randonneur B12082 to be 1997.

That possibly places F05221 in 2001 based on an assumed year-on-year alphabetic progression. Similarly, my Cxxxxx would be 1998.

Lots of guesswork I'm afraid.

[colin54]

Here's a link to The Veteran Cycle club lists of catalogues, Randonneurs/Royals of various years with their

specifications are shown in the lightweight catalogues.

http://veterancycleclublibrary.org.uk/l ... 2&items=96