opinions on this frame

[stephenjubb]

opinions on this frame, is it suitable for touring,
Reynolds 531 frame

cheers

s jubb

[MLJ]

At a guess, this frame is for Audax or light-weight touring. It does not have enough eyelets for racks and the frame angles seems to be steepish. A good touring frame is unlikely to be steeper than 73 stem and seat angles. Also, there needs to be sufficient clearance for mudguards and 28 or 32 mm tyres. You would need to check on those.

[gaz]

I'm sure I've seen that one on ebay.

If it's the same one then it's listed as 531 with an inferior replacement fork. IIRC Raleigh's only canti-bossed "road" frames were all tourers, Classic, Randonneur and Super Randonneur and all were 531ST. 531ST forks are fairly indestructible, well definetly not sacrificial lambs in a crash. I wonder what happened to them?

[robwa10]

I would venture a guess that the forks are not the originals. The rear brakes are canti and there are no bosses on the forks. You'd need to measure the chainstays and check the angles as said previously. But that will mainly determine how the bike feels loaded. Essentially you can tour on anything, it might just not be comfortable.