robertofergy

...and the bikes its attached to.

I couldnt afford the asking price(you dont want to know) so I traded him for a mountain bike.

I was told these were given to the Manitoba Provincial Team and this is how they were outfitted. The serial number is wp500181 which I was told was Nov 1985. A sticker at the bottom of the seat tube says it was made in england. From what the Headbadge tells me W=Worksop + Nottingham. I guess I didnt take enough pictures because im not sure if you can see where it says 'Prestige' on the top tube, the RALEIGH USA part is a little easier to see.

robertofergy

robertofergy

kuso

Finally some good pictures of this thing. Looks awesome. When can I take it for a ride?

robertofergy

When you come by to pick up some parts you can take it for a cruise. I havent checked for the italian headset yet, but I will...

rivas7200

Wow what an awesome bike. Very clean and that jacket is way cool.

realestvin7

Pretty cool.

cudak888 

A 1986 (it's an early one - this color scheme was new for '86) Prestige - very, very nice. As kuso mentions, probably the first high-resolution photos posted online of this rather unusual machine.

I've seen one in the past, though it was equipped with a Cilo fork.

-Kurt

robertofergy

86?! Me too! Ill just have to be more careful when I describe it to people as old, because im not old.

robertofergy

Does anyone have any saddle and bar tape suggestions?

lostarchitect 

If I had this bike I'd put a brooks swallow and leather bar tape on it, but I am a weird person.

Also, I say that about almost every bike.

robertofergy

yeah, thats not a bad idea.

MrEss

That's gorgeous!

The use of Record hubs and Dia-Compe branded brakes (instead of the similar SunTour-branded ones) is pretty great, IMO. Makes it look like the spec was decided by performance or performance/price ratio rather than just marketing agreements.

sauze

Count me as another person grateful to see some close up pics of this bike, it's been up for sale for FAR too long. After this week I'll FINALLY have my Eddy Merckx up and riding. Mini Winnipeg group ride ?

GrayJay

The hubs are not record, they likely were later 1987 onward Athena or Chorus. Racers eagerly change out wheelsets to make a racing bike faster without much regard to originality of the bike, particularly since OEM wheels are often one of the areas that large manufacturers look to cut cost.
Raleigh USA (and Specialized) seemed to often spec less expensive dia-comp brakesets in the early 80's rather than using grouppo brakes to match the drivetrain, probably done mostly to make the bike for cost competitive without much (if any) degredation in actual performance.

cudak888 

I'm not sure if those Dia-Compes were necessarily an issue of price. The extremely short reach of the AGC 300-style brakes required that the fork blades on these bikes be cut shorter than on comparable framesets (not to mention that the rear brake bridge was lowered to match as well). I dare say that might have jacked up the frame unit price right there.

-Kurt

Bianchigirll 

beautiful bike.



what is the sawsall for? planning a little drewing?

robertofergy

Id be down for a ride some time, id also be down to see some pics(or see in person) of that Merckx.

robertofergy

Oh you got me!

I was next going to post this bike up in the fixie forum, once I clean it up a bit.

GrayJay

I have a set of AGC300 that I have swapped onto a couple of different standard (un-Specialized?) frames and never had trouble with the reach of the brakes. The AGC min reach of 37mm/43mm max is only 2mm less than the 39mm minimum reach setting for contemporary Dura-Ace or Superbee brakesets. Ide agree that the AGC300 brakes didnt have much range of adjustment via the eccentric pad mounts system they employeed and they did not have nearly as much max reach as others.
I doubt that raleigh/specialized would have trimmed the OEM forks so short as to only work at the absolute minimum AGC300 caliper reach setting, precluding the possible use of other brakes and restricting the clearance for tire much larger than 21mm. In any case, it looks like the RGC400 brakes on this bike have the pads set closer to their 49mm maximum reach setting, no shortened fork here. Pretty much all raw forkblades are made to be trimmed to correct length when the fork is brazed together so no real cost differential to make them shorter in the first place even if it were needed.
I was a poor college student back in the 80's when I pieced together my first real race bike from a mis-matched set of new and used parts. I remember I used a new DC-RGC brakeset on that bike because it was so much cheaper than the comparable quality shimano/suntour offerings.

robertofergy

yeah, I don't think the wheelset is original to when the rest of the bike was built up. The previous owner mentioned the wheelset was built up by a wheel builder in Calgary.

Gary Fountain

It's one of those bikes that seem to make you smile when you see it. I reckon the smile would be even wider when you were riding it though.

cudak888 

They did on the Competition and Super Course - I could hardly get the pads high enough with a short-reach Campagnolo Victory caliper on my '84 SC, which has a minimum reach of 39mm (the deep rims helped):



I believe the Grand Prix had a longer fork than the SC or Comp, but I'd have to dig one up to measure it.

-Kurt

frantik

i'm glad someone decided to get serious

KonAaron Snake 

Well done Robert!