Scored a Great Touring Bike
 

A friend of mine was looking for a touring bike. He asked me about one in particular - a Raleigh Kodiak. It turns out that I had one back in the early 90's. It was an outstanding bike in every catagory except at 24" it was an inch too small for me.

I made the error of lending it to my neice's husband for their honeymoon tour through Europe and never heard from nor saw it again. Well, it really didn't fit me though I'd have preferred it to go to someone that would have used it to death.

Anyway, I ended up buying a really, really nice Atala World Championship Cyclocross bike. It is a 62 cm frame. As a cyclocross bike it is really a terrific bike. The handling is spot on and it feels just right. Although the bike dates from 1990 or so, it is a modern cyclocross bike in most ways. It has a low bottom bracket so that when you put cyclocross tires on the bike it raises to the correct position and doesn't feel top heavy and awkward. But it was a tad too big for me as a cyclocross bike.

So I converted it to a Touring bike when I got my Raleigh Team Cyclocross.

After a medium length tour I discovered the error of touring on a cyclocross bike. Although it looks correct the forks and frame are just the slightest bit too light. The bike gets wobbles. Because it's such a good bike the wobbles don't get out of hand but you can feel them and I'd as soon not.

Anyway, I discovered a 25" Kodiak on Ebay and bought it. I figure that I'll put all the good stuff off of the Atala, sell the frame and fork to a tall cyclocrosser and use the Kodiak.

And goodbye to loaded bike wobbles if this one is anything like my original Kodiak.

I saw that kodiak on ebay.

How tall are you?

6'4" and 200 lbs. 35" inseam. My 24" Kodiak was a bit short on me for sure.

Congratulations cyclintom!

For anybody else who wants one, another large frame, near-pristine Kodiak on eBay:

65 cm c-t (or 63 cm c-c) Raleigh Kodiak

I dont know anything about the Kodiak never heard about it. But my R300 is a truck, just love this bike. Im sure this one you got in Ebay would take you faraway places. Good luck

I'm 6'3.5" with a 34.3 in inseam.

Do you think I could swing that 63cm kodiak?

The seller lists the standover height as 35", so it`d be close. It`s a nice looking older rig so you might want to contact the guy and ask some questions if you`re interested. He`s answered some already and seems pretty helpful.

Are you interested in bidding keytree? If so, I'll back off in the name of BF solidarity. BTW, I asked him yesterday what the top tube length is, but I haven't heard back.

I posted this in another thread...you guys might be interested.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/retroral...5/pages/2.html

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/retroral...985/specs.html

BTW, I'm the original owner of a 23" Kodiak...still have it and I like it a lot.

oh man.
 

Argh!

So I'm trying to figure out if I could fit on this bike as well(6'4" 195, 35.5" inseam using the cram a book into the crotch method).. why didn't ol' Raleigh make a 24 incher? :( I went down to an LBS today and rode around on a 23" trek 520.. I guess trek skipped the 24 inch option as well. They have a 25" though, so I'll probably go down and try that too.. The seller of that Kodiak lives in Grants Pass.. I live in Corvallis. That's only 180 miles or so.. I could definitely go pick the thing up! But why buy a bike if it dernt fit?

I think it will fit you fine. You should have an inch of clearance when you're wearing shoes, which is all you'll need for a touring rig.

No, NeezyDeezy, I wasn`t going to bid on the bike. I was just stating that I thought it would probably fit you, so by all means, bid away on that jewel. And thanx for the consideration, too. If I could, I`d give you one of these:beer:

Anybody here win it?

It went too high, I backed out.

I went for it, yeah. 280$ sounded okay (probably high, but it looks like I won't have to change much on the bike... also, vs 900-1200$ for a new tourer, sounds great! or new wheels on one of my non-touring bikes for ~300$). I'm going to go pick it up tomorrow, will inform further when its in my mitts

Very cool. Yeah, it's defnitely a bargain compared to new, and it's apparently in almost new condition. Keep us up to date, and congratulations!