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Old 02-17-14, 07:45 PM
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JCapirote
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Originally Posted by horrocks44
Hello all,

Fishing for a frame review of an early 80's Raleigh Road Ace with 531C tubing. Were these frames any good? What were they best for, racing or touring?

Many thanks
Did you ever find one of these?
I bought one in 1987, my first 'decent' racing bike, got it almost half price, trade money in fact.
Fitted the shimano 600 seat post too this was adjustable without undoing the seat, also replace the cheap handlebars with Cinelli bars and had to change the shimano 600 stem too as cinelli bars only fitted a cinelli stem those days. also had a pair of the campagnolo aero water bottles I fittted!
The bike was built to very tight tolerances therefore the wheels were too close to the frame to fit mudguards, but this also made sure it was a very tight ride, I upgraded the wheels along the way too the raleigh supplied ones were real rubbish, Mavic rims on a set of Dura Ace hubs, tubular tyres. this made it roll easier and also far stronger rims too, could hit the rough roads without fear of the wheels collapsing!
the one problem it did have was the frame geometry, it sat you too tall, too upright I suppose on the larger frame sizes. all in all tough a good bike, heavy by todays standards but back then very light.
Have a great day
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