Suntour accushift can present a challenge as they were never high volume and are now orphans.

Well, it's snowing and I'm bored. Just thought I'd offer a little update on this one. I did take it out a couple of times this year. If I'm being honest I really didn't expect to much from this one. But it's first ride came a day after I took out a Merckx Corsa 01 that was also new to me. This Technium was faster over the same route and to be honest, more comfortable. The new build worked flawlessly. I did get this one though with the intention of not keeping it since a 53 cm seat tube is really smaller than I preferred.

Thought it would be an easy sale locally so someone else could really enjoy it since it truly is beautiful in my book. I figured out that I have over $1000 in new and used parts on this baby which is just a stupid amount, LOL! But even after being listed locally all year at less than 1/2 of that amount, no takers.

So it's decision time for me because the bike cave really is overflowing again. One is I keep and enjoy this because it's soooooo beautiful in my book and rides surprisingly nice. Or I could pull off all those good parts and rebuild it with a user quality Shimano 105 groupset I have. Then, just donate it to the Bike Collective also. Heck, I guess I could just strip it down to the frame and donate that also. I just hate parting out any bike much less one so nicely setup as this one. I'd much rather someone enjoy it as it is.

Or I can just wait until spring and see if local sales take back off. I do have some new Conti GP 4000s II 700 x 28 tires I could put on this. There does seem to be plenty of room. Maybe with today's focus on wider road bike tires that would get more interest in it.

I'm used to losing money on all the bikes I sell as I do only sell locally and all these projects are about the fun and experience, not making money. But this one not getting any interest has me scratching my head. Is it really that much of an odd duck that it's not appealing to anyone?


I'm surprised at how comfortable this is with only 23mm tires on the rough chipseal up here.

Not trying to enable you, but do you already have a 'nice to ride but don't care how beat up it gets' bike? Sounds like this could be good for locking up in public areas, that kinda thing.

Well I guess that answers my question about how others view this bike. In my mind this is just way too nice to let be abused. Maybe I'm out of touch with reality....

On target though, were I live is really rural so there's not much of me using a bike that get's locked up except for errands right around the house. For that I use the AZOR as it's too heavy for anyone to run off with and has both a built in frame lock for the rear wheel and a chain I can use with it if I need. It's a pretty practical, goofy beast for errand use.

jamesdak

Hey it's a nice bike, but compared to some of your other roadies?

If you're trying to offload it w/o losing the nice parts while still getting it sold, I'd keep it around until you find a really cheap donor bike. Swap the parts from the donor bike, donate/sell the donor bike frame, and then try to sell the Raleigh at a lower price.

Might takes years for this to all work, however...The right donor, the right buyer, etc.

Did you mention in the ad how it can fit 28mm tires? Seems to be the make it or break it point these days for tapping into a larger group of buyers.

Looks sharp!

If I were you, I’d somehow make room for it in my garage - unless, it isn’t the right size for you but you did mention it being comfortable - so it’s a keeper! 👍

Drinking the Koolaid.....

So I'm still half heatedly trying to sell this locally just to free up space. This morning I decided to finally see if it would fit the GP 5000s 700 x 32 tires I had on hand. Threw 'em in the dryer for 5 minutes and then they went right on the Mavic Open Pro rims with no issues. Overinflated them to 100 lbs just to see if they stretch a bit and to insure they truly clear everything ok. The front has plenty of room all around. The rear is fine under the bridge and calipers but I would not want to go any closer on the chainstays. Although if i remember correctly the stays on this are steel so I guess they could be dimpled a bit. As with all these GP 5000s tires they do measure small. On these rims I'm getting right at 29mm for the width.

Well this one finally sold and in my opinion the guy got a great deal. A couple of weeks ago I had swapped out the new 700 x 32 GP 5000 tires for slightly smaller new 700 x 30 ones. I felt the clearance around the chain stays was just too small. Other than that the bike was as detailed above. Had it listed locally since last year and this was only the second person to come look at it. The first guy had missed my comments about size and it was way too small for him. Last night the guy asked if I could go lower and for once I said no. I had at least $1200 into this one which is stupid money I know. But this was one gorgeous bike in my opinion and I felt happy with how I had it sorted out. That said I had dropped the ad down to $450 on it. The buyer left at first saying he had another to look at before he decided. Then he called back shortly, said he was getting the cash, and would come back by. He gave me $460 and wouldn't take his change. First time I've gotten more than I asked. The buyer was a local bike mechanic and we did put the bike up on my stand so he could check it out. This one was well dialed in and he was happy with it. Good to see another younger guy trying out road biking with one of my builds.


This is how it was sold. I was so close to tearing it down, donating the frame, and saving the parts for another project.

This one had been listed locally for a year or so. I don't know if it was the bike itself or the state of things but I'm not used to one of my rides taking so long to sell.

Now we'll see how the Trek 5200 and 84 Raleigh Racing USA Prestige due, listed both last week. I just have to free up room. The Trek just doesn't connect with me despite how fast it is and the Raleigh was a project buy and really just too small. I may wind up stripping it's Superbe parts off but figured I'd try to get it into another happy owner's hands first.

I know this program. The key is to get your enjoyment out of it along the way which it seems you always do. Let us know how the Prestige fares.