Secondhand Raleigh Junior Rigid MTB: lemon or worth a punt?

[Reynard]

Delivery was pretty quick too, quite impressed with the service from Decathlon

I usually get a lot of my general cycling gubbins from Decathlon, albeit in store. And other stuff too.

 

[Reynard]

Also found here at the same price: https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/gear-spares/shimano-compatible-rear-gear-hanger-bracket/

So I can now decide what colour to go for

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Have done a bit of reading up, and as I suspected, I shall have to replace it, as it's only capable of a) 28 teeth max on rear sprockets and b) 6 speed.

14-28 freewheels form the backbone of my derailleur geared fleet! As a youngster, I remember a couple of kids on sportier and more expensive machinery than my Raleigh, only having something like 14-24's - and IIRC, they were only 5-speed clusters too. So long as you have a decent range of gears at the front, and with an MTB/touring triple of say 48/38/28, you really don't need anything bigger than a 28T on the back, or any more than six sprockets. I even have a couple of 5-speeders and these are OK, although sixes do give nicer spacing. Don't forget also that you are only running 24" wheels, which gives you an advantage when it comes to hill climbing compared to anyone with the same gearsets but running 26" or 27" wheels.

 

[DCBassman]

The Altus is a fine 8-speed RD, using one on my Trek, 9-speed 12-36. Probably the smoothest mech I have, and it was a tip salvage job!

 

[Reynard]

14-28 freewheels form the backbone of my derailleur geared fleet! As a youngster, I remember a couple of kids on sportier and more expensive machinery than my Raleigh, only having something like 14-24's - and IIRC, they were only 5-speed clusters too. So long as you have a decent range of gears at the front, and with an MTB/touring triple of say 48/38/28, you really don't need anything bigger than a 28T on the back, or any more than six sprockets. I even have a couple of 5-speeders and these are OK, although sixes do give nicer spacing. Don't forget also that you are only running 24" wheels, which gives you an advantage when it comes to hill climbing compared to anyone with the same gearsets but running 26" or 27" wheels.

I am a slow cyclist. Any advantage I might get from the 24 inch wheels over someone on a bigger wheeled bike will inevitably be negated by my short little legs. I am the cyclist that *everyone* overtakes.

Plus I'm moving up to 8 speed cassette on the back, so even if I stayed with a 28T maximum sprocket on the rear, the current RD is only capable of working with a maximum of 6 sprockets.

Front is still undecided. I'm yet to do the maths regarding the gearing, but I'll be working on the assumption that I'll be fitting an 11-30. The goal is to get a similar-ish range to my Chartres 26 hybrid. Plus I still have the original 42-32-22 set-up to play with.

 

[Reynard]

The Altus is a fine 8-speed RD, using one on my Trek, 9-speed 12-36. Probably the smoothest mech I have, and it was a tip salvage job!

I have the 9-speed version on my Chartres 26.

 

[DCBassman]

This is the selection I have. Ignore prices, postage only.
A plethora of shifters
Out of these, only the ST-Rs are designed to work with any brakes. They also have the big four-finger levers. If you do decide to go V-brake, then they will all work.

 

[12boy]

Just for fun I ran 22 chainring with 28 rear sprocket through Sheldon's gear inch calculator and came up with 17.3 gear inches. With a 30 teeth sprocket it was 16.I and with a 32 it was 15.1. 0bviously the heart wants what the heart wants, but with gearing that low it would be hard for me to avoid falling over. I was surprised that the sprocket change would have so little effect.

 

[Reynard]

Yay!!! The correct front QR skewer has arrived. And they've said to keep the wrong one they sent. Fabby service from Taylor Wheels.

 

[Reynard]

This is the selection I have. Ignore prices, postage only.
A plethora of shifters
Out of these, only the ST-Rs are designed to work with any brakes. They also have the big four-finger levers. If you do decide to go V-brake, then they will all work.

OK, cheers.

Are those the bottom ones that work with all brake types?

 

[DCLane]

Yay!!! The correct front QR skewer has arrived. And they've said to keep the wrong one they sent. Fabby service from Taylor Wheels.

Unlike PlanetX who've sent me a returns form for the wrong item they sent and let me know they'll ask the warehouse team to see if they can find the correct one.

Taylor Wheels got that the right way round: fix your error first, then get the item back/keep it.

 

[Reynard]

Just for fun I ran 22 chainring with 28 rear sprocket through Sheldon's gear inch calculator and came up with 17.3 gear inches. With a 30 teeth sprocket it was 16.I and with a 32 it was 15.1. 0bviously the heart wants what the heart wants, but with gearing that low it would be hard for me to avoid falling over. I was surprised that the sprocket change would have so little effect.

It's not all about the 22 chainring to be fair.

The goal is to get a nice range of ratios across the whole cassette on the middle ring that work well with the smaller cogs on the big ring and, a touch less critical, the big cogs on the inner ring. (The latter though are very useful on the Hybrid though, when cycling back the five and a half miles from the supermarket with two panniers and a rack bag stuffed full of shopping...)

Every rider is different in their needs. Me, I prefer to spin rather than grind, and will often shift between big and middle chain rings to find that "Goldilocks gear"

 

[Reynard]

Unlike PlanetX who've sent me a returns form for the wrong item they sent and let me know they'll ask the warehouse team to see if they can find the correct one.

Huh?

That's just nuts.

 

[DCLane]

Huh?

That's just nuts.

That was my thought. I'm being passed around customer service as well, which is annoying. They're OK for ordering but I'm finding their returns process infuriating.

Oh, and as you're going for a colour bike this is my son's example which he built last year for fun - this year he built a hillclimbing PlanetX for the hillclimb national in Reading. The Dutch holidaymakers liked it when we were on holiday last year:

You could go red saddle, red grips, red chainrings, red chain, red tyres, red mudguards, red cables, red brake pads with your Raleigh re-build.

Just saying ...

 

[Reynard]

That was my thought. I'm being passed around customer service as well, which is annoying. They're OK for ordering but I'm finding their returns process infuriating.

Oh, and as you're going for a colour bike this is my son's example which he built last year for fun - this year he built a hillclimbing PlanetX for the hillclimb national in Reading:

View attachment 542126

You could go red saddle, red grips, red chainrings, red chain, red tyres, red mudguards, red cables, red brake pads with your Raleigh re-build. Just saying ...

I remember following that orange bike build, as I was kind of intrigued. It's totally bonkers, but utterly brilliant.

But I'm working to a fairly tight budget here, and that would be so very bye bye budget...