Raleigh Milk Race Racer info wanted

I have aquired a Raleigh Milk Race racing cycle that i am keen to find some info on.

I would say it was built mid 80's and the frame is Raleigh own high tensile 18-23 tubing. After looking on this forum and google it has not thrown that much info up.

Any info would be appreciated..

1 Attachment

Nice looking frame, but real heavy tubing.

it's pretty much a run-of-the-mill bike, nothing special but that shouldn't deterred you from enjoying it, it's a good place to start if you're doing a conversion, especially to see if you like this fixed gear/singlespeed lark.

my other advice is to simply try not to spend too much on it!

I just finished converting one as a beater - its not bad at all, and really not that heavy once you've stripped all the stuff off it.

word of warning though; the drive-side rear dropout is deceptively short. As in, there's not alot of room to pull back the wheel / tension the chain. Weirdly there's loads of room on the non-drive side dropout... I dunno why they put 2 different length dropouts on them.
So look into magic gear ratios; or half link chains (how i did mine).

ah the funky raleigh dropout situation. drill it out, file it down.

I picked it up out of a skip so it has cost me nowt so far. I think I may keep it as a geared bike and just put on some straight bars and give it a general tidy up.

I didn't know Raleigh did a milk race model. Any idea on date?

Yep drill it out, file it down, if your going to turn it into a fixed. Thats what I did in the end, saves all the half link trouble.
Built my one up about a year ago and it's been good to me, its a bit heavy but not to bad.
Really wouldn't blame you for keeping it geared could look nice after a bit of a tidy up. I tried to find a bit out about it as well and failed. Always wanted to know a bit more..
Great for a skip find!

I picked it up out of a skip so it has cost me nowt so far. I think I may keep it as a geared bike and just put on some straight bars and give it a general tidy up.

I didn't know Raleigh did a milk race model. Any idea on date?

'86/'87 ish. My brother had one and loved it.

'86/'87 ish. My brother had one and loved it.

Got to be earlier than that, my memory (which is becoming dulled with age) says that by '86 it was no longer the Milk race, and had become the (Kellogs?) Tour of Britain.
I'd put it at late '70s

Oops, completely wrong;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_of_Britain

Got to be earlier than that, my memory (which is becoming dulled with age) says that by '86 it was no longer the Milk race, and had become the (Kellogs?) Tour of Britain.
I'd put it at late '70s

It was new when he got it and he can't remember if it was 86/87 (phoned parents to check). Dads extensive photo archive says christmas 86. It was all Super Burners (Spits) and Mongoose before that.

I cleaned up a little Raleigh Milk Race for my girlfriend last year.
Pretty sturdy frame tho quite heavy. I dont really have any useful information.
The drops on hers are fine (both long/the same size) in not sure if this was an earlier or later model.

You could make it nice but any bike with a plastic dish on the rear cogs has to have been sold as a run of the mill bike.

That's really clean looking... though watch out for those little cable tabs on the toptube; on mine (dunno about others) they are really cheaply forged/stamped and are really sharp.
totally fucked a new pair of jeans on them the other week... my boy duct tape is now holding down the situation... (on both jeans and toptube)

my pub bike is a old cheap ral too. those cable tabs fall straight off if you give them a bit of encouragement....

I am looking at buying a Milk Race on Friday seems abit of a bargin at £25 just looking for some adviceon converting if anyone can help. First atempt at a fixed gear so all help would be greatly appriciated.

Hard to go wrong for £25!

Check Sheldon Brown, he covers the problems you'll encounter and his cribsheets are useful references.

The actual building of a bike is pretty straightforward, what will catch you out are the different standards & sizes of parts and their compatibility.

Search the Current Projects sub-forum for terms such as "conversion" or "first" etc: you'll find plenty of threads that cover what you're doing.

You can also start your own thread to document the build and ask specific questions.

Now £800 in todays money.

WTF?

This popped-up at the top of my feed, showing an unread post.

I don't have anyone on ignore, so it's not that.

Twas bumped by a member who was banned early this afternoon.

Ah...