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@sloe
I picked up this Raleigh Randonneur before Christmas and have been planning to get it built up for quite some time. The plan is to restore it back to a classic randonneur with some modern(-ish) upgrades. I'm kinda over the whole 26" retro mtb thing now, having restored 3 or 4 over the last few years. They are super fun and I will keep one of them for sure, but I want something a bit faster for riding longer distances on the EuroVelo network in Southwest France, that's capable of carrying some luggage and comfortable on multi-day rides. The Randonneur seemed to fit the bill well and it should just be a straight swap using most of the parts I had on my Muddy Fox Courier Comp.
The frame is in pretty good condition considering its age, and it looks like a previous owner treated a bit of the surface rust. No decals but you can tell from the spare spoke holders that it is indeed a Randonneur. The serial number suggests it was made in Worksop in 1987, so the bike is older than me. A real classic British touring bike.
Here's how it looked when I picked it up. I test fitted some 38mm Gravelkings that were on my Dad's Dawes to see what I could work with in terms of new tyres. Cleared the 38 in the front but toe overlap may be an issue, no chance in the back. Looking at the original build specs these were designed around a 28mm tyre. I'll probably run a 35mm up front and see if that fits in the back, if not I'll go with a 32mm. I spent a lot of time researching similar Raleigh builds, so I should mention @thebikefelix 's Royal and @Oddo 's awesome 650b conversion.
Since moving to France I've been itching to get riding but at the same time wanted to take it slow and enjoy the process, documenting everything as best I can. I managed to work on it all this weekend and thought I would get a thread rolling retrospectively. I really enjoy reading this current projects section so here is my attempt to add something to the forum.
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