Raleigh Royal(e)/Randonneur appreciation

(Now in the right forum)

It's time we had a thread to share examples of this undisputed classic of British touring bikes. Original spec, modernised, FG/SS conversions, whatever turns your pedals.

I'll kick it off with a photo of mine a few years back, apologies for the NDS photo, better ones to follow. This was my commuter for a couple of years, but it's more at home out on the lanes.

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I picked up my Raleigh Royale as a rusty commuter 2 years back with the plan to build it into a Crust like towpath ripper. Winston Vaz converted it to 650B for me. It currently is in parts but attached is the most recent build.
P.S.: I feel like @spotter and @thebikefelix have beautiful Raleighs to contribute.

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Oooh! Lots of loveliness there. How does it handle as a 650b?

It's great! I just can't decide whether I want to keep it flat bar or go back to drops.

Makes me want to convert mine to 650B too @Oddo! What tyres size did you get on this build?

Here is mine, very nice ride you can see more pics and specs on my website:
https://www.pierrefelixso.com/work/raleigh-royal-custom-build/

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Super clean and nice. What's the fork?

Ratty Touriste allowed?

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@thebikefelix these are 47mm Teravail Cannonballs but they measure slightly narrower. About 44-45mm. The reason why mine is currently in bits is that I want a new paint job for it. I didn't get one after the changes to the frame and the protective rattle can layer is coming off...

@kvragu I was lucky and found them on ebay. A frame builder sold some forks gathering dust. So these are new forks with the canti studs in the right place and similar a-c measurements as the original forks.

A bit more of the story of the bike build is documented here: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/358195/

Oh I know your thread, read most of it a while ago, didn't connect the pic. Love your projects.

I saw someone suggest a Raleigh Royal appreciation thread and I thought; "What a good idea" and did nothing about it. Nice to see it come to fruition.
The Royal seems to be rather undervalued for a handbuilt frame in full Reynolds 531ST. Prices have yet to start climbing the way Randonneurs have.

I have had a few Royals, Randonneurs and an 8807. I thought the Royal was the same as the Randonneur but without the spoke holder on the chainstay. However, the Randonneur and 8807 takes a 27.0 seatpost, while the canti-braked Royals take a 27.2.
Lots of internet searching has done nothing to explain this. I have seen it suggested that Reynolds 531ST frames take a 27.2 if they are silver soldered and a 27.0 if they are brazed. Even if this is true, why would Raleigh use silver solder for the Royal and braze for the Randonneur?
Kuromori's page on Reynolds 531 (which goes into exhaustive detail) shows the earlier Special Tourist tubing as just having a thicker downtube, while the Super Tourist used on the Royal and Randonneur having thicker walls on all the main triangle. So, does the Royal have a thinner walled seat tube and possibly top tube? I can't even compare the ride of the two because I have never owned them at the same time.

Thanks!

I have owned a Royal:

and now I own a Classic:

The Royal seems to be rather undervalued for a handbuilt frame in full Reynolds 531ST

As far as I know the Royal from the early 80s is 531 (standard, I don't know when ST was introduced) on the main tubes and forks only, the stays are hi-ten.

Image and specs

Welll I guess now I'm scanning ebay for a new frame, thanks a lot.

What is the difference between the royale and the classic? I think I prefer the royale between your 2 :p

Nothing major, possibly tubing obviously paint, as far as I can tell - The classic came with nicer parts when new, and a full set of racks.

The Royal was my main bike at the time, and the Classic is now my lock up bike - its a bit more scruffy.

I have a very lightly modernised 90s 531 edition that I'm lucky enough to keep at my partner's parents. Performs perfect underbike gravel duties. My partner liked it so much we built a 708 for her.

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Here's my Record Ace.

531c tubing. Came stock but swapped lots of bits. Borg22 tubeless dyno wheels, deore RD, more sensible @jontea inspired gearing. Spa Nidd saddle.
Need to fit shiny Honjo mudguards and take some decent photos. I know the guards will take hours so I've been putting it off.
Would like to eventually get nicer pedals and a VO removable faceplace stem so I can fit better shaped bars

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I like it on that picture :) the bag adds character!

@philphillyphilip looking good!

@SkipTown veyr very cool build! What gear ratio do you have on this build?

Thanks @thebikefelix had yours in a folder of inspiration builds.

Its 32-11 in the back 48-33 front.

Glad I inspired you for your tasty build :)

How do you find the 48/33 on the front? I currently run 48/28 but I rarely use the higher gear (48-11 etc) so I was considering dropping to 46-26.

This is great. The dude even looks a little bit like you :D

EDIT:
Scratch this. Replied to the wrong message. I meant looking like @spotter

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ha yeah, bit more stylisly dressed though!

Finally got a decent photo of my Royal. Not too many original parts remaining after I upgraded it, but the gears are more or less as sold. Not using it too much at the moment, but it's nice for a relaxed spin out. Thinking about fitting it with a triple to make it even more so.

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Excellent bikes and excellent thread. I one day hope to pick one up.

Lovely, these champagne mudguards look great with that frame color