Over the weekend I dropped off a couple of bikes for the local PTA bike sale. Lurking in a corner was a red and white Raliegh America early/mid 80's type tri-bike. Regretably it was the right size and the right price, so I didn't do quite the job of clearing the basement that I'd been sent to do.
I'm pretty sure the bike is repainted as there is only the head tube crest and no decals. It is definitely a quality paint job, that set someone back far more than I paid for the bike. The fork and head tube are white, as are the stays. The main triangle is red. Components are Suntour alpha-5000, indexed twelve speed drive train with Sakae cranks and seat pin. Wheels are Maillard hubs with polished 32 hole Rigida rims. The bike has a Scott Tri-bar setup, the swoopy triangular all one piece affair with u-shaped drops. The frame construction is curious. It appears to be lugged, but with a thin raised band about 1/8" wide and 2" or so from each lug on the main tubes. The main tubes themselves sound "dead" when tapped. Checking with a magnet confirms that the headtube, BB, stays and fork are steel, while the main triangle are some other non-magnetic material. This appears to be one of the Technium alloy bonded frame Ralieghs, but I wasn't aware of anyone making a steel/aluminum frame. In reviewing the info on the web, it looks like this may be a Scott Tinley Tri-lite. Does anyone have any ideas?
I rebuilt the hubs and polished the rims. There's a bit of scarring from lack of maintainence, but when cleaned and regreased, they spin well. Judging from the way the bike was set-up, its most recent owner never got very comfortable in an aero position. Can't wait to get it on the road, but the front end is feeling a bit twitchy, I may change out that tri-bar - we'll see......
Sid Smith
Still threatening more rain in Lake Forest, (IL not CA - darn!)