My Childhood Dream Bike Build

My Childhood Dream Bike Build

My very first race bike was the Raleigh Team cadet with the aerospace aero 18-23 tubing painted in the iconic Panasonic colours. This was the lowest level model available and was the maximum I could squeeze out of my parents for Christmas. I remember being obsessed with the Raleigh Team Corsa which was the next level up which had Reynolds 501 tubing and the Shimano Gold Arrow groupset which later became better known as the Shimano 105. The first restoration we did on the channel was that exact model and is what got me hooked on restoring bicycles. After investing a lot of my time reading old Raleigh brochures I noticed the frame only section which had the Raleigh Gran Course frame in Reynolds 531c tubing in my favourite colour scheme, the Panasonic team colours. You can imagine my excitement when one came up for sale in immaculate condition, I had to have it. Not knowing exactly how I was going to build the frame up, it sat gathering dust for a while.

For some time now I’d been having some trouble with modern groupset’s with numerous chain snaps. My confidence had completely gone. After riding a retro Italian Rossin bicycle for some time with no issues I decided Id build the Raleigh frame up with the same nine speed Campagnolo groupset.

I set about finding new old stock to complete the build. I used Pete Matthews, the master wheel builder to build not one but two sets of wheels up.

After the build the bike is taken out and put through its paces. This really is one bicycle staying in my collection and will be used regularly. Absolutely made up with this dream road bike build.

Watch as this bicycle is completely rebuilt from start to finish.

Timecodes
0:00 – Intro
0:05 – My childhood dream bike build.
3:57 – Building my dream bicycle.
8:09 – Completed bicycle.
10:20 – Dream bike test ride.

I hope that this video gives you some ideas, help and inspiration in your own bicycle projects. If you are new to the channel then please have a look around, we have many more vintage road bike restorations plus bicycle maintenance videos to help a long the way.

Visit our website for hints, tips and free downloadable vintage bicycle catalogues to give you reference and guidance with your own bicycle restoration.

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Okay there we go! Well very excited indeed to share this build  with you, what is it? Well it’s a Raleigh 531c   Grand course done in these Panasonic colours.  Very beautiful indeed and I’ve had this frame  

For quite some time just didn’t know what it was  going to develop into so let’s talk about what   we’re doing and why we’re doing it. We’re actually  going to be building this up as a Neo Retro build  

My personal bike and the reason being is because  I have had nothing but trouble with my 11-speed   Shimano group set it was actually on two carbon  bikes and over the last 12 months I’ve had four   chain snaps not very nice, regarding actually  going out and having a ride. So my confidence  

Has gone with that 11-speed Shimano and it’s  for me it’s not sustainable at all because   I’m constantly fixing and fiddling with them  bikes recently went out on a nice Rossin bike   with 9-speed Campagnolo and it’s a fantastic  ride I’m now nearly 50 so I’m not breaking  

Any records so what I’m going to do is build my  dream rally bicycle um I say dream because as a   kid I actually started cycling on these colours  on the Raleigh Team Cadet we did actually have  

One of them on the channel which we built into  a single speed some of you may not approve and   we also did the Raleigh Team Corsa which kick  started the channel off and it’s still hanging  

On the wall just there very original indeed and it  had the Golden Arrow on it. So I’ve still got that   but these colours are very personal to me and uh  really happy that I actually got this 531c frame  

Set and yes what are we going to do with it.  Well as I say, I took a bike out the Rossin,   with 9 speed that was fantastic so what we’re  going to do is Campagnolo all the way through  

And we’re going to 9speed. The components are on  the side there just run you through what we’ve   got we’ve got some Mirage front Mech rear Mech  and also the levers like the levers because it   actually had metal bits on rather than plastic.  We’ve also got the crank set which is a Chorus  

Crank set and we’ve also got some fantastic  Campagnolo C record Delta callipers,   however because this is going to be my daily ride  this is is going to be my go-to bicycle what I’ve   decided to do was get some Chorus skeleton brakes  very lightweight work fantastic and uh they are  

Also very adjustable and easy to access unlike  the Delta’s so yes the Deltas do look great but   they’re not as practical for this build so I’m  actually going to go with the skeleton brakes   we’ve also gone with a Richie classic finishing  kit, so we’ve got the seat post the handlebars  

And also the stem we’re actually going up to 31.8  mm bars just to give it that chunkier solid feel   but they’re done in the Chrome to give it that  classic look going to look amazing I can’t wait.  

We’ve also got two sets of rims behind us here  we’ve uh got some brand new old stock Profile   rims and also some Mavic rims and we’ve got some C  record hubs we’re going to be building up with 32  

And also 36 hole rims and we’re going to have our  good friend Pete Matthews Master wheel builder to   actually build them wheels up so not only have we  got him the master wheel build to build our wheels  

We’ve got a great group set to put together and  it’s very personal to myself I can’t wait to get   going so we going to take our time a little  bit of different format we’re straight into   the build here so what are we waiting for  let’s crack on and get building this bike!

[Music] 0:03:59.680,1193:02:47.295 [Music] [Music] 0:06:59.400,1193:02:47.295 [Music] Wow! Well that was an absolute pleasure to  put together and it looks amazing it feels   like Christmas day to have this frame brought to  the modern day it just feels fantastic it really   does bring back a lot of childhood memories and  I can’t wait to get this bike out so hang around  

For that going through the build itself got  obviously the Campagnolo 9-speed Mirage rear   Mech here on brand new wheels kindly built  by Pete Matthews cannot fault his standards   so yes we’ve got the wheel set which on here  this Mavic set with the Vittoria Courser 25  

Mm tyres and we’ve also got another set here  of wheels which are the profile ones with the   actual we’ got some black ties on here which are  Continental G5000 25 mm again so we’ve actually   got them on and a brand new cassette as well to  roll on. The Crankset well that looks amazing  

It’s 10-speed but it goes very well with this  nine-speed no problems or issues at all with that,   and the callipers they work fantastic and  look very classic indeed uh we’ve got the   Richie finishing kit with the brand new roll  saddle that looks very nice indeed and we’ve  

Got saddle bag on there as well reason being we  don’t actually have another water bottle cage   on here so I’m going to have the spare tube and  stuff in there and it looks great we’ve got the  

31.8 mm bars but it looks very classic indeed all  new old stock gear so this bike should ride like   brand new I can’t wait um the water bottle yes  we have one here and obviously it’s in keeping  

And matching as well so it’s actually a Panasonic  one so yes let’s get this in and finish it off. Brilliant well all that’s left to do now is  get this bike out and try it out I do have  

Some matching kit here to get ready in we’ve  got some winter stuff so I’ll be probably wear   using the actual black tires on this but yes  let’s get it out and try it out I cannot wait. Well this has been the rally 531c in Panasonic  colours absolute childhood dream bike and I am   absolutely loving it been fantastic to get out  on such a winter’s day grab a few hours of sun   this is one bike though I will be using in the  summer so very excited about that I’ve changed  

The handlebar stem to a 100mm which feels a  lot better than the 130 which was definitely   too long. Big thank you to Pete Matthews  for all his help is an absolute Legend so   yes very happy indeed it’s like Christmas  day to be honest it’s put a massive smile  

On my face big thank you to you guys for  all your support and for watching and uh   just hope that you’re all okay thanks  so much for watching and bye for now How’s the ride so far Andrew? I’m loving the bike  

He’s loving the bike he’s loving the  bike it’s like Christmas day all over