Reynolds Metals

Ancient Raleigh road bike- safe to ride?

I have an ancient Raleigh 12-speed road bike. I bought it many years ago and even then it was pretty old- if I had to guess, mid-80's at newest and maybe even 70s (the shifters aren't index, for example). I had to do a bit of work on it then, as it appeared to have been pretty heavily used- for example a few spokes actually broke on me so I replaced them all. I myself have used the bike pretty gently. Anyway, someone recently raised the possibility that I should worry about metal fatigue on such an old frame. The frame is a lugged Reynolds chrome-moly steel.

Public Comments

1. No just get a newer one
2. If the frame is Reynolds 531, it is not chro-moly, it is manganese molybdinum. I rode a raleigh Professional from 1973 until 2000, when I crashed it in a race. That's right, I was confidant enough to trust it in a road race after 27 years of heavy use. I am not overly heavy, but I was strong enough to win a national championship time trial on that bike in my age category in 1999. The only reason I am not still riding it was that I ran into another rider who had fallen in front of me in a road race. I bent the downtube, but was still able to ride the bike back to the finish line after the crash.
3. A lugged steel frame can last indefinitely, steel has few issues with fatigue unless abused. As long as there is no significant damage, no more than surface rust and the lugs all look solid use the frame. Your spokes and tires/tubes may need replacing depending on their condition, but in general the bike will be safe a ridable for a long time to come.
4. Steel is a very durable material as long as rust is prevented. It has a near infinite fatigue life in bicycle applications, much longer than aluminum which we don't think twice about now. I would be more worried about rust. I would pull the seat post and the bottom and check out the condition of the steel. Rust will tend to collect in these locations more than others and can tell you a lot about the condition of the frame. A small amount of surface rust is ok, Extensive damage will have to be repaired or the frame scrapped. My father still rides his mid '30's Raleigh 9 speed (3 speed hub with 3 derailer). That alone should tell you how durable protected steel is. It even has the original Brooks saddle, which he refuses to give up!
5. Unless the frame was damaged you will not have a problem. Those old cro-molly lugged frames will last forever.
6. the frame isn;t going to break unless it;s been crashed and fixed badly, or it;s rusted also - steel does not 'fatigue' that's aluminum, after about 10,000,000 'stress cycles' you;d be better off worrying about frayed brake cables that's the most likely safety issue on an old bike wle.