Can someone remind me of a Raleigh with aero tubing?

Supratada

Senior Retro Guru
Feedback
View
Im trying to remember a road bike I had way back in the 80's when I was a teenager. It was Raleigh, black with gold detailing and had flattened tubes, I think the fork blades were oval too, a frame fit pump, black hubs that weren't countersunk in the spoke holes, as I kept breaking drive side spokes as I got older and stronger.

I know ou guys will know it off the top of your head. To me it was the coolest thing ever and I even bought a Campag aero bottle to go with it.
 
Supratada":3ayxfzrc said:
Im trying to remember a road bike I had way back in the 80's when I was a teenager. It was Raleigh, black with gold detailing and had flattened tubes, I think the fork blades were oval too, a frame fit pump, black hubs that weren't countersunk in the spoke holes, as I kept breaking drive side spokes as I got older and stronger.

I know ou guys will know it off the top of your head. To me it was the coolest thing ever and I even bought a Campag aero bottle to go with it.

Dead right - that sounds very much like a Record Sprint to me;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ouij/140145744/

David
 
One of the Record Sprints had 501 ovalised Aero tubing, came with gold Sugino GT cranks and depending on model, gold Weinmann parts

raleigh_record_sprint_1_200.jpg
 
That's the fellow. I was thinking "Record Ace" but searches were not coming up with the black and gold thing of course.

Looking at that frameset reminds me that even back then I was slightly disappointed it had carrier / mudguard mounting eyes even though it was supposed to be a "racer."

It sat in my Dad's garage for ages after I'd left home, until I decided to go and retrieve it, at which point I found two huge aligning dents in the top and downtubes. My mum, dad and brother knew nothing about this and said it must have been me that left it that way. They crumbled under further questioning and admitted that they all knew my brother was carrying a B&D workmate, in his cycling shoes when he skidded on the cleats and dropped it into my bike, almost folding the frame.
He had a very nice Shimano 600 grouped yellow and white 531 Raleigh bike, which he was forced to give me as payment.
Secrets and lies, family intrigue. Ok its not exactly Mike Leigh, but there you go.
 
Oh I'm not saying that, but as a teenage boy it was all about image, especially when other boys had Holdsworths and such like.
 
The Record Sprint was a main factory built frame, built in batches of 100 at a time which were then assembled on a track by a workforce of around 20.

Raleigh Lightweight bikes were hand made in small numbers, around 5 or 10, and individually assembled by hand. There was usually 6-8 assembly staff, who would be given a frameset, a wheelset, a pre-assembled bar set and a box with everything else. They would then complete each one.

SBDU bikes were made to individual order. Hand made frames from either Dave Brown or Preston Dickman. Bikes were Hand assembled usually by Clive Hodgson.
 
Ah, now that rings a bell. My best friend had a deep maroon/burgundy Raleigh, I cannot remember its name, but it was a bit more "tourey" orientated. It had centre pull brakes and was very "classy" looking but I definitely remember it having a hand-assembled nameplate which I'm pretty sure was Dave Brown.
 
Supratada":11tx805m said:
Ah, now that rings a bell. My best friend had a deep maroon/burgundy Raleigh, I cannot remember its name, but it was a bit more "tourey" orientated. It had centre pull brakes and was very "classy" looking but I definitely remember it having a hand-assembled nameplate which I'm pretty sure was Dave Brown.

I don't think it was assembled by Dave Brown. Dave was a frame builder. One of the very best. He worked at SBDU in Ilkeston under Gerald O'Donovan. When that site closed, he moved to Nottingham as SBDU was absorbed into Raleigh Lightweight Division.

I can't remember all the assemblers, but there was Clive Hodgson, John Spray, Kenny ?, Carol, (who also did the bar assemblies), Brenda Heard, (who also made wheels) Neil and Alan ? two brothers who also did the wheels. There were others, but I don't have the names handy.
 
Back
Top