RALEIGH SBDU 753 DYNAFLITE..'Lugged Aero Special'..

Hi,
Picked up this incredibly rare Raleigh SBDU frame last year which had been refurbished in later Panasonic team colours. The frame is 1982 and has aero profile tubing and is of lugged construction. I have never seen an SBDU frame like this before and though a little on the large size for me I decided to build it up anyway and take advantage of the uncongested roads and fine weather . Most of the components I already had with the exception of the later Campagnolo brakes which have a neat oval profile together with the Wolber rims which I think complement the aero profile tubing. The bike is very light and responsive and an absolute joy to ride.

That is a fantastic beast!

Beautiful frameset... my size aswell

Back in my day some aero tubing was DIY. Never knew 753 came as aero? Looks smart though just out of curiosity what's the frame number?

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well done, nice mix of components there.

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Had a blast out on the Raleigh yesterday stopping at a very smart LBS for a photo shoot. The owner politely declined my offer of a swap for the Colnago C60 85th birthday limited edition..you gotta try. :?

Interesting - you say it has been resprayed. Could it actually be Reynolds 531 SpeedStream, which is the only Reynolds aero tubing I know, from that era (with the exception of the Record Sprint with aero 501 frameset, which this isn't)?

Hi guys, thanks for your comments . Raleigh was experimenting building aero or out of round tubed frames probably in 1980. In both the 81 & 82 catalogue a Raleigh Dynaflite frame is showing and appears to be the same photo in both, so is possible the frame was built late 1980. These were built in reprofiled 753 and of soldered lugless construction, though strengthening gussets were added. The seat tube profile went from oval to round to accept a standard seat post. The early version or prototype had a fully oval seat tube a took a modified seat post. My frame dates from the later part of 82 and is very light at under 1700grams, all three main tubes are aero then round into lugs. Speedstream was a heavier tube set and appears to have a round top tube and possibly a heavier plain gauge seat tube. The Dynaflite frame was slow and expensive to build so maybe Raleigh were looking to build an aero frame faster with the possibility that it could be mass produced as we see with the Record, Cadet, Pulsar and Quasar models.

Does it have a frame number, just curious?

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Yes, the SB prefix frame number dates it to late 82.