753R is a heavier-gauge version of the 753 tubeset. The early 753 tubesets (as early 1975 or so) used the higher tensile strength material (compared to 531) to "get away with" thinner and lighter tubes. Supposedly those bikes were just too flexy, since stiffness doesn't really change with the alloy, only with tube dimensions. 753R was introd. as a stiffer tubeset that was suitable for general use race bikes, rather than ultra-light specialty bikes.
As for the Team Panasonic Raleigh being 1981, I'm not so sure about that. Wasn't the Raleigh team still on the red/yellow/black bikes in 1981? I think the switch to Panasonic was around 1983. But hey, I've been wrong before. Some of the coolest bikes ever, in any case!
Anyway, I have no knowledge of the "R" designation as it applies to 531, just the 753.
Tom Dalton
> I asked this same question some time ago about a
> Raleigh 753R team frame I
> have. I know that both 753 and 531 tubing (both
> being manganese-molybdenum,
> 753 being heat treated) came in different gauges,
> but there's not much
> definitive information on the variations and their
> corresponding
> designations. I understood that 531C was thinner
> walled tubing. Is R
> thinner yet? The R designation only seems to show
> up on "real" racing
> frames.
>
> Anyone have any more detailed information on the
> various designations?
>
> Wayne Bingham
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: KCTOMMY [mailto:KCTOMMY@email.msn.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 2:22 AM
> To: classicrendezvous
> Subject: [CR]531 R?
>
>
> I'm looking at an alleged 1981 Raleigh/Panasonic
> racing frame, made from
> Reynolds 531R db. I've heard of 531, 531 SL, 531C,
> 531 ST, but what is
> 531R? Ccould it have been used in a 1981 bike?
> Would it work well on a 60
> cm frame? Thanks
>
> Tom Adams, Kansas City
>
>
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