In a message dated 11/30/2001 1:45:20 PM Eastern Standard Time, jcole@memphis.edu writes:
> Sorry, but I haven't followed this thread too closely and guess it is
> about the Raleigh Competition on ebay. We sold a few of these at the
> Raleigh shop I worked at during the early 1980's. As I remember, this
> was at the transition period when British made Raleighs were not going
> to be exported to the U.S. market any longer and "Raleigh U.S.A." was
> being formed. These Competitions were made of Reynolds 531 and
> outfitted with Campy GS parts just like the previous few years, but
> suddenly had Japanese rims, brakes, bar & stem. That should be a "made
> in Japan" sticker that is hard to make out in the photo. I was told at
> the time the tubes were sent to Japan and the frames built there. I
> don't think they would have shipped frames built in England to Japan to
> be assembled then shipped back to the States.
That all makes sense. I wouldn't be surprised if high tariffs were involved when importing assembled frames into Japan vs bulk tubing. Wish I'd been paying more attention back then!
Pete Geurds
Douglassville, PA