The Raleighs with the 555 tubing were made in the early 1980s in Taiwan; they had many components that were private-labeled SR and Suntour. There were a few models in the years immediately before it that were Japanese made with Reynolds tubing and Suntour; one of these had a frame made with the same tubing, shell, lugs, as the UK-built Competition GS differences being that the Japanese frames used Suntour dropouts instead of Campag, were straighter, and parts fit to them better. The bikes with the 555 tubing were the first sold by the US based company that for a time was owned by Huffy or, at least, Huffy owned the rights to sell bikes with the name Raleigh on them. Kind of an inversion of the old Huffy/Carlton thing! The line had a high-end Reynolds 753 Euro equipped model whose frame was allegedly made by Dave Tesch. Much freaky equipment; Modolo Kronos brakes, Huret Jubilee "derailleurs," and the Ofmega Mistral crankset was on this bike.
David Feldman
Vancouver WA
Actually the Raleigh I have is 531-C with Suntour Superbe Pro, Cinelli, and Campy, with a little high end Dia Compe thrown in for good measure. The bike I spotted, chained to a fence is Raleigh 555 SL with Ofomega, Dia Compe and Suntour Superbe Pro. I consider the Japanese version to contain equipment of just one half step lower than my 531-C version. By no means is this Japanese version a cheap low end rip off. That is just the point; If the price point is going to be high end anyway, why use Tange tubing made to look like Reynolds? Tange is respectable in it's own right when its double butted and not cheap either. Why would Raleigh have bothered to dress up Tange to look like Reynolds when Reynolds was just as available and probably very little cheaper? Garth Libre in Surfside Fl.
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