Hello Warren,
Welcome aboard! I am also a Raleigh enthusiast - I own 3 Raleigh Competitions, 1 Professional, and 1 original Team Pro. The Team Pro is being restored (new paint job and Campy SR Gruppo), but was originally ridden by Marianne Berglund to the 1984 World Championship! My 11 year old son will use this next year as he tries his hand at Junior racing.
Like you, I am also a MIS person who works for International Paper here in Cincinnati, Ohio. I am a LAN Administrator who also dabbles with high end graphics. In fact, I have produced **exact** copies of complete decal sets (TT, DT, ST, CS, Carleton, Reynolds, Campy) for Raleigh Professional, International, and Competition frame sets that I am currently testing for ease of application and possible future sales to bike enthusiasts. However, I am missing the Super Course top tube decals that would let me finish the 531 series. If you are interested in additional Raleigh pics and specs, check out the following Retro Raleighs URL for info and the following H Lloyd Cycles site for Raleigh decals:
http://www.speakeasy.org/
I am interested in your Team Pro because while mine is original, it has an interesting history. In the 1983-84 season, Raleigh International was cash-strapped with reduced sales in the USA. Huffy approached Raleigh to franchise the Raleigh USA marketing rights because Huffy had good distribution in large chain stores but little sales to small or custom bike shops. As a result, some people claimed that Huffy "bought" credibility in 1983 by purchasing the Raleigh USA marketing rights. My bike and yours are products of that Huffy/Raleigh brief marrage. However, my frame was made completely with Raleigh lug parts by Marinoni in Vermont yet was made with Columbus SL tubing... The irony is that Raleigh heavily advertised the 1984 wins on 531 tubing yet my Raleigh "Columbus" tubing actually completed the majority of that season. Huffy found after several seasons that the Raleigh franchise was not selling as well as they had hoped, so they did not renew the marketing agreement with Raleigh.
Once again, Welcome!
Steve Neago aka Questor1
Warren Tang wrote:
> Hi, I'm new to the list, so as suggested, here's my
> Intro: My current bikes are:
>
> 1) Early to mid-80's Raleigh Team Replica, the top
> tube decal says "Raleigh USA" instead of "Racing USA",
> but it's painted in the Racing USA color scheme (red
> main triangle, black fork and black rear triangle).
> Tubing is double-butted Reynolds 531C. I purchased
> this bike last year from the original owner. It's in
> mint condition and came equipped with a Campy SR group
> with the exception of C-Rec hoods/levers, and hubs.
> The bars and stem are Cinelli, seat is a Concor. It
> has the Raleigh Nottingham headbadge, but I'd like to
> know if it's from the Nottingham factory or the
> Ikeston shop. I have not been able to find out much
> more about these frames except that they were sold as
> framesets only to the public. Ride is very
> nice...smooth, fast, and stable. Based the serial
> number information that I found on Tabula's Retro
> Raleigh web site, my frame would be one of the last to
> come out of Nottingham before the works were sold to
> Derby. I would appreciate any additional information
> about this frame.
>
> To see pictures of this bike, go to the following
> link:
>
> http://www.fototime.com/
>
> 2)Mid to late-80's Nishiki Tri-A, Tange 1 tubes,
> Shimano 600 group, indexed DT shifters. I read the
> recent thread on Nishikis with much interest as I've
> always wondered about the history of Nishiki. I've
> always thought that the frame was very well put
> together. I purchased this bike used about 5 years ago
> when I was looking to get back into serious riding
> after a very long lay-off.
>
> Question: Would either of these bikes rightly be
> considered a "classic" to be discussed on this list?
>
> I was a teenager in the bike-boom 70's. My first
> serious bike was a 1974 Raleigh Supercourse. I begged
> my dad to buy me the Raleigh to replace my Sears 10
> speed. Of course, I really wanted the International,
> or Professional, but we could only afford the
> Supercourse. Having more time than money, I did all my
> own work on the bike, and I was able to completely
> strip down the bike to overhaul everything. The only
> thing that I never learned was how to build a wheel.
> After I scraped together enough money, I had a local
> wheelbuilder build me a set of tubular wheels. He used
> Campy Nuovo Tipo hubs and Mavic rims. I was lucky that
> the Supercourse had extra long reach Weinmann brakes,
> so I was able to fit my new 700c wheels on the bike
> (the stock wheels were 27"). My second bike was one I
> built up myself from a backyard rescue frame. It was a
> mid-range Mercier with unknown tubing material. I
> found a nice Stronglight cotterless racing crankset (a
> 93?), and a nice set of polished Weinmann Carrera
> sidepulls to replace the cottered cranks and Mafac
> centerpulls. I also mounted the tubulars on the
> Mercier occasionally for fun rides.
>
> Last year, I sold my SuperCourse and Mercier. In
> retrospect, maybe I should have at least kept my
> Supercourse, but I just had the urge for a change.
> Incidentally, both of my old bikes had Simplex
> derailleurs, and the plastic shift levers, and they
> worked fine for me for over 25 years with no problems
> or breakage. I'm finally now able to afford the best,
> most modern equipment, but I opted to buy the Raleigh
> Team Replica with the SR components just because it's
> the fullfullment of a childhood dream of owning the
> best (from that era). You see, I've never even had the
> pleasure of test riding a Campy equipped bike.
>
> My latest equipment acquisition is a used tubular
> wheelset consisting of Campy Victory Strada rims with
> C-record low flange hubs. I'm planning to use them on
> the Raleigh just for old times sake :). Oh one more
> thing, I'm using the old Campy SR pedals with toe
> clips just because I can :) When I first started using
> cleats, I had to nail them onto my cycling shoes by
> hand. My Nishiki has Shimano SPD's. I'm okay with
> switching back and forth, it doesn't bother me.
>
> What I want in the future:
>
> 1) Perhaps a "modern" bike with Ergo shifters, 10 spd
> cluster, etc.
> 2) Find a nice vintage frame preferably at a garage
> sale and build it up myself with a nice Campy SR
> group.
>
> What I do when I'm not biking:
>
> I'm Director of Information Systems at a manufacturing
> company headquartered in Redwood City, California. My
> other major sport is Racquetball. My other major hobby
> is photography. I don't consider myself a collector of
> classic bicycles, nor do I consider myself a
> retro-grouch (I'm not a grouch). I just think that the
> older bikes are simply beautiful and perfectly
> functional.
>
> Before I subscribed to this list, I was on the IBOB
> list. I unsubscribed because I did find a lot of
> grouches on that list (no offense to those of you who
> are on both lists). It got to the point where I didn't
> care to read the posts, and I didn't want to post
> anything myself for fear of a rude remark (who needs
> it?).
>
> Thanks for reading, and I wish you all a great riding
> season.
>
> Regards,
>
> Warren Tang
> San Francisco