The links below will take you to the photo pages for my 1983 Rauler and Boots Wards The Higgins. Let me know if you have problems linking to these pages. Boots was my mentor in my early teens and many days and evenings were spent in his basement, along with other club members, learning about bikes, wheel building, roller racing and sharing memories of his earlier years riding and racing. From the first time I saw his The Higgins track bike I fell in love with the 531/The Higgins decal and the fine pin striping on this bike. Hilary Stone had some information the The Higgins marque that he shared with me at the Cirque. Boots has some other rare bikes that I took photos of last year and hope to have pages of up in the coming weeks.
My Rauler is the only known one of its kind in the US and was originally purchased in Germany and then brought over to the US which leads me to believe that these frames with this lugset were not imported into the US. This ornate lugset was used from 1983 to 1987 on a limited number of frames (about 500) of which this in #23 so it would have been built in 1983. Richard Sachs sent me a Rauler brochure from this time period, but it doesnt show this lug set however it does show the fork crown. In trying to gather information on this bike I have found out that Rauler had a working relationship with Colnago that ended in 1985. I dont know whether Rauler built frames for Colnago or the other way around so it is a mystery who built this frame, Rauler or Colnago. Jim Langley suggested that if I went to Inter-bike and took some photos with me and talked to the Colnago folks they might be able to shed some light on this frame. Unfortunately I wont be able to attend, not in the budget for our small shop. If any of you that would be attending that wouldnt mind asking a few questions and showing photos of the bike to those folks it would be greatly appreciated.
http://photos.yahoo.com/
http://photos.yahoo.com/
Anyway, enjoy the photos and looking forward to the next big classic gathering.
Mark Poore
Slatyfork, WV
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