Re: [CR]..was Phillips True Temper..NOW Flying the Flag for Raleigh

(Example: History)

From: "P.C. Kohler" <kohl57@starpower.net>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
References: <002701c3e860$44a1e170$220b7ad5@oemcomputer>
Subject: Re: [CR]..was Phillips True Temper..NOW Flying the Flag for Raleigh
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 21:09:33 -0500


"Well a day that started pretty badly has just got even worse. Merde!

How was a Yorkshireman to know that over there in the States there's an outpost of the Raleigh Appreciation Society,"

Norris.....

Ah.... but please do consider the fact that Raleigh, singlehandedly, gave we Americans our first real bicycles and saved cycling in this country from pipe-iron, balloon-tyred, bendy crank, "coaster bikes"!! We are forever emancipated from them. And forever indebted to Raleigh for it.

American GIs, especially airmen, came from England after the war and simply demanded the kind of "lightweight" bikes they used on airbases. Is a Raleigh Sports a "lightweight".. you bet, if you were used to a 1940 Columbia or Schwinn. Hence Americans still call them "English Racers". What do we know?

And many of us were raised on "English Racers".. Raleighs, Phillips, even Hercules tackily branded "AMF". They just resonate with some of us more than any fancy "handmade" Hetchens or Claud Butler. And no one... no one ever even heard of Italian or French bikes. No one. If anything, Raleigh did more to popularise Campagnolo components than any single company when they extensively used them starting in the early '60s.

Raleigh is often criticised for "dumbing down" some of the brands they absorbed. Fair enough. Heck look what happened to Sunbeam in the end.. kiddie bikes! But they kept the British cycle industry thriving long after others had given up. And yes, some of us, still think Raleigh made a jolly nice lightweight bike. I'll still match an early '50s Clubman or Lenton with anything in a "popular price" range made then. And surely the RRA was a worthy mount? If it was good enough for Reg Harris...

And yes.... the Professional, International, Competition and Gran Prix et. al. remain icons of the '70s Bike Boom. Sorry, I may be a phillistine, but I never even heard of a Masi in 1973 when as a 15 year old I lusted after an International in "champagne". My dad collected Alfa Romeos... I sure wasn't going to ride some Italian bike!

So yes the Heron will still have her champions at least on this side of the Atlantic. Even if it's now "gracing", of all things, Chinese-made, Raleigh-badged...... replicas of 1940s American coaster bikes. It's enough to make you weep...

Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA