That makes sense - especially on a large (62 cm, right?) frameset. I assume the tubing decal (transfer) is long gone...? I would further guess that (if it's 753) the gauge of the tubing was upped one notch from "standard," as most Team 753s with Metric tubing take a 26.8 post. The 753 fork on my 60 cm one oscillates pretty significantly front-to-rear under hard braking. I can see how G.O.D. might have spec'ed a 531 fork on a 753 frame that large. With the S/N that low, I'd also bet that almost every frameset was different in some way, at that point in the process.... In 1979, when I was at TI-Raleigh Midwest, we saw them come through ten at a time for Mike Fatka's team in Ames, Iowa. I even saw orders for lighter-gauge "time trial" 753 framesets! Now that was cool.... The official catalog for the (late 1970s) Team framesets showed a max. size of 60 c-t, BTW. Greg Parker Ann Arbor, Michigan Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 19:24:14 -0400 From: "Eric Elman" <tr4play@cox.net> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Subject: Re: [CR]More relevant Team Raleigh Info?
Hi Mike,
Nice find, and at a pawn shop of all places.
My guess is that it the frame is 753 and the fork is 531 as the Ilkeston shop and G. O'Donovan would still have been in the early stages of pioneering the use of 753. Seems logical to me (being in manufacturing) that during such a phase, they may have numerous reasons to stick with 531 for the forks; even as simple as wanting to maintain the "look" that the public was accustomed to at that time, ie. full chromed forks.
Eric Elman
Somers, CT
> Hi folks,
> A friend yesterday bought a Team Raleigh SB159 at a pawn shop. It sounds
> a lot like the one that was discussed a few days back, and it has a chrome
> fork.
> The question is that it has a 26.6 seatpost which from past posts leaves
> me to believe its an early 753 frame with metric tubing. But team's with
> 753 according to a post a few days ago should not have been available with
> chrome.
> So - this one seems like the one on ebay which was claimed to have 753.
> Does this also sound like a 753 bike but perhaps Raleigh made some with
> chrome 531 forks? Or did they do the evil chrome deed on 753 anyway? What
> else would explain the 26.6 seatpost? It is a large frame (marked 62 I
> think) but that would explain a 27.0 or perhaps a 26.8 post, not a 26.6.
> Any input would be appreciated. If my question was answered previously I
> appologize as its been hard to keep up with all the posts out there.
> Thanks gang!
> Mike Kone in Boulder CO