How much is this one going to fetch?
Just posted on the UK Collectables/Transportation/Bicycles eBay site is a 57cms TEAM RALEIGH 753 frame respendent in the red/yellow/black team colours of Peter Post's all-conquering team. It is NEW.
The provenance is impressive as it comes from the estate of none other than Gerald O'Donovan the top frame guru at Raleigh, and head of the Raleigh Ilkeston Special frame shop. It was Gerald who developed the 753 tubing with the Reynolds technicians. Before going to Raleigh, at the time of the buy-out of Carlton by TI-Raleigh, Gerald and his brother owned and ran Carlton Cycles at Worksop.
The eBay seller, carltonflyer, is a very well-known and respected cycle-trader and former top road racer from the Worksop area, and I think it very likely that he either worked for Carlton or was a close friend of O'Donovan.
I know that the List is not too happy about those composite bonded frames that started appearing from the late 70s onwards, but I am wondering if this eBay seller might be about to offer the only carbon-composite frame that Raleigh ever made. I met up with Gerald in the early 2000 when I was trying to sell him the rights to a new French patent for brazing aluminium frames by the SDS system. He claimed that Raleigh were not really into too many new-fangled things - although he was keenly interested in the SDS frame - and brought out from the back cupboard of his office a carbon-tubed/steel-luugged top-end raod frame that he had developed for the Company back in the late 60s. That would fit into the time scale of the List.
Theauction of the 753 is a 10 day one and has about 9days 20 hors to run. Auction No 2219623334
Happy bidding
Norris Lockley