I have a 20 1/2" Pro from '74 that I rode all last year. I was surprised at how stable the ride is, I think largely due to the fact that the fork has a lot of rake. It is a very pleasant riding, non-twitchy handling bike that does very well on both smooth and dirt roads. I always thought they were harsh riding bikes as, many years ago, I rode through Quebec with a friend who was on a Mk II Pro and he complained mightily about the harsh ride. I was on a Cinelli Mod. B with sewups and had no such complaints. After finally getting an old Pro, I now think he was just complaining.
The small '74 Pro is very stable at high speeds and it is a solid climber, one of the nicest climbing bikes I have ridden. Like the Paramounts, it appears that all the lug finishing was done after brazing with an air sander, and the fitup of the main tubes in the BB shell is not tight. Still, there's plenty of brass in the joints. Basically, it's an example of the rush work that most companies were doing during the bike boom. A time that coincided with high inflation and significant work action, resulting in some unhappy conditions for a lot of factory workers. The paint is typical of the era, quite pretty, thin and easily scratched, but it stays on and doesn't bubble as noted onthe later bikes. That sounds like a bad surface prep to me.
I have a '74 Paramount P13 and it is also a very nice riding bike, but in different ways than the Pro. Very much like the Cinelli I once had, which is not surprising, since I think it was Dave Staub who was quoted as having said that he understood that the Paramount geometry of that era was derived from that of Cinelli.
The sweetest riding bike I have owned is still my Columbus tubed Marinoni. No contest. Even better than the Masi Gran Criterium I sold to finance it.
Steve Barner, Bolton, Vermont
> Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 04:27:56 EST
> From: RDF1249@aol.com
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: [CR]Re: Retro Raleighs
>
> Brian - Just ride one o the damn things for a couple years and that will
cure
> you. Squirrelliest bike I ever had! Must have had 40mm of trail if that.
I
> rode - er - wiggled an International across the US on Bikecentennial in
1976.
> Later, we used to offer to derake the forks for people who complained
about
> their shimmy. It helped some but not much. I sold Raleighs in the early
80s
> by the way, and the last few years of the Pro had the aforementioned
nearly
> flat crown and no longer had fastback stays. Back in the day my buddies
who
> could afford one had a Paramount. Now I have four of them as you saw last
summer
> and do they ever ride nice! They had steering geometry dialed!
>
> Bob Freeman
> Seattle