I apologize if my post was confusing..... I should have said "753 Team Pros were only available as framesets from Raleigh, not complete bikes."
1) Early (531-only, with some chrome plating, sloping fork crown) Team Pro framesets were built at Ilkeston by the Special Bicycle Development Unit. SB was created in 1974. SB developed, tested and introduced 753 tubing. (I'm not sure what year that happened).
2) Early Team Pros were 531-only, full-bikes only, Team colors only. A catalog item.
3) Later Team Pros were framesets only, 531 or 753, no chrome, often custom ordered. Most people that have a Team Pro now, have one of these. They came in three color schemes - "Team" red/black/yellow, Midnight blue w/black, and a somewhat odd gold color. I have a blue & black one. (I got that color scheme because I thought the "Team" colors looked too much like a Raleigh Record, the lowest bike in the line at the time...).
4) To my knowledge, all of the Team Pro framesets (early and late) were built at SB in Ilkeston.
5) Raleigh apparently marketed (outside the US) Team Pro "lookalike" frames that are all 531 models, and may or may not have been made at SB (my guess is that they were never made there).
Cheers and Guinness,
Greg "TP" Parker
Ann Arbor, Michigan
> I am thoroughly confused.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Would that someone, anyone, would contribute a concise and authoratitive
\r?\n> history of the Raleigh Team Professional! Either to the CR website or
\r?\n> RetroRaleighs! I have done a thorough review of the CR List archives and
\r?\n> whilst there has been a lot posted on the subject, it's more minutia than
\r?\n> an overall sense of the model's history and development.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> From what I've gleaned, the Ilkeston Special Build Unit was started in 1974
\r?\n> and assumed all of the special custom frame making production formally done
\r?\n> at Worksop by Carlton under Gerald Donovan. Recall that Raleigh acquired
\r?\n> Carlton in '61 and marketed lightweights in the UK as Carltons and as
\r?\n> Raleighs in the US (with the Carlton name as well). What came out of
\r?\n> Ilkeston was 100 per cent Raleigh for both the UK and export with Donovan
\r?\n> heading the new unit.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I believe the TI Raleigh Team started in what 1972?? This took over from
\r?\n> the Carlton team I believe. Previous postings by Richard Sachs prove that
\r?\n> they were racing TI Raleigh Pros at the time which I assume were initially
\r?\n> built at Worksop. Yellow rather than black headtubes as I recall. Fastback
\r?\n> stays.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> The pioneering use of Reynolds 753 begin, I think, in late 1974, early '75.
\r?\n> It's been my understanding that henceforth only 753 was used for
\r?\n> Ilkeston-made frames and that this was a frame only production either for
\r?\n> the Team or special orders. I've also been told that "real" team bikes
\r?\n> often lacked the Reynolds frame transfers. All Ilkeston-made frames had
\r?\n> "SB" prefixed serial numbers and that true team bikes made for specific
\r?\n> riders were also so indicated on the bottom bracket. I think TI Team
\r?\n> machines were all Super Record fitted. 3TTT stems and bars until the late
\r?\n> '70s and then Cinelli.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Now, the North American catalogues list "Raleigh Team Professionals". But
\r?\n> were these ever built at Ilkeston?? Or were they the Worksop made Team Pros
\r?\n> that prompted Eric Elman's original query? None of the catalogues c.
\r?\n> 1973-75 show anything but Reynolds 531 frames with no mention of 753. Then
\r?\n> the model disappears. Did this coincide with the move to 753 frame sets
\r?\n> only from Ilkeston? Were these Worksop Team Pros essentially then
\r?\n> Professionals with SR rather than NR components and the team livery??
\r?\n> Whereas the Ilkeston-made 753 frames were rather more special. And lots
\r?\n> more money.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> This was certainly the case in the early 1980s when Raleigh Team Pro
\r?\n> framesets were in the catalogue. I believe in 1983 Cycling Magazine
\r?\n> (UK)nominated the machine as its top bike of the year.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Anyway, I am sure there are folks here who know more and better than I.
\r?\n> With the indulgence of people who couldn't give a toss about these
\r?\n> machines, a few more exchanges might yield an outline of the real story and
\r?\n> something that can be cobbled together into a useful and accurate history.
\r?\n> So someone tell me I am full of crap and set the story straight once and
\r?\n> for all. Please.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Peter Kohler
\r?\n> Washington DC USA
\r?\n>
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