In a message dated 11/20/2004 8:10:39 PM Eastern Standard Time, kohl57@starpower.net writes:
<< You know it's made of either Reynolds 753 .... or 531. How do you tell the difference? >>
This sort of a cruelty joke, but one way to tell if It's Raleigh Team pro is whether it breaks! Then it's 753... Honestly, I think you are OK but supposedly "there was a bad batch" of tubing in the earliest issue of those, leading to all the ones around here breaking. We talked about this issue here on this list a few eons ago. I had just moved from managing a shop that sold Raleigh's exclusively to owning my own shop, (Toga Bike Shop, later to be named CDO) We opened in 1975. So I think, like you, that 753 was introduced in '75. Of course it could have been like SR and intro=duced but really not available immediately to normal mortals (consumers). There were no 753s sold in Greensboro at the local Raleigh dealership, but I think 3 Team Pro frames got delivered in Winston Salem (where I had worked) and all three broke. So treat it tenderly and don't let any 250 lb big gear pusher borrow it for the weekend!
Dale Brown
Greensboro, NC