Dating Raleighs from Ilkeston is proving a hot topic. Ilkeston started in 1974 and got under way in 1975. The factory was previously owned by Rolls Royce at Derby, and Gerald O'Donovan moved down from Ilkeston the set up the unit.
Ilkeston turned out approx 700 frames a year and the SB prefix of the frame number stood for "Special Bicycle". The unit was known as Special Bicycle Development Department which was printed on a small decal on the left hand chainstay, hence the SB prefix to the frame numbers. It employed approx 12 craftsmen handbuilding the frames.
The deep blue framesets which should have a black head tube and seat panel and a Raleigh self adhesive decal as opposed to the metal head badge were originally created in 1976/7 for the BSA Midlet pro team, but the colour scheme proved very popular and was available to special order. As far as frame numbers go: January 1976 started at approx 500; 1979 at approx 2800; 1980 at 3500 and 1981 at approx 4100. The SB 4074 mentioned by Peter Kohler seems very suspect for 1978!
The DT bottle bosses mentioned in one of the posts were indeed lever bosses but were discontinued after a short while. The original 753 tubing was initially only available in metric sizes 26mm TT, 28mm DT, 28mm ST and 32mm HT) and had 2 code numbers, 801 and 803. The 801 was the lighter of the 2 and took a 27mm seat pin whilst the 803 required a 26.8 seat pin. As the tubing was metric the franch manufactured RGF BB shells were use. The change to Cinelli together with the Cinelli fork crown came about 1979. Certainly all the team bikes for the 1980 TDF were Cinelli equipped.
My Team Raleigh was built in the summer of 1979 for the Harrogate show, by me. It is now in my store room together with all the original Campag SR kit and Mavic Service de Course black rims.
Mike Mullett. Workshop Manager, Ilkeston 1978 to 1981
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Mike Mullett
IT Tutor
Thames Valley University
(0118) 901 5216