>
> Just three words: nice, nice, nice!
>
> With a lighter saddle and rims, this bike would weigh under 19 pounds! And
that's in a 61 cm. size....
>
> Isn't the Maillard freewheel made from magnesium, though? Lightest
freewheel ever made, as far as I know. About 135 grams....
The Maillard box for these freewheels used that classic French word "dural" for these 700 series which were also available in steel ("acier"). Weight is closer to 160 grams. But what a difference and nope... no evidence yet on my '75 Team Pro of any undue wear after 3 months of hard riding almost on all the 13 t cog. But I clean and lubricate my drive train frequently.
And the 19 3/4 lbs weight is "real" and impressive. The Brooks Team Pro is "spec" and I'd never ride a bike without a leather saddle. Ever. But the team used Cinelli saddles and dropped the weight more. Rims seem to have varied all over the place. Always Mavic to my knowledge but SSCs used frequently. Mavic GP-4s were "spec" for the 1980 531 Team Pro replicas, but again I don't think 753 was ever offered in anything but a frameset.
Only two days of riding is not enough but I am impressed by the ride of 753 tubing.. my only experience with this material. Feels light but not stiff and I think the geometry of this 1980 Pro is tighter than my '75 but it's still comfortable. Tomorrow, a 55-mile run to see just how much so!
Anyway, for those of us who just revere, reasonably or not, British-made bicycles, this 1980 Team Pro is just very, very satisfying to ride especially when you consider 25 years ago this July Raleigh scored its first TdF overall win on this same machine. And nope, no one is going to tell me it was really a Masi!
Finally, further to the discussion about "value" and classic lightweights, consider that the original owner paid $900 for the original complete 531 tubed bike in '76 and another $240 in 1980 to upgrade to a 753 frame. I paid him $1500 for the bike, sans rims, this April 2005. She passed about eight new carbonfibre bikes today costing a lot more than that today and we're still getting used to each other!
Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA