[CR]A mystery resolved. Reg Harris Raleigh-made stem.

(Example: Framebuilders:Brian Baylis)

Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2007 17:12:06 -0700
From: "Tam Pham" <terminaut@gmail.com>
To: "CR RENDEZVOUS" <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
cc: Bob Hovey <BobHoveyGa@aol.com>
Subject: [CR]A mystery resolved. Reg Harris Raleigh-made stem.

When I bought my Masi Pista built for Reg Harris it came with a stem that I was unable to identify, and querying the CR list didn't really yield any responses that I had high confidence in. Email exchanges with Bob Hovey pretty much ruled out the stem being made by Faliero since stylistically the stem did not look Masi. For months and months it sort of irked me that I couldn't identify its maker.

Anyways, fast forward to earlier today when I leafed through my newly-acquired Reg Harris biography from 1950 to find a scale diagram (and full specs) for one of Reg's Raleigh bikes. Clear as day in the diagram was the exact same type of stem. Further reading of the specs revealed that Raleigh made custom stems for Reg, and my stem matched the published dimensions unequivocally. Hurray - I will sleep just a little bit more soundly tonight. :-)

I didn't quite get the angles and shadows optimal, but you can see a photo of the stem and diagram here:

http://chainedrevolution.com/CS/photos/terminaut/images/200/original.aspx

Cheers from Huntington Beach, CA - USA
Tam Pham