Re: [CR]Boston CL Raleigh Pro

(Example: Racing:Roger de Vlaeminck)

Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2008 08:18:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Boston CL Raleigh Pro
To: "P.C. Kohler" <kohl57@starpower.net>, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
In-Reply-To: <002301c897f3$193219a0$6502a8c0@peter5ca78cb10>


I dunno, I'd have to give the edge to Schwinn Paramount for bikes that got ridden less than 100 miles, then hung on the wall. More shops carried Paramount than Raleigh Pro, in fact almost every decent size town in America had a Schwinn dealer back then, and there was alway at least one or two guys in town who could buy "the best bike in the house" even if they couldn't spell Campagnolo, let alone pronounce it.

A lot of these guys almost never rode the bike, but that was beside the point. Bikes were fashionable there for a few brief years, so when one was down at the local bar with the guys, and the conversation shifted briefly from footbal to bicycles, one could say," That's nothing, I've got a Paramount, that's the best one they make." Made one feel better after having lost a $50 bet on the previous Sunday's big football game, and hell, feeling better at the bar three or four different weekends more than justified the $500 purchase price.

I'd wager that 15 years ago there were more pristine Paramounts than Raleigh Pros hanging on the garage walls of America. But I think Paramount probably became "classic" and collectible sooner than Raleigh, at least in the US. So more Paramounts than Pros got bought by classic fans who probably doubled the bikes lifetime mileage within the first week of owning them.

Regards,

Jerry Moos Riding my early 80's McLean this morning in Big Spring, Texas, USA

"P.C. Kohler" <kohl57@starpower.net> wrote: One aspect of the Raleigh Professional which has always intrigued me is that it, from my own experience, appears to have been the world's greatest garage queen in cycledom. Almost all of the examples on eBay are in amazing, often pristine shape, even the frames which have long since been stripped of their components. Furthermore, I have never once seen one of these bikes actually being ridden. Well once and that was last year when Dan Artley rode his on his CR group ride. So maybe the Raleigh Pro was the choice for that major Bike Boom market: the guys with bucks who got caught up in the bike mania, slapped down their $450 and "wanted the best". And rode it like 3 times and hung it on the garage wall.

Oh, many were shocked when I said I don't own a '70s Raleigh. Well I don't, honest! I own and love a 1980 Raleigh Team Professional (753) and don't tell me that's not primo quality AND tres cool. And also a '48 RRA and a '58 RRA, two other examples of why Raleigh wasn't all mass produced stuff.

But if I owned a Raleigh Professional, I have to find a place on my wall to hang it so it would feel at home.

Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA