Hello Peter, cc List,
I don't have specific information on whether there was a link between Raleigh and the 1968 West German Olympic cycling team or not. However, if the seat tube band on the 69 Professional Mk. I is actually red- black-yellow from top to bottom, than it doesn't reference (West) Germany. The German flag and national colors are always black-red-gold from top to bottom. And, not to forget, there's also the Belgian flag and national colors, which are black-yellow-red, left to right.
Also, if memory serves, TI Raleigh was a Dutch team (Peter Post), Joop Zoetemelk won the TdF for them 1980. They would never have used German or Belgian national colors for their team. Thus, although I have absolutely no hard evidence to back it up, I'd hazard the guess that Team Raleigh's colors were devoid of national significance.
Greets
Kai Hilbertz Munich, Germany
On 03.02.2009, at 01:59, P.C. Kohler wrote:
> I've always wondered why the 1969 Raleigh Professional Mark I ("The
> White One") has the colours of the German Federal Republic (red-
> black-gold yellow) as the seat tibe band. The TI Raleigh Team
> eventually adopted these colours as well as their team livery
> although the gold-yellow became plain bright yellow.
>
> Then Goggle revealed a cycle discussion group topic on the Mark I
> Professional which said the colours were in recognition of the
> German Olympic Cycling Team in the 1968 Olympics riding Raleigh
> machines. Can anyone here verify this or, perchance, have any other
> details? The West German team won a silver that year in the team
> pursuit (track) but I am not sure if Raleigh (or indeed Carlton)
> provided both the track and road machines or one or none at all.
>
> Peter Kohler
> Washington DC USA