This was a special Raleigh factory feature (Nottingham, Worksop or Gazelle?). The brazing gaps in the lugs were always a great place to put spare change.
My first ten speed was a Record, green with white panels. Paint job was the best thing about the bike. Brazing was really not bad on that bike (Nottingham factory, probably 1970 or 71?).
I was given a Gazelle factory Record that looked like "Mr. Blobby the Brazer" brazed it up. Looked pretty cool though, with some sort of corrosion under the gray paint (prob from bad metal prep) and blue panels.
Steven Johnson Millersville, MD
Wed, 9 Sep 2009 Don Wilson wrote: My praise is: While this has to be one of most slip shod jobs of welding I have ever seen on any bike, this old bike rides amazingly well even after all these years. It has been ridden long and hard and still the hubs roll true and with low friction. This was a bike for the real world, where you could beat it to death over irregular pavement, down paths, leave it in coastal fogs and salt air to rust without compromise, and so on. It feels solid as a rock and yet it displaces pavement irregularities better than my unsuspended mountain bike cum city bike with big tires. It is just very strange to ride a bike that is so well designed and which uses very robust materials, but which is also built with the welder's equivalent of an ugly stick.