List- Beeing an owner of an original 1973 Presto, I might be wrong but I believe that I either read or was told that Jean Legrand who built the early Presto's and I believe they were the bikes used by the Holland Racing Team for some years had something to do with the Raliegh team bikes in the mid to late 70's. I do know that the seat stay caps on some of the late 70's Raliegh bikes looked just like the ones on the mid seventies Presto's. Not scalloped like this one but there was a distinctive cap on the end of the stay. I also have seen Prestos with the concave stays on the rear drop outs. I was fortunate to have seen the Presto line from the early70's through the mid to late 70's and always thought there were similarities to some of the Raliegh Team Bikes.
As the story was told to me by Kathy Penna, the owner of Brielle Cyclery in N.J. who also was our teams first sponsor in 1974. In 1972 her business partner at the time decided he wanted to take off to Europe to see what was going on over there in the bike industry. He ended up at the Presto Bike Shop in Holland and immediately got on the phone to Kathy and told her she needed to import these fantastic Presto bikes built by Jean Legrand. She did so and for the next six or seven years was one of the largest dealers of Presto bikes if not the only dealer. At one point me and four of my other team mates were all riding and racing Prestos. At I believe around $500.00 per frame at the time it was a true bargain.
Ed Busch
Vonore Tennessee USA
> Dale,
>
> That's one of the signature features on early Team frames from Ilkeston.
> My 1975 Team Pro has the same treatment. The water bottle mounts are
> actually gear lever bosses. This was another feature on early Ilkeston
> frames. I'm certain that these features were used in 1974 and 1975. I'm
> not sure about later years. I have read somewhere? that the scalloped seat
> stay caps were a Dutch influence. Something like the head mechanic for the
> Ti-Raleigh team was Dutch and helped oversee the production of the Team
> bikes. I can't vouch for the veracity of that rumor as GOD (Gerald
> O'Donovan) might not have appreciated the "help". Also, I've only seen
> these on 531 frames. 753 frames had oversize seat stay caps and
> conventional wattle bottle bosses. Mike, Hillary and the other experts
> from the Team Pro site can add to my comments as they know much more than
> me. I'd guess the serial number on the frame is SB400 or less.
>
> George Allen
> Lexington, Ky
> USA
>
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> On 1/14/2010 12:05 AM, oroboyz@aol.com wrote:
>> Take a look at this Raleigh Pro frameset (on it's way to be repaired)
>> and notice the treatment of the seat stay top eyes.
>>
>> http://cyclesdeoro.com/
>>
>> Doesn't it remind you of the technique used on that Colnago that Alex
>> sold recently? Not implying theree is any connection but you can see
>> pretty clearly that this is a filed feature. Hadn't seen a Raleigh with
>> this style used, but pretty neat IMO. The water bottle mounts are a bit
>> unusual as well....
>>
>> Dale
>>
>>
>>
>> Dale Brown
>> Greensboro, North Carolina USA
>> 336-274-5959
>> http://www.cyclesdeoro.com
>> http://www.classicrendezvous.com
>> http://www.carolinacup.com
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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