Raleigh were producing machines of this quality before the war: the RRA itself and the late 30s Charles Holland Continental Model, which was based on the RRA, but which had angles of 73 head/71 seat, as opposed to the RRA's 71/71. The post-war RRA, with its 73/71 angles, is from the same "blood line" obvious differences being the frame tubing, which is 531 DB for the post-war machine, as opposed to the pre-war models, which had Molybdenum tubing in the frame diamond, and High Manganese tubing in the forks and stays., and various braze-ons and equipment modifications specific to the post-war model.
Prior to the introduction of the RRA, Raleigh were producing high-end racing and sporting models, and they offered racing upgrades as optional extras to catalogue specification. For the RRA's immediate predecessor, for example, Constrictor BOA pedals and racing wheels with Constrictor wooden sprint rims and Dunlop tubulars were available. The company certainly had the resources, and, it would seem, the will, to produce something more refined than their more modest models, and I believe that there's every likelihood that they were built by Raleigh.
As to the paint, catalogues from other makers suggested plain enamel if durability was an issue, so perhaps this problem was due to contemporary paint technology. As to the black undercoat, I've owned two F. C. Parkes machines dating from the late 40s and early 50s', each in their original finish, one of which was in grey, which had worn away to reveal gloss black underneath, and the other (which had never been ridden, and had been dry stored from new) was polychromatic purple, but showing polychromatic green underneath where the paint had been chipped and scratched in places during storage. I suspect that these frames were built and enamelled for stock, and then oversprayed in the different colours when an order was received, but this is only conjecture.
Neil Foddering Weymouth, Dorset, England
> Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2010 21:01:44 -0800
> From: gwlone@yahoo.ca
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: [CR] RE. Respecting the Heron
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> Hi list. I must agree with Peter Kohler regarding the build quality of the RRA. They are quite superb. They are so good in fact I have often wondered if they were actually built in house or were they contracted to a outside builder? They were built in fairly small numbers ; and are so much different from the normal Raleigh products, that an outside builder would make sense. Does anyone have any further information? My own example unfortunately doesn't have the chrome plating that is typically seen on RRA's. I suspect it was probably built in 1953, during the Korean war chrome shortage. Does anyone else have one that has a totally painted frame? And the paint on mine is also not up to normal RRA standards. It is painted in a rather curious way, there is a high gloss black under coat that is of a typical Raleigh high quality. The top coat is polychromatic medium green and has not fared well over the years. It has become very brittle and will
> almost rub off in your hands. Perhaps they were using a new paint chemistry that still had some problems. I have a polychromatic red Claude Buttler from about the same year that is in a similar state of brittleness. Does anyone know if the early polychromatic paints were generally susceptible to this type of deterioration?
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> Greg Lone
> Langley B.C.
> Canada
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