Hello Andrew,
I could of course say " Non of your beeswax ", but, since you were polite, I will give you some partial facts,,,Firstly, I don't" believe" anything, and I
would guess that Peter Post had nothing to do with the arrangement,,,after all, he had been given certain funds by Raleigh for the team bikes to be built by Jan Legrand. I don't think Ilkestone were up and running at that time..I was approached by a gentleman ( who is now quite old, lives in Belgium, and probably doesn't want to know of things from the past, so no name here,) As I recall, the bikes were made to measurements for each rider, this was by Jan, some of them were not quite as requested and rather than stir it up with Post, the said old gentleman asked me to help, and of course they didn't want to hurt Jan's feelings, I destroyed them as we didn't want duplicates floating around. So, that should be the end of this message,,,but I will continue,,,,,,you may recall that Bayton and Lloyd. rode on badged Harry Quinns for their magnificent
Barrachi Trophy that year,,,so something was amiss there also. . Sorry if you believe that what Pros ride are as badged ( except those Harry Quinns, ),,but I've made bikes all in white for the Peugeot squad and a whole scad of Ludo Van Ilseghems for Flandria riders...shall I go on ( think not )...hope this clears up your inquisitive mind,,,,
Colin Laing, CHANDLER AZ USA
Dear Mr. Laing:
Greetings and salutations:
I hope this is not too gauche to ask. As a cycling/history Raleigh Team buff I found your description of espionage fascinating. If you think its appropriate,
could you share your inside scoop would you mind elaborating on why you believe
Peter Post had to build said bikes and why they were destroyed? What bike models and approx. vintage were destroyed?
Thanks, Andrew Israel (Can't wait for warmer weather to arrive to )Charlotte, NC
From: Colin Laing <colin_laing@yahoo.com> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent: Fri, January 14, 2011 3:55:56 PM Subject: [CR] Peter Post
Oh ! well, here I go again,,,,,,,When Raleigh decided to put a team on the Continent with Peter Post in charge,,,The powers that be wanted a few Brit riders to be part of the team..I can only remember Dave Lloyd, Phil Bayton and Sid Barras....for some reason or other, Post didn't like this idea and thinking back, maybe there was something fishy with dope being involved ( I bet Barrie knows the score ),,anyway, I had made a bunch of bikes to look like the Raleigh team bikes and was given the same amount back to destroy ( which I did ). I had stamped Jan le Grand on the B'B He was the official builder. Sid, a buddy of mine, was always outspoken, was probably the cleanest rider in history , opened his big Middlesbro' mouth once too often and got a black eye from Post as payment..Sid was sent home to England, talked to the Raleigh chiefs, was told that Post was in charge and Sid would have to ride on the British stationed team. He did with great effect...and I think the other Brits were not far behind due to Peter Posts management.
I am not really bad-mouthing Peter,,I knew him fairly well,,,he was a great rider and an awesome manager,,,but He was not of the British mold,,,RIP Pete..
Colin ( glad to be back ) Laing,,CHANDLER, AZ. USA.