Colin,
This story reminded of a peculiar sort of deal that a friend (who was then living in Amsterdam) proposed to me. This had to be very late 1983 or perhaps 1984. Years ago, I mentioned it on the CR list, although it never made entire sense to me. But it sounds as though you _might_ have some understanding of the true situation. The story is this:
At some point during the winter of 1983/1984, this American living in Amsterdam sent me photos of unpainted frames that were built by Peter Serier. I know that at some point Serier worked with Jan Legrand (Presto bicycles?) so for all I know the shop was actually Legrand's, rather than Serier's.
Anyway, I was told that these were built for the Raleigh team, but were no longer needed as the team was disbanding. There was some issue about who actually owned the frames, and whether or not they would simply be destroyed. So his plan was to have me help purchase them, bring them into the USA, have them painted, and then sold here.
The rub was that they couldn't be marked as Raleigh, Serier or anything else recognizable. Yet I was still interested until I learned that I would not even be given the Reynolds decals.
So I never learned what happened to the bikes and lost touch with this fellow after a deal to export water beds fell apart. In any event, I've always wondered what was really going on at that time. But after reading your post, while my story still seems bizarre, it doesn't sound so unusual for the TI-Raleigh bikes.
Best regards,
Fred Rednor - Arlington, Virginia (USA)
> 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
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: andrew israel <drewski_30312@yahoo.com>
> To: Colin Laing <colin_laing@yahoo.com>
> Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Sent: Fri, January 14, 2011 9:45:51 PM
> Subject: Re: [CR] Peter Post
>
> 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
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
>
> 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.