The Retro Raleigh website says the later USA Raleigh Competitions are built of Reynolds 555 tubing. Seems like the earlier ones were Worksop (Ilkeston?) products same as the English ones. I have just acquired a 1985 Raleigh Competition frame WL5000539 which is made from 531c. I was interested to see that Raleigh had gone to a stick-on headbadge by this time and the decals, including the tubing decals, are stick-on plastic, not transfers. The RALEIGH letters are quite 3-dimensional and look stuck-on too. Does anybody know what equipment came with these bikes and whether the frame is any different from the Team / Professional frames of the time?
Hugh Thornton in rainy UK
>From: Tonythreerings@aol.com
>To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Subject: [CR]Raleigh USA Frame ?
>Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 15:02:35 EST
>
>(One in a series)
>Looking for information, fact or opinion about a frame I've had for a
>while:
>Headbadge and seat tube decal Raleigh Cycle Company of America, serial #
>4L5R1938, 130 mm spacing; chrome head tube, fork, and rear triangle; top
>tube
>decal 'Competition' and 'Racing USA'; stickered 'Built With Raleigh 555
>Double Butted Main Tubes All Tubes Chrome Moly ...Designed and Engineered
>in
>the USA ...Manufactured in Japan for sale in the USA only'; Tange fork
>stickered Raleigh 555 SL; braze-ons for 2 1/2 bottle cages, with one screw
>under the down tube?
>Thanks in advance for your help.
>Aaron L
>Hollywood CA