Raleigh made an effort to upgrade their image when they purchased Carlton in 1960. Here in the USA, when we talk of Raleigh, we are really talking about the Carlton bikes branded as raleighs. And, Carlton is admittedly my favorite UK builder.
In large areas of the USA ( > 90% of geographical area), the only lightweight bikes shipped in to dealers were peugeot, motobecane, raleigh, and schwinn paramount. Thus, I (and probably some other CR list members) grew up with a fetish for the high end range of these lines.
Before Raleigh bought Carlton, they were like Schwinn, with one "good" bike (RRA alternating with Lenton) and a bunch of "lousy, heavy" bikes. I wonder if there was a large USA mid-high end semi-custom builder nearby Schwinn could have bought to imitate Raleigh ?? It was almost certainly TREK ! HEY SCHWINN WHAT WERE YOU THINKING ??
CARLTON, WHY OH WHY DID YOU EVER SELL OUT ??
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA