[CR]Raleigh Grand Prix

(Example: Framebuilding:Brazing Technique)

Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 15:06:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: Donald Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Raleigh Grand Prix

Grand Prix was a carlton high-end model in the early sixties, the name was appropriated by Raleigh and sold as a low-end bike in the USA starting in the mid 1960's.

I think Raleigh of America re-elevated the Grand Prix model to its high (Carlton) status, producing a 531 model in the early 1980's, when Carlton was still making bikes for Raleigh of America. In fact, Raleigh of America in some ways has been truer to Carlton than Raleigh of UK, i.e. consider the reintroduction of all the classic models in 2002.

When Raleigh of America went to asian production for bikes in the mid 1980's, the bike was built from 555SL or 501 or whatever.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA