Re: [CR] Pro Mk IV vs Mk V (SS caps)

(Example: Component Manufacturers:Chater-Lea)

From: "Andrew R Stewart" <onetenth@earthlink.net>
To: Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:58:42 -0500
Subject: Re: [CR] Pro Mk IV vs Mk V (SS caps)


Back in the day my boss told me that the stay caps were left "unfinished" so that they would not crack, as the Competitions and Internationals were prone to do. Between the brazing inconsistencies, the pickling solution used for flux removal and cleanup and the sometimes aggressive filing of the caps this was a weak point of many otherwise nice 531 tubed Raleighs.

I had 2 Internationals and 2 Pros back then. The Internationals were both 21.5" sizes but the first one (1975?) wad a significant brazing gap and was replaced under warranty shortly after buying it. Interestingly there was a 1" difference in the top tube lengths. The first had a 21.5" top tube and the second (1976?) a 22.5" length, which was way too long even for my young and flexible body.

The first Pro was a wheel less used purchase (from the proverbial "little old lady who only rode on Sunday" and was a school teacher) for it's parts. I never rode it and sold the frame to the second Violist of the local orcistra. It was the sloping crown, fast back stay version, probably 1974. The second I bought new as an employee of Geo. Rennies Bike Shop. It would have been in the late 1970s and was a blue with the lighter crown and the above described stay caps. This one was a keeper for a few years, until I started building my own frames. I don't have any recorded top tube length for either Pro, but I think the blue one had around 21.5".

Andy Stewart
Raleigh, NC