[CR] 1934 RRA

(Example: Framebuilders:Mario Confente)

Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 17:38:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: "P.C. Kohler" <kohl57@yahoo.com>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR] 1934 RRA


=A0 Are those howls of protest I hear? =A0 Hugh Thornton Cheshire, England

Nope. Maybe a wee sigh. Slagging off anything Raleigh is as British as Bovril. And I guess among some not being "European" in anything is the worst thing imaginable.

Then again, weren't all these European machines built for something that really didn't exist in England when this particular Raleigh RRA was built (1934): Mass Start Racing? The British never excelled in this area of cycling anyway with a few exceptions like Charles Holland and Tommy Simpson until the 1960s. Wasn't the RRA intended instead for classic British time trialling and club cycling? I am pretty sure there were lots of these retrograde RRAs that, with their riders, did pretty well in what was then the principle British road competitive cycle sport: time trialling. I rather think there were some world records set on them that lasted longer than the professional careers of most if not all Continental pros.

http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/raleighbooty.html

As for taking a 1948 pattern RRA frame and making it something it was never intended to be, a Continental Mass Start racing bike, go for it. It will certainly save you the princely sums that the exquisite custom components that really make a RRA are fetching. I'll trade you a 1948 Fiamme or Cinelli stem for an RRA one anytime or a Simplex Tour de France derailleur for a Sturmey-Archer alloy shell FC hub gear.

Finally, it's worth remembering that the one and only British made machine to win that most coveted of Continental road races wasn't a Claud Butler, a Holdsworth, Hetchens or Carlton. It was a Raleigh.

How's that for a "howl"?!

Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA