Something I've Not Seen for Awhile

[airboatr]

The make of my first 10 speed.





I don't remember much of it now. I owned mine in the late 70's Mine was made in England, it had a Made in England decal on the seat tube, and had a similar heron badge. I can't picture if it had the The Raleigh or just Raleigh with Nottingham, England under it.
Tangerine color. I think it was a chrome alloy frame ... or was it 440 ..

anyone remember the Bike?

[Garry Russell]

Raleigh...could be one type of thousands of different bikes they have made over the years. Yep a great British firm, so that'll will be transfers not decals

[Tomliner]

Garry/Airboatr, I seem to recall that they were metal badges rather than transfers,at least on the rear mudguards.My own Raleigh bike in the late 50's/early 60's was a three geared Raleigh Palm Beach Tourer on which I often rode to school.It was a red/orange colour( the bike not the school!)
Being born in Nottingham and having lived the majority of my life in the area,I well remember the Raleigh factory which was located in the Radford area of the city,mainly on Faraday,Ilkeston and Triumph Roads. In the film 'Saturday Night And Sunday Morning' Arthur Seaton played by Albert Finney, works at Raleigh and the area can be seen as it was before it changed.
Also in the film the'White Horse' pub is briefly shown,which to the best of my knowledge is still there.I've thrown many a dart in there in my younger days! EricT

[DaveB]

I had a Raleigh with 3-speed Sturmey Archer twist-grip gears. Can't remember what model it was though Used and abused it on the school run until I got one of these little tinkers.. http://www.bikebrothers.co.uk/carltonten.htm . Mine was exactly the same colour as that one and I loved it to bits. Remember getting a letter off my mom and dad while I was at sea (think I was on HMS Blake so that would put it '74-'76.. probably '76) to say that they'd given it to my cousin Not sure what happened to it in the end. I remember he got it knicked from school but it was later recovered. It was the last pushbike I owned.

ATB
DaveB

[dodger]

Hi Gents,

That's bought back some memories,

My Aunt bought me my first two wheeler and now thinking back i used to ride it over to my ATC Sq and at that time in the mid fifties the dynamo had more or less replaced the battery lights/lamps and the one i had on the front wheel rubbing on the tyre rim was great and the faster you went the brighter the light!,

All taken for granted nowadays,

Roger.

[Garry Russell]

They used to have a badge but the later or perhaps just cheaper had transfers.

In my day they were badges made of a very light alloy that is it came off was quite weak or at least it was on those I came across.

A bit of a British institution

[Airspeed]

IIRC, the metal badges were on the steering tube, and often a transfer on the seat tube.
The photo from Joe certainly looks like the front end, with those control cables in view.

[Garry Russell]

Yep Badge on the front which is probably why they were so delicate...to bend around the frame tube curve

[airboatr]

HI Guys,

As I mentioned Raleigh was my first ten speed bike. My sister Kathy worked at a Schwinn Bike store and obtained it from someone trading up to a newer model.
It had many upgrades such as aluminum down bars, seat pin, alloy rims and so on. It was a real speedster. I really liked it.
When I joined the military I left it to my brother to use and when I returned it was thorourghly trashed. The frame was bent so I abandoned it.
I was just sick over the whole thing. But, forgive and forget, I moved on.
Seeing the raleigh yesterday brought back some good memories of my high school days .. And of my siser kindness.

There are a number of websites that tell the history of the Raleigh Bicycle Company so I won't go into all the details myself.
But I will raise a glass of Orange Crush (In keeping with the color of my Raleigh and the condition my brother left my bike) to Sir Frank Bowden 1st Baronet for making fine bicycles.

To you Sir



Thanks for sharing your stories mates.


btw
The heron head badge . named for it's design and location, was made of metal.
A Heron bird riveted in place on the head tube.

Decals or transfers were placed on the seat tube of the frame. That I remember as I was always careful not to damage them.




cheers

Joe

[Garry Russell]

Indeed Joe

Raleigh brought to the market a fine range of bicycles ....as well as tobacco and potatoes