Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

TECH NEWS

Raleigh celebrate 125th anniversary with a new 'old' bike

New limited edition Reynolds 525 bike harks back to the 1980s

Raleigh have delved into the history books and, to celebrate their 125th anniversary, produced a replica of the bike raced by the TI-Raleigh Team during the early 1980s.

It's constructed from a Reynolds 525 tubeset and emulates the look of the original with its horizontal top tube and dashing paint job. In keeping with how the original was built, there's a full complement of Campagnolo, Cinelli and San Marco components.

Just 125 bikes will be sold (see what they've done there?), and half of these have gone already, so you'd best get on down to your nearest Raleigh dealer or over to their website if you want to get your hands on one of these gems.

It costs £2,000 and will be built with a Campagnolo Veloce groupset and Athena brakes, Mavic Open Pro rims on Campagnolo Record hubs with Challenge Criterium tubular tyres. A San Marco Concor Super Corsa saddle and Cinelli Giro d'Italia handlebar on a Cinelli quill stem complete the build. Weight is a claimed 9kg (19.8lb).

TI-Raleigh was actually a Dutch team but they raced with a British licence. They had much success, most notably during the Tour de France in 1980 with Joop Zoetemelk winning 11 stages. There were also five World Championship titles plus a string of victories in races like Paris-Nice, Amstel Gold Race, Ronde van Vlaanderen and many more.

Geoff Giddings, Raleigh Marketing Director told us, “We take a lot of pride in the fantastic achievements of the professional athletes we’ve supported over the last 125 years. This bike celebrates possibly the greatest achievement in Raleigh’s sporting history, Joop Zoetemelk’s victory in the 1980 Tour de France.

“With over 50% of these bikes sold on pre-orders it’s clear that there is a huge demand for classic bikes, one which we’ll be continuing to explore through our Classic and Heritage range in 2013.”

Head over to www.raleigh.co.uk for more info.

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

Add new comment

15 comments

Avatar
mingmong | 11 years ago
0 likes

Weren't the shifters located on the down tube?

Avatar
kitkat | 11 years ago
0 likes

In a similar retro-vein, Falcon cycles released this rather excellent looking retro bike:
http://www.falconcycles.co.uk/Corporate/HOLDSWORTH/HoldsworthR1.shtml#

I think Raleigh have gone for the real '83 feel though. Put some downtube shifters on it and take it to l'eroica:
http://road.cc/content/feature/68646-l’eroica-good-old-fashioned-bike-ride

Avatar
mrmo | 11 years ago
0 likes

http://www.raleigh.co.uk/company/news/

the press release says 725 not 525.

so makes it a bit better VFM.

Avatar
robert.brady replied to mrmo | 11 years ago
0 likes
mrmo wrote:

http://www.raleigh.co.uk/company/news/

the press release says 725 not 525.

so makes it a bit better VFM.

But then the product page says 525:

http://www.raleigh.co.uk/ProductType/ProductRange/Product/Default.aspx?p...

Odd.

Rob

Avatar
Shanghaied | 11 years ago
0 likes

How exactly does one fit tubular tyres on Open Pros?

Avatar
Nick T replied to Shanghaied | 11 years ago
0 likes
Shanghaied wrote:

How exactly does one fit tubular tyres on Open Pros?

Good spot  3

Avatar
russyparkin | 11 years ago
0 likes

rather amusingly i bought a Raleigh RSP 753 frameset for £50.00 had it resprrayed as a cinelli and run veloce and slightly better wheels and modern finishing kit (cinelli/fizik) cost me £700 to build. i feel the sales of this will be very heart string orientated.

good on them but i wouldnt open my wallet for this. you could probably build an Enigma for this money

Avatar
chorltonjon | 11 years ago
0 likes

Just seen one at LBS (the excellent Ken Fosters in Chorlton ) where they have an original to compare it with. Both look stunning. Frame seems to be 725 (heat-treated 525). I'd love one..

Avatar
one_bad_mofo | 11 years ago
0 likes

When I were a lad the dream Raleigh was the ten-speed Arena. However, that was superseded by the Record in black with gold anodised parts.  26

Avatar
Super Domestique | 11 years ago
0 likes

Wouldn't buy it but I do have a soft spot for Raleigh tbh.

Avatar
mrmo | 11 years ago
0 likes

bit steep for what your getting, i know there is nothing wrong with 525 and veloce, but you can get better for less and that includes custom frame builders.

Although using Record hubs must account for a fair chunk,

Avatar
handlebarcam | 11 years ago
0 likes

Where was this "heritage" bike built? If the answer ain't Nottingham then, while it may be perfectly good bike, it hasn't got much to do with the history of Raleigh (at least not the first 100 years of the company, when they weren't just a marketing company selling low-quality tat.)

Avatar
Nick T | 11 years ago
0 likes

2k sounds about right I think. I was expecting more considering the sort of repro-but-modern-kit build this is.

Avatar
SideBurn | 11 years ago
0 likes

I have got an original hanging up in the garage! Not with all original parts or in good nick but now it is a piece of cycling heritage!

Avatar
robert.brady | 11 years ago
0 likes

I'd want more than Reynolds 525 and Veloce for two grand.

Rob

Latest Comments