I recently came upon this 1983 catalogue of Raleigh’s high-end bikes, built (as I understand it) at their Ilkeston ‘special products’ division. In those days Raleigh was walking a tightrope between high-end aspirations (successful racing team in Europe, and great hand-built racers and tourers) and the pile ’em high shoppers and Choppers. Nevertheless, they did get plaudits from the cycling press for these good-value quality models, which led to me buying a lovely Raleigh Royal that I rode from 1983 until this year (when I bought my gorgeous Paul Villiers Sportif).
Anyhow, I’m posting this PDF of the catalogue, mainly for its archival value, so for Google’s benefit, I’d better mention that it contains the following models:
Raleigh Team Replica, Raleigh Gran Sport, Raleigh Road Ace, Raleigh Competition, Raleigh Record Ace, Raleigh Royale, Raleigh Royal, Raleigh Clubman, Raleigh Rapide, Raleigh Record Sprint, Raleigh ZenithRaleigh Stratos, Raleigh Silhouette, Raleigh Europa, Raleigh Medale, Raleigh Supersport, Raleigh WispRaleigh Winner, Raleigh Ace, Raleigh Micron.
Phew. Finally, a link to a really good history of the Raleigh company.
John
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Thank you for posting this article. I just picked up a 1983 Raleigh Clubman that was in pretty bad shape and I’m restoring it and have been looking for more information on it. It was badly neglected (in Florida) and has a lot of paint chips with some rust, so I’m doing a repaint and keeping the original decals by covering them first. I was fortunate to find a set of OEM front and rear Maillard Spidel quick release skewers on eBay because the old ones were badly rusted, and I’m replacing the seat with a vintage replacement in tan with matching tape. Oh, and if any readers have badly oxidized wheels, a brillo pad will restore them to like new condition! (A little tip I got from a local bike shop). Anyway, thanks so much for the article and the Pdf.
Cheers,
John
Karin
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Thanks! Really great to see details on my bike!
Gavin
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I just picked up this exact bike in this exact colour. I saw it in a local community cycle shop and fell in live with it straight away. I have dated it using the serial number and discovered it was built in the same month and year i was born! Only problem is the .pdf won’t load. Id love to find out more about my bikes original spec. Is there any chance you could email me a copy?
Thanks for reading
rob
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Hi Gavin, it looks like the site I linked to has gone away, but I had a copy of the catalogue on my hard drive, so I have uploaded and linked to it directly:
http://www.jordan-maynard.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Raleigh-catalogue-1983-Racers-V-CC-Library.pdf
Will email also. Enjoy your bike!
BOYER Claude
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bonjour,
j’ai acheté dernièrement Raleigh Record Spring mais ne trouve pas son numéro de série…
Ou est – il caché ?
Merci pour votre réponse.
rmj
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Claude, Je ne suis pas sûr mais peut-être sous jeu de pédalier ?
rmj
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https://raleigh-sb4059.com/2018/08/30/raleigh-frame-numbers-1973-onward-worksop-carlton-and-nottingham-lightweight-unit-frames-specialist-bicycle-development-unit-sbdu-and-raleigh-special-products-division/
Peter Roberts
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Peter
I have just taken my 1983 Raleigh Royal out of storage, where it has been since 1984 after moving to my present location from Scotland. In reality I doubt whether I covered more than 500 miles in total, prior to storage, which apart from minor surface rust on the chromed surfaces (readily cleaned off) it is in near pristine condition. My machine came complete with a Dynamo, front and rear lights and bell. Since I am unable to find another model with the same basic fittings are these shown in the catalogues?
The other issue is that given my age I would like to find a good home for it. Can provide range of photos should anyone have an interest.
rmj
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Peter, Your Royal must be very similar to mine, which is also a 1983 if I remember correctly.Though mine is certainly not in pristine conditiin. I doubt your dynamo and lights are Raleigh features, perhaps they were added by the bike shop you bought it from. As for finding a good home, perhaps there is a cycle jumble near you – they attract people who love older bikes. There is a list of 2021 jumbles here: http://www.campyoldy.co.uk/bike-jumble-diary/
Peter Roberts
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Hi Jordon,
From Peter Roberts – sorry for tardy response, COVID and family issues took priority.
Thanks for you comments above especially regarding lights. I have checked the frame and the bracket for dynamo is part of construction, also rear light is firmly part of original mudguard. I must conclude they are part of original design. From this I must consider it being a little older maybe 1981/2 – me trying to keep fit at end of rugby career might support this.
Any further comments.
Best regards, Peter Roberts