stronglight

Does anyone have photos of a 1969 Raleigh Professional they would like to share? This was the WHITE model.

I'm NOT looking for pictures of the later models with fastback stays such as the Professional Mk II, Mk III, Mk IV, etc... - there seem to be tons of photos of those bikes. But for some reason I can never find images of this early version. I've really never had a chance to take a good look at one.

This model seems very rare. And it was odd they were even produced and then totally changed so soon after. Perhaps just early test marketing for the final more modern styled versions of the 70s?

The early version of the Professional from 1969 had: No chrome on the stays or forks... it still had the familiar Raleigh rear brake cable-stop bridge... conventional seat stays... braze-on cable guides below the top tube. Really quite different from the more Italian looking later versions which were suddenly in production just a year later.

I always thought this was the nicest looking Raleigh color scheme ever. A shame they changed it.

Here is an image from Sheldon Brown's website:

John E

That looks like my brother-in-law's bike. I'll see if he still has his.

dbakl

Here's mine, posted before. Some decals wrong, but it was what I had at the time...

Not sure about rare, they seem to turn up somewhat frequently. I think Raleigh was trying to figure out what the Pro was to be with this one. The wraparound stays were typical Carlton/Raleigh. The simple lugs and sloping crown were carried over to the fastback stay version in 70. The fastback stays had existed on Carltons for some time. The Campagnolo brakes came out about 69, and probably warranted a bit of rethinking of the whole bike.

moki

dbakl, that is one gorgeous ride.

USAZorro

Rich Pinder just finished up doing his own. I think he sometimes checks in here. He has a web page devoted to his with pictures that pre-date his re-do. https://www-hsc.usc.edu/~rpinder/raleighpro.html

I'm not sure how far along Dr. Deltron is with mine, but when it's finished, I'll be glad to share pictures of it.

fwiw - the frame number on mine is a 1970 serial number.

stronglight

Thank God, Rich Pinder's bike looks just a wee bit too large for me or I might be bugging him to "unload it" ... in my direction. I have no recollection of what publication I had gotten it from, but back in 1969 or 70 I had torn out a full page Raleigh ad showing a large image of that model in full profile. The page became the lustful "pin-up" on my wall at my parent's house for years. A really classy and understated bike, at a time when bright Orange was becoming really popular. I may actually steal the color scheme for one of my bikes which now is awaiting a re-paint.

USAZorro

When mine comes back (it's a 22-1/2 inch one), I may have to put you on ignore.

Dr.Deltron

Neither is he!

Like this one just now... . not finished....but close

Dr.Deltron

Thanks for posting that, stronglight!

It helped me finish Shadowfax. ...

Hap-py hol-i-days.

Dr.Deltron

PAINTING DETAIL...

In post #8, the pearl white and colored panels have been clearcoated and thoroughly scuffed and cleaned. The decals have all been applied. The final detail which I almost forgot...

In post #9, the seat stay caps have been striped...THEN the 4 coats of clear.
It's been 3 days now, so I can box it & send it home.

USAZorro

Yeeee Ha!

I've got lots to do, but Shadowfax is going to jump the line. I can (and will) build her up in one night. Might be the day before, or the day after the purple Trek gets finished.

I believe in Santa Claus again. He lives on the Monterey peninsula and rides recumbents around - when he's not playing with the Polar Express.

stronglight

Boy, that's really looking beautiful! Got me drooling already. You're probably not going to want to ride that piece of fine art. Maybe you should just sell it... to me?

USAZorro

For some reason, I noticed I'm not the last person posting in this thread. However, I can't see the last post. Quite odd.

dbakl

What's with the pearl? Mine in original paint is as plain white as plain white can be!

Trakhak

Plain white is right. I remember being told when I bought my '68 Raleigh Professional (with the white paint job but without the gaudy seat tube decal in the pictures above, if I remember correctly) that the frame was a replica of the frames built by Cino Cinelli for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics; hence the fully sloping Cinelli fork crown (a first for Raleigh, I believe) and plain (non-Nervex) lugs. I thought at the time that it was odd that Raleigh would go to an Italian frame builder for a bike design, but stranger things have happened in the professional bike racing world.

Dr.Deltron

Seeing as it's being REpainted for it's current owner, it's what the customer wants.
It also matches the Campy pedals.

Other "custom variations from the 'original"....

USAZorro

Exactly right. You might also note the un-original "Shadowfax" decal. I really dig the snowflake too.

If you've seen the pictures of what the frame looked like when I purchased it, there's no question that completely original was just out of the question. The frame was a flat yellow with red lugs and some blue highlights. It was an even more amateurish job than the one I first attempted. When I saw my disappointing results when I attempted plain gloss white, there was no question that something needed to be done. The rest is, as they say, history.

I figured that since matching the colors on the seat tube would be educated guesses at best, and since I already have a bike that's original and plain white (1972 Fuji - the Finest), and since I had the nice "Shadowfax" decals, I had no problem taking the additional liberty of going with pearl paint. It does match a nice set of Campagnolo clipless pedals I have, but even if I set the bike up with some other pedals to show it (like possibly at Cirque 2008), it will be just a little bit more of an attention-getter. Besides, I'll bet the people at Raleigh would be envious of the result, and would have possibly done the same if they could have done so profitably.

Thanks a thousand times over Dr. Deltron, and sorry to the OP for having having played a part in the hijacking of his thread. Hopefully the detour is at least a bit entertaining.

stronglight

I like the pearl - especially on basically a plain white bike without gaudy lugs. It just adds a bit of subtle visual interest. And, I think it tends both to really highlight the skill of a painter and to single out the bike as being something worthy of more than just spray-can appliance white enamel.

Maybe a good illustration would be the plain white paint on a couple of compact cars parked outside my apartment, versus the beautiful pearl white finish which I noticed on another just this afternoon. On my way to the dumpster, I actually did a double take when I walked past it and stopped to check the marque and model. With plain white enamel, the Lexus would otherwise have looked rather boring, as well.

redneckwes

I have a new dream,

Mark my words, this is what the next few years of my spare change jar is going to be going to.

mshalett

I have some pics that I just took of my old bike if you are still interested. reply to mshalett@mindspring.com

USAZorro

Very nice example of the original.

phoobo

I grew up with this bike: my father bought one in 69 or 70 for $250 in St. Louis. My brother in law still rides it to work in Chicago.

I scored one of these frames on ebay in 2000, and am presently riding it as a singlespeed -- but I won't post a pic here because the frame has been repainted. But it's unmistakeable, relaxed angles, Cinelli sloping fork crown, the "right" seatstay cluster, uncrimped chainstay and all.

One interesting feature of this second frame is that the rear centerpull housing stop is not the usual semicircular arc between the stays, but a gnarly flat plate (actually I don't even know how this would have worked; I guess with some kind of extension poking through as the stop). It was so ugly that I just had it cut off and nicely ground down to the stays. Anyone know anything about this? Could this be an earlier or prototype version?