cudak888 

...now up at The Headbadge. Many thanks to redneckwes for the scans:

Raleigh Catalog Archive



-Kurt

nlerner

Cool! But I'm curious as to how you've confirmed this catalog is from 1954.

Neal

cudak888 

The 1954 Raleigh Sports Light Roadster shows a 2030 tubing decal above "The ALL-STEEL Bicycle" on the seat tube. This didn't exist until 1954, and in 1955, the lug pattern for the Sports was revised from the plain design (shown quite well in the catalog) to the more well-known variant with a pair of teardrop cutouts on each side of the socket.

Therefore, the Sports shown in the catalog cannot be anything but a 1954 model. Therefore, a 1954 catalog.

-Kurt

redneckwes

I'm happy to have been able to provide the first 1950's catalog for the archive.

mkeller234

Awesome! Thank you Kurt and Aaron.

- I have never seen the Sir Walter Raleigh logo that highly detailed.

- Best selling point "Mudflap - Highest Quality"

redneckwes

I have another, smaller flyer I'll be scanning tonight.

Doohickie

No rod brake roadsters in 1954 in Canada?

redneckwes

I noticed that, there was none listed in the book, and I didn't see any evidence of missing pages.

cudak888 

Looking forward to it.

I'll take anything and everything that anyone wishes to throw my way...

-Kurt

Doohickie

Then again, I have a 1966 (according to hub date) American rod brake roadster, and I don't think it shows in the catalogs around that time.

redneckwes

I also have a couple of the late 70's Poster-catalogs, but they are going to be a challenge to handle.

Good thing the top comes off my scanner!

cudak888 

We also don't have a full '66 catalog available online. The Retro Raleighs stuff is truncated, extensively.

-Kurt

ron521

Surprised that the catalog does not include frame geometry information. In another thread (Bring Back The English 3 Speed, post 899), a poster (not myself) said "I think Public is doing a disservice by NOT having the (frame) specifications readily available on their website."
Interesting that Raleigh, during the years when they were at the pinnacle of their success, doesn't appear to have included that information in their catalog, because they sure didn't have a website in 1954.

nlerner

Ah, interesting, thanks! The reason I asked is because I have the US version of that catalog. It's identical except it includes the Lenton Sports and the RRA. There's also a foldout flap extolling the virtues of the TCW hub, which first appeared in 1952, so I wondered if it was earlier. There's also no mention of the SW hub in my catalog or Aaron's, and according to the S-A heritage site, that hub first appeared in 1954.

Neal

nlerner

Raleigh did include some geometry info for the lightweight road bikes in some of these early catalogs. For example, in the 1950 catalog, the RRA has 73 degree head angle and 71 degree seat angle and a wheelbase of 41 9/16" "maximum"; the Lenton Tourist and the Lenton Sports have 71 degree head and seat angles, and the Raleigh Clubman has 73 head and 71 degree seat angles.

Neal

cudak888 

There is a remote possibility that it is a 1953 catalog, but I doubt it.

-Kurt

Doohickie

Yeah, I know... there are earlier catalogs and later catalogs. Without checking, I think I have to go back to the early 60s or up to about '76 to find a rod brake roadster.

cudak888 

Once again, thanks to redneckwes, the 1938 U.S. Raleigh / Gazelle catalog is available. Note that the Sports frames have the same 65 degree frame angles as a DL-1 (and no, their stays aren't bolted) - this changed to the more traditional geometry sometime in the '40s:

Raleigh Catalog Archive



Prior to 1966 - and especially before 1960, there appear to be many different catalogs available for each year; some truncated, others complete, many of them simply brochures. Maybe it'll be all figured out some day.

-Kurt

redneckwes

That was fast!

cudak888 

At the speed you're sending them, I've had to streamline the process. The resizing and renaming of the images is done in IrfanView's batch scanner. Shaves 50% of the time off the job.

Time to hit the sack for the night though...

-Kurt

Sixty Fiver

I liked this...



And have this...

Sixty Fiver

Have never seen this model but it does look very much like the ubiquitous CCM Rambler which also had a curved top tube... one might think Raleigh designed this to go up against the rambler which was a simpler coaster equipped roadster.

Raleigh was not producing bikes in Canada in 1954 and as imports they were subject to high duties which were put in effect to protect our domestic manufacturers.

cudak888 

Just added the 1987 U.K.-specific "Handbuilt Lightweights" catalog, and the 1979 catalog (same as Bulgier.net's, but hosted locally):





-Kurt