Originally Posted by Picchio Special

That's interesting information about the "Raleigh" tubing. There's been a ton of speculation about its origin, and that actually makes sense. However, I don't recall anyone saying that "555SL" is "mangmoly," since it specifically states on the decal that it's cro-moly," and most of the speculation has been that the tubing is Japanese (Tange or Ishiwata). On the other hand, the decal for 555RSL does state that it's mang-moly," and that's where the Reynolds speculation has centered. It does seem a little surprising that Raleigh Corporation of America would have felt the need or discerned an advantage in producing tubesets in-house.

As to the assertion that the Raleigh Bicycle Corporation of America frames are vastly inferior to the Carlton produced ones, I think that's pretty overstated, and I'd be interested to here why the writer thinks that. Carlton made some very good frames, but the workmanship was all over the map. Differences in ride quality would stem largely from frame getting the tubing gauges and geometries right for the frame sizes. I would personally look at the individual bike, the size and the functionality of the components, before buying into Carlton "mystique." Any differences in weight are very unlikely to be a big deal in terms of performance.