Originally Posted by nlerner
Okay, you can see I'm slightly obsessed with this project. I was scanning the Wool Jersey galleries for 1974 bikes built with Reynolds 531, and here's a link to a Whitcomb. Note that the decal looks to be the same as on my '74 International w/ gold TI band on the bottom.
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/...5/Witcomb7.jpg
Neal
The Whitcomb is gorgeous, to the point where it may be a restoration and the decal a replacement. One of the additional problems these days is that it is so easy to reproduce decals, that the originality of just about anything can come under suspicion. No offense meant, Mike.
I dug back through some literature and found the reference to the 1977 name change in The Custom Bicycke by Kolin and de la Rosa, "In 1977 the Reynolds Tube Company, Limited changed their name to TI Reynolds because they make more than just bicycle tubes." The Raleigh history on Retro-Raleighs mentions the same date, so I've always assumed it to be correct. Perhaps I'm just too logical in assuming that the the name change would have been reflected on the decals at the same time? But I can't reason why they would have used TI Reynolds on a decal prior to the name change of the company.