Early 1980's Raleigh Team - Cinelli??? - Solved!
 

I picked up this nice early '80's Team-ish model today. It's quite mysterious. There is no serial number under the Bottom Bracket, but it's marked with the Cinelli Logo?!? There is a number "85077" on the dropout. I also found the number plate hanger tab interesting... The forks have 531 stickers, but no identifying marks on the frame. Any ideas??? https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...db8a42e2df.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b3217fe447.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...35d2e7bd5b.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...55c867ee91.jpg

Those Cinelli BB shells were used on 1000's of frames, pretty standard fare. Nice score! :thumb:

Looks to be a great find....Race number hanger tab on the top tube hints at something special, at least a team replica of some sort.... :thumb:

Good to know! I have seen dozens of '83-'85 Raleigh Serial Numbers over the years, but not having one on the Shell was a new one for me.

well, it seems plausible that "85077" could be the serial number, where "85" might indicate it was built in 1985.
Granted... that seems too organized for it to be Raleigh, but who knows??

The number tag certainly suggests that the frame was intended for use by some team, although it could be any team sponsored by Raleigh.
A friend has (had?) a 753 Raleigh Team frame with a number tag of the same style. He got it as a replacement for a broken frame, IIRC.

Steve in Peoria

Pro team, "SBDU" Raleighs would have surely been built with Reynolds 753 though.....

Raleigh USA had some independence around this time.
I think possible a USA sourced frame.

There was also that batch of Team Raleighs built by Marinoni for the 84 Olympics that were specced for 531C but the tubes didn't arrive so they used Columbus contrary to the decals. Any Doves on the steerer? That would be cool. (different headbadges)

Thanks for the ideas, I'll have to take her apart and see what's on there!

I got drug down through the SBDU net rabbit hole again last night and looked at hundreds of pics of Raleigh and Raleigh USA Team Offerings in the '80s... I could find none that used a sticker for the head badge, none that had the exact seat stay ends, and none that had Serial Number on the Dropout (Campy's by the way). The only thing I could find with the Wolber Sticker in that location was Andy Ampsten's 1984 Team Bike, but seat stay ends are the traditional Raleigh versions from the era... Rydjor Bike Shop: Bike Collection . I'm sure if I spend another 12 hours searching, I'll find something...https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f7af9c76f9.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...efe46b5d57.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...44f8612685.jpg

Hopefully you're really on to something here, odd serial no. local, Hampstenesque livery, number tab.......

Hampsten appears to have been a fan of Landshark frames, as the Giro Bike they made for Huffy... Historic Pro Bike: Andy Hampsten's 1988 7-Eleven Huffy Giro d'Italia | Cyclingnews.com . This frame has a lot if not all of the same attributes...

Those decals don't look like 80's to me - not 85, at least. Possibly replacements? Also seriously doubt that's an SBDU frame. Definitely a nice bike that likely has a cool history - one that would justify the required sleuthing to get to the bottom of.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a844179f07.jpg

an fyi (picture copied from another site - I hold no rights)

I see lots of similarities - fwiw

I don't think it is a Raleigh, notwithstanding the lack of serial on the BB the seat cluster is all wrong. Peel off the headtube decal if there aren't two vertical pin holes then it is not a Raleigh. It's an attractive livery for an American I assume ?

John.

I totally agree it's not an SBDU. They would never have allowed something to leave the shop without the "SB" S/N traceability. I have found head tube decals, but none in this dimension, and none that are circular.

My heavy interest is the less interesting '84-'85 "Racing USA" series, so I don't see a lot of frames from this era outside of what comes into the shop for service on occasion. Have you seen that Chainstay Bridge before? It doesn't match any Raleigh I recall seeing, but the Giro Huffy decalled Lanshark frame uses it, and in combo with the number tab for sure. I know this part wasn't made in-house, but the fact that Landshark has been shown to use that style was (maybe?) a hint.

Yeah, I would guess the livery would have been popular in the '80s. I agree this was not produced by Raleigh directly. It seems in a few instances, small workshops (Marinoni and Landsark for sure) made custom bikes to look like they were made by Macro-brands for pro teams. The race tab and chainstay bridge would seem to help narrow down who made the frame.

My next two steps are to check the Steerer to see if it is Columbus (to rule out Marinoni) and if not, try to see if Landshark has any history on Raleigh USA livery units being produced there...

Brother! I actually just started a Facebook Group for the Racing USA line last month. The Competition is the one I don't have. In fact, I have actually never seen one in person. Despite the mystique of the Prestige, I have seen at least five of those, never a white one.

Holy crap, I can't believe I missed it, but in that Giro Huffy article, Hampsten actually stated (about Land Shark's John Slawta, builder of the "Huffy") :

"John gave me a deal on it and the 7-Eleven team was nice enough to let me buy a frame for myself," Hampsten continued. "He made bikes earlier for my Levi's Raleigh team and I knew he would do a great job."

The head badge decal is odd. SBDU did occasionally use the decal on the head tube, mainly for their time trial bikes, but others also. The lack of the plastic Raleigh USA head badge may give more credence to the possibility that this frame was built by others (Raleigh may not have wanted them to use their head badge).

The close up of the fork crown is also interesting. The fork tube decal and Reynolds decal look like Velocals decals (excellent decals BTW) that were not clearcoated. Also, the overlap of the two decals is strange and not commensurate with the quality of the frame. Maybe these decals are replacements?

The top tube decal is reversed from the bike shown with Hampsten aboard. That must be an original decal however. I am not aware of that decal being available.

So, I just called John Slawta at Land Shark and gave him all the details of the frame, after he asked me about 5 additional questions, including the dropout serial number. He is pretty sure that this is indeed one of his bikes built for the Levi's Raleigh Team! Mystery Solved, except who rode her...

Thanks for the all of the help!

Looks about the same size as the pic in post #14 . Maybe we see who was on the team and narrow things down based on height.