I got talking to a couple of guys at Radchester earlier this year about Raleigh Bmx. I mentioned a thread i put together over on bunerworld . They said put it up on Rad as it sounds like it may have some interest to the Raleigh fans on here that don't frequent BW.
I forgot all about it tbh, it just occurred to me today so here's the post.
When i 1st got back into osbmx burnerworld really sparked my interest into the raleigh bmx story in general.
Most of the info to be found in the UK had already been sourced by raleigh die hards like beard and chopper22. There isn't much those guys don't have on record that's become available over here.
The chance to buy a rampar R11 XL came along and without knowing it at the time the 1st step of building the Team Raleigh Production bikes began.
I consider the two biggest players in raleigh bmx history to be the USA and the UK. Most other countries seemed to be supplied from these two main hubs.
The bikes i had a chance to build are the production models that were well archived and used by Team Raleigh for the US & UK.
Here they are.
1st up in age order is the 79 Team Rampar. The f/f were supplied to raleigh by bmx products (mongoose) as raleigh hadn't yet built them selves a pro class standard bike for the team to compete on.
Here is the inspiration for my build in action at the indy 79. Toby Henderson & Jeff Bottema were the 1st hero's of raleigh bmx. Here's toby riding his candy red team.
Next to come along was the Rampar R11 XL . Rampar built from reynolds tubing and the frame raced after the bmx products frame.
While Raleigh USA changed hands the Team folded for a season.
Mean while the raleigh bmx scene exploded in the UK. The UK'S 1st production pro class standard bike was released along with the rest of the mk1 burner range.
Here we have Craig Schofield ripping up the track on the Pro Burner.
Back to the USA now (early 83) and after Rampar changing to Raleigh Cycles of America a new Team was launched.
The black, white, gold and red still managed to be incorporated into the teams bikes/ kit. The copper/goldy frames were unique to the team and not part of the range even though the models were. Here is a pic of a young team rider Dylan Spears living the raleigh dream. This was the inspiration for the build.
Back to the UK and with riders and demands growing we saw the transition to the teardrop tubed aero pro. Excellent soon to be proven world beating race geomytry.
84 saw further changes to the Raleigh USA team. The metal Raleigh heron headbadge became the Raleigh Rad Heron picture decal and young fans could join the Rad Heron's
Raleigh
Airbourne
Division. The new 84 models had the neat return dropouts with raleigh embossed into them. 8-) Here's a raleigh R7000 Cruiser ripping up the track.
Then for Christmas 84 in the UK the team aero pro became available to the masses. Andy Ruffell joined to fly the team colours and in 85 Craig Schofield conquered the world flying the team colours on his Team Aero Pro.
So there we have it. Although some of these have had to be moved on to maintain my enjoyment in the hobby i am glad i got the chance to do them and get the story down.
Click on the Raleigh sign below to see Craig become World Champion on his Aero Pro.
