juvela
Riding a '38 Autocycle Deluxe
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Dunelt in the U.S. advert of 1956 -
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Question for the experts -
have long wondered about the marques acquired by TI.
were there any which they bought up which were allowed to close?
were any which were allowed to close revived following the acquistion of RI? was Meteor perchance such a marque?
from a blog post -
"METEOR - WEST COAST CYCLE SUPPLY Co. (c. 1961-63)
One of the consequences of Raleigh's takeover of Carlton was limiting sales of the marque to only appointed dealers in the Raleigh Industries of America network. Hitherto, high end machines such as this had been sold in small consignments or special order through specialty cycle shops. In pre "Bike Boom" America, California was the great nexus of the nascent racing bicycle market and where one found some of the country's best cycle shops like Hans Ohrt in Beverly Hills, Kemp's, John's Bike Shop (Pasedena), Mulrooney in (Paramount) and Lynch (Westwood). Charley Harding, whose family ran a large cycle shop in Cork, Ireland, emigrated to the U.S. and purchased the Lynch store which he renamed Westwood Cyclery. Most of these California shops got their high-end lightweights from West Coast Cycle Supply Co. (WCCSC) run by Howie Cohen who was an avid cyclist, collector and cycling advocate. He imported many of Britain and Europe's top marques like Falcon, Elswick Hooper, Jack Taylor, Alpina, Royal Scot, Olmo, Legnano and, before the Raleigh takeover, Carlton."
Since Raleigh Industries of America already had a west coast distributor, shops outside its dealer network were now cut-off from buying Carltons through WCCSC. It was one of the few regions in the country where the demand and number of dealers overtaxed the existing arrangement so in a perfect example of TI "branding", a solution was quickly found. One of TI's long dormant marques was the Meteor brand, originally made by Starley & Sutton of Coventry and dating to the late 1880s. It was arranged for WCCSC to import Carltons badged as Meteors, but otherwise identical to the stock machines sold as Carltons. As with Raleigh initially, the model used would be the Franco-Suisse and it was decalled as such and sold as a complete machine with Campagnolo components."
on-the-drops.blogspot.com
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curious as to the Drake badge. all examples encountered thus far have been RI produced. have seen three or four three-speeds and one tenspeed. does anyone have knowledge of pre-RI Drake badged cycles?
thanks very much for any information.
-----
Dunelt in the U.S. advert of 1956 -
---
Question for the experts -
have long wondered about the marques acquired by TI.
were there any which they bought up which were allowed to close?
were any which were allowed to close revived following the acquistion of RI? was Meteor perchance such a marque?
from a blog post -
"METEOR - WEST COAST CYCLE SUPPLY Co. (c. 1961-63)
One of the consequences of Raleigh's takeover of Carlton was limiting sales of the marque to only appointed dealers in the Raleigh Industries of America network. Hitherto, high end machines such as this had been sold in small consignments or special order through specialty cycle shops. In pre "Bike Boom" America, California was the great nexus of the nascent racing bicycle market and where one found some of the country's best cycle shops like Hans Ohrt in Beverly Hills, Kemp's, John's Bike Shop (Pasedena), Mulrooney in (Paramount) and Lynch (Westwood). Charley Harding, whose family ran a large cycle shop in Cork, Ireland, emigrated to the U.S. and purchased the Lynch store which he renamed Westwood Cyclery. Most of these California shops got their high-end lightweights from West Coast Cycle Supply Co. (WCCSC) run by Howie Cohen who was an avid cyclist, collector and cycling advocate. He imported many of Britain and Europe's top marques like Falcon, Elswick Hooper, Jack Taylor, Alpina, Royal Scot, Olmo, Legnano and, before the Raleigh takeover, Carlton."
Since Raleigh Industries of America already had a west coast distributor, shops outside its dealer network were now cut-off from buying Carltons through WCCSC. It was one of the few regions in the country where the demand and number of dealers overtaxed the existing arrangement so in a perfect example of TI "branding", a solution was quickly found. One of TI's long dormant marques was the Meteor brand, originally made by Starley & Sutton of Coventry and dating to the late 1880s. It was arranged for WCCSC to import Carltons badged as Meteors, but otherwise identical to the stock machines sold as Carltons. As with Raleigh initially, the model used would be the Franco-Suisse and it was decalled as such and sold as a complete machine with Campagnolo components."
American Flyers: Carlton Cycles U.S. Export Models 1961-1969
classic racing bicycle articles Raleigh Professional Raleigh Record Ace Raleigh Lenton Vitus 979
on-the-drops.blogspot.com
---
curious as to the Drake badge. all examples encountered thus far have been RI produced. have seen three or four three-speeds and one tenspeed. does anyone have knowledge of pre-RI Drake badged cycles?
thanks very much for any information.
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