Pedalling Dreams: The Raleigh Story on YouTube

[jimbo53]

With so many in personal quarantine in these scary days of COVID-19, if you haven't seen this hour long documentary on the history of the Raleigh bicycle, please treat yourself to a one hour respite from reality. This is an excellent British documentary that celebrates the Raleigh and how important it was to cycling, the British economy and British culture. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

 

[West is the Best]

That was a great video! My dad bought my brother and I Raleighs when we were kids. I had a funky 24" single speed that I must have put 100,000 miles on. It was indestructible.
My brother had 3 speed then a 10 speed green Grand Prix(?). Dad was a Raleigh guy.

 

[GTs58]

I guess I've been saying the name completely wrong for 50 years. Should I start saying it's an English made Ralley?

 

[jimbo53]

That was something new to me, too. Another mystery solved was why the heron is the emblem of Raleigh-It was in the founder of Raleigh, Frank Bowden's, family crest.

 

[SirMike1983]

Deeply important to cycling all over the world - the way Ford was with the Model T or VW with the Beetle. The massive factory in Nottingham turned out bicycles that went all over the world and were used in many capacities and environments. We're lucky to have an abundance of automobiles in the US - makes covering the vast distances between the oceans easier. In other places though, the bicycle was the most modern transportation for many years, and Raleigh products offered practical solutions for moving large quantities of goods and many people in those places.

 

[dnc1]

I guess I've been saying the name completely wrong for 50 years. Should I start saying it's an English made Ralley?

Yes you have! But we won't hold it against you, lol.
It's a great little film.
And as @SirMike1983 alluded, the bicycle was still the everyday, affordable, primary mode of transport for the average working man (outside of the USA) up to the 1960s.

 

[1motime]

Thanks for sharing a pleasant hour!

 

[dnc1]

And working women too!
And their machines were well respected in all aspects of cycle club touring and club racing, both hugely popular pastimes from the '20s to the '60s.
They are still greatly appreciated and represented on our regular Veteran-Cycle Club jaunts.

 

[jimbo53]

Shhh! Might want to keep these great Raleigh bikes on the down low. Right now they and parts show up regularly here, on Craigslist, eBay and FB Marketplace quite inexpensively. I got this 75 Jack and Jill set of DL-1's with 28" wheels and rod brakes for $50 for the set on FB Marketplace. Quite chuffed with my self, if I dare say, old chap!

 

[1motime]

Shhh! Might want to keep these great Raleigh bikes on the down low. Right now they and parts show up regularly here, on Craigslist, eBay and FB Marketplace quite inexpensively. I got this 75 Jack and Jill set of DL-1's with 28" wheels and rod brakes for $50 for the set on FB Marketplace. Quite chuffed with my self, if I dare say, old chap!
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Nice pair! Looking by the rust patterns they have been a couple for a long while. Good riding bikes!