My TI-Raleigh SBDU Blog

October has been a good month! It has also reinforced something I say a lot; "you cannot guarantee anything with the Specialist Bicycle Development Unit". Just as I published my blog post about the unique SB662 with Nervex Professional lugs, another one has come along. After a decade of research ...
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Sometimes I buy frames on a whim. In fact most of the frames I buy now are bought with no questions asked. I use my SBDU knowledge to build up enough of a feeling to just go with a hunch. So it's always intriguing to get the frames back onto ...
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Is there a definitive truth about what each numbered bike was used for. Every now and then I dip into social media. I often jump straight back out after reading some comments. The problem can be that lots of statements are made, and worryingly, lots of those statements are believed ...
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Yes, you read that correctly... an SBDU Ilkeston frame with Nervex Professional lugs. I've never seen one before. Even though I've viewed over a 1000 SBDU frames, spanning the entire period of the SBDU, I've not seen a frame with these lugs. That meant I really wanted to add this ...
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Sometimes I feel the Raleigh Gods look favourably on me and send cool bikes my way. It's either that, or it's my dedication to a decade of blogging and networking to get my name out there that does it. Whatever it is, pictures of Alan Oakley's Raleigh Dynaflite fell into ...
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This new 1980 SBDU Ilkeston frame takes my collection past 50, and heading fast towards 60 SBDU and Team frames. The collection is supplemented with a few Raleigh/Carlton Worksop frames, together with some Raleigh Special Products frames and even the recent Raleigh UK attempt. But it's the SBDU frames that ...
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I've had the SBDU blogging blues for the last few months. I've barely posted in 2021. But a rather special recent addition (coming soon...) has kicked me back into it and I'm once again sat in front of the screen with an empty page and images of another TI-Raleigh. This ...
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I can't believe it's 5 years since I started the Facebook Page that accompanies my blog. Now, after some continued demand and arm twisting, I've created a Facebook group. The group is for other SBDU owners, or those going through what can often be a long search, to join in ...
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I had said during my blog post for the build of my Raleigh UK anniversary edition, that I would use SB3800 in a comparison road test. However, just as the spoon salesman said in Fawlty Towers, when Basil thought he was a Hotel Inspector, "I changed my mind"! Instead, I'm ...
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The sun has started to shine on 2021 and temperatures have started to rise. The TI-Raleigh anniversary edition frameset I bought last year has been sat patiently since it arrived, and now it's time to build it ...
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A 1980 Raleigh 753 in TI colours, there is no better way to start the year. 1980 was maybe the pinnacle for this bike and colour combination! It was the height of TI-Raleigh's success following Joop's victory in that year's Tour de France. Some would say the 1980 TI-Raleigh was ...
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2020 has been a roller coaster. It has brought some ups and downs, lots of amazing positives and sadly a couple of unexpected negatives too. In a year when the world has been turned on it's head with businesses and families hit very hard by Covid-19, my TI-Raleigh blog has ...
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I know a bit about SBDU frames, all self taught and researched from my own collection and image library. However, I never profess to being knowledgeable about anything "Raleigh" that falls outside of the SBDU. The era before the SBDU at Raleigh's Worksop/Carlton facility, and then the later Raleigh Special ...
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A Bob Jackson 753 from 1975? Yes, that is how it appears. It's only the presence of an SB frame number that confirms this as a Raleigh SBDU. For many years, the story of this frame was unknown. It is only recently that a clue has been found. However, even ...
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There has been a bit of online chatter about the geometry of the new 40th Anniversary TI-Raleigh Reynolds 753 frame. The speculation relates to the geometry of the frame, and specifically, about Raleigh UK's marketing images showing a sloping top tube. Raleigh UK claim that they have followed the spec ...
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This SBDU Time Trial Special will definately move straight into my featured frames section. My collection is full of significant and special examples of SBDU bikes and frames and SB2476 deserves it's place in this category because it goes right back to my initial search for SBDU information way back ...
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The Raleigh UK TI-Raleigh 40th anniversary frameset has arrived! A few days after placing my order, the courier knocked on the front door and left a large cardboard box. In just a few minutes I had the camera set to record and I started talking ...
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1974 SBDU frames are incredibly rare, so SB9, which still has original paint and Campagnolo Super Record 1st generation components is getting a full strip and clean. I don't think it has been cleaned since it was first built. This is the first part of putting SB9 back together. The ...
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Joop Zoetemelk 1980 TI-Raleigh bike specification. I get asked about specification so many times. The most popular search terms I see on my blog stats and the most viewed blog posts relate to 'specifications'. However, the question about specification isn't an easy question to answer by any means! Professional teams, ...
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SBDU Paint Preservation is step one of the work I need to do following the earlier stripdown of SB9. I don't know if SB9 has ever had a clean since it was built in 1974. Every surface, every scratch and every lug line seems to be ingrained with 46 years ...
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1st Gen Super Record components on an original paint 1974 SBDU bike! Not just a 1974 SBDU bike, but also a single digit SBDU bike! This bike has to be preserved. It is suffering, it has 46 years of dirt, built up year on year, layer on top of layer ...
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SBDU SB9 has certainly sparked interest in the Raleigh community since it returned to the UK. And it is set to create more. If SB9 is now settled back in the UK, how can it also still be in the US! ...
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1974 Raleigh SBDU frames, there aren't too many, believed to be no more than 50. My thoughts on the use of the word 'Rare' are documented in my blog, I think it is used too much to incorrectly describe common SBDU frames. But just like my 753 Dynaflite, I think ...
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Handlebar wrapping can be one of those bike building tasks you either love or hate. When it is done badly it will make the best build look terrible. When it is done well it will be the crowning glory. So for this post, I did a video to show my ...
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Specialist Bicycle Development Dept? Yes, more of that in a future post. But for now, it's all about SB1995, and the work I did to establish when this frame was renovated. I've just re-read my own post and still surprise myself that I used nothing more than small details and ...
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Spoke length calculation needn't be a black art! So many calculators have been produced meaning all you need are a few basic measurements. So here's a post and a short video explaining the five minute process of finding the length of spoke you need for your hub and rim combination ...
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Bolting a couple of derailleurs and other small parts to a frame is the easy stage of any bike build. Normally I build in three stages. In the previous post, I did the first stage, the frame prep and fitting the BB and Headset. That means all I have to ...
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Campagnolo Super Record 50th Anniversary Group - that's what I'm working with again. But before I get to the shiny gold parts, I need to fit the BB and Headset ...
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Frame Prep! Any task requires prep. Great prep should be the foundation of everything you do, it will give you the best chance of achieving the results you are after. So if you are restoring, renovating, or just servicing some parts, don't skip the fundamentals! SB5422 has been built previously, ...
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Carlton Capella lugs seem to be everywhere in my SBDU collection at the moment. They are always nice to have, and when they appear on Reynolds 753 frames, it's even better ...
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"TI-Raleigh Tour de France!" It only really dawned on me the day after I bought it, but this bike could be something amazing, a special bike for TI-Raleigh and the Tour de France! The day after Nigel and Carol left HK276 with me, I sat at my computer and 'BANG!', ...
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2020 is moving fast, it will soon be February. I've already added two frames since the New Year and I'm aware I haven't yet recapped the last year for My TI-Raleigh SBDU. So here is my SBDU 2019 review of new arrivals ...
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One of my top collecting aims is to document and preserve the originality of SBDU frames, especially the TI-Raleigh scheme. This scheme is one of the most recognisable in cycling history. But it's also the one that renovators get wrong so often. So frame preservation and securing those details is ...
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Hennie Kuiper! Yes, HK276 has arrived and sits in my collection right next to other TI-Raleigh riders such as Jan Raas, René Pijnen, Cees Priem and Günter Haritz. Here is a quick story of how that new addition happened ...
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I'm kicking off the New Year with the spanners and getting stuck into SB8850. Every bike I receive comes apart. This is because every bike generally has hidden mechanical issues. What can often look like a well put together bike can surprise you. SB8850 arrived earlier in the year and ...
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SB1861, built at SBDU Ilkeston in late 1977 is back in the workstand, I need to get this bike completed. It has sat for too long, and this original SBDU bike deserves more. So I'm picking up where I left off by sorting the bar tape, brake levers, cables and ...
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MK5 Professional? What's that all about? Yes, this is an unexpected step back into the area of Worksop frame production. This time though, it's not pre SBDU, it is early 1981, before things with Raleigh and Carlton production were set to change ...
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It's time to figure out the correct SBDU frame number for my frame stamped as SB4522. Is that number correct? Is it SB5422, indicated on the fork column? Once again, being able to read the SBDU frame details should give me the answer to this mystery ...
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As if I don't already have enough projects. As if I don't already have enough plans to fulfil and enough mysteries tucked away in my collection to solve. I've now added another frame to keep me busy. C4619 is a 1968 Reynolds 531 frame built at Worksop Carlton Raleigh ...
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What do I have planned next year for My TI-Raleigh Blog? Tricky question as most things with me and my blog and collection just seem to evolve depending on what I find out there. But I do try and influence the direction my blog and collection go in. So there ...
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This is probably the only bike that has had a pre-new arrival post. I wrote about this Campagnolo 50th Anniversary bike a short while ago when I had it 'on approval'. A kind of try before you buy deal. I had only spoken to the seller online but he trusted ...
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This was a quick decision, a moment of thought before pressing the button. It was a lovely Raleigh SBDU track bike. I knew this bike before seeing it for sale online. I saw details and images of it last year, so when it appeared, I recognised it straight away and ...
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I often ask myself if this bike will ever be finished. Is it good that I think there is always more to do? Will fitting a new Iscaselle Tornado eventually complete this bike? ...
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What happens when a frame looks like an SBDU build but you aren't too sure? A frame may have several features that match an SBDU build, it might look right, but you have doubts. There might not be a frame number, what do you do? How can you be more ...
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There is no doubt that this bike is fitted with a Campagnolo Super Record 50th Anniversary Group. There is also no doubt that this is a Reynolds 753 Ilkeston Raleigh SBDU frame. And there is indeed no doubt that this frame does have an SB frame number. So why am ...
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SB7393 is a 1985 Reynolds 531 Professional SBDU bike that I picked up last year. Since then I've slowly been putting together the missing pieces of the MAVIC puzzle to get this striking red and anthracite coloured Ilkeston bike back on the road ...
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I'm definately dipping my toes into the unknown with this one. This MK. IV Raleigh Professional frame is a break from the norm for me. After seeing it pop up on Hilary's Facebook feed, the part of my head that normally tells me to hit the button and buy stalled ...
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Although an SBDU frame may be best known for the oversize seat stay cap design, it was the SBDU fast back that landed with a bang towards the end of 1982 that almost took the top slot. These are my thoughts, backed up with some data, about the SBDU fast ...
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Did you know I have a "Premier League" of frames within my SBDU collection? I call the lucky ones that make it into this league my 'Featured Frames'. I have a full list here. The competition is real and it's always a tough call about what I feature in this ...
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It's amazing what can happen in a matter of minutes. I had my feet up, relaxing on a Sunday morning, doing nothing much at all other than trying to figure out what to watch on television. Then an email containing a link to a frame dropped into my inbox. I ...
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