Building my TI-Raleigh Team Pro 753 (…and the other SBDU Ilkeston bikes I've collected along the way…)
This frame has eventually made it to the top of my list of projects. This is a Jan Raas frame and it has waited too long; the yellow Chesini paint and transfers have to go and the classic TI-Raleigh colours with detailed Fischer fork crown and Carlton Capella lugs have to come back.
What an amazing year!
MORE frames, MORE posts, MORE visitors, MORE views, MORE comments, MORE questions and MORE people helped!
In a year where the size of my collection doubled, I was able to use all the frames at my disposal to add so much more information to the content of the blog. My initial aim 7 years ago was to share everything I found and that is still very much my main focus; when others appear to want to hold onto information, I’ve shared and shared and shared some more! It’s clear from reviewing the more popular posts that anything about timelines and specifications are top of the list, so hopefully I can get more written in 2018! But for now, here is a summary of the 5 posts that received the most views in 2017 (together with total views since the post was published)…
Every new addition gets a good clean and although it was already looking quite good, SH377T still needed a bit of work. Wet oil and grease on the surface of a tube will attract dirt and dust, and that is all that was covering this frame. When a frame is clean I can measure and document it. SH377T is a curious frame and I’ve looked forward to getting to this stage in my process.
In the beginning there was Metric Reynolds 753 tubing, and then later in 1982, a new Imperial Reynolds 753 tube was introduced. The new tube, called 753R, had different diameters, different gauges and was slightly heavier than the original Metric tube. And that’s how it was always known… Metric 753 before 1982 and Imperial 753 available after 1982. That seems quite straightforward doesn’t it?
There is no long winded waffle from me on this post, at least that is the intention… it’s hopefully just a short introduction about a new addition to the collection. There WILL be many more posts about this frame; this frame could fill my blog with new content for an entire year. It has some rather special and unique combinations of features that I have not seen on any other Specialist Bicycle Development Unit (SBDU) frame.
