BACK TO THE FUTURE
orty one years ago, Raleigh won the Tour de France with the legendary Nottingham-built Ti-Raleigh and this classic model recently enjoyed a limitededition comeback. But is this retrofaithful bike from the 1980s any match for the shiny new Aircode DRS 8.0 from Lapierre – the bike that’ll be ridden by Team Groupama-FDJ in this year’s TdF?
Back in 1980 Raleigh was a global powerhouse of a brand but, in recent years and with the advent of new materials and methods for bike production, Raleigh’s mastery of metal became a footnote in cycling’s recent history. Raleigh needed to rethink its business model and so, over the subsequent four decades, it moved away from manufacturing and into distribution. Today, Raleigh is one of the UK’s biggest distributors of bikes and components, supplying shops throughout the UK with the likes of Lapierre, Haibike, Basil, Vaude, XLC and many more.
ACCEPTABLE IN THE 80S
In July 1980, when Olivia Newton-John, Bob Marley and Kate Bush were riding high in the charts, the Ti-Raleigh-Creda team – riding steel bikes handmade in Nottingham – were leading out Dutch rider Joop Zoetemelk to overall victory in the Tour de France, securing Young Rider classification for fellow Dutchman Johan van der Velde in the process.
The original Ti was built using Reynolds 753 steel tubing, expertly braised and finished at Raleigh’s special bikes division in Ilkeston, Derbyshire. For the 2020 replica, Raleigh
