Not only is the Raleigh one of the oldest cycling brands of the world, it also is popular for its racing heritage. Which leads us to the second brand name on this bike: Carlton.
Carlton has been a very old road bike manufacture from Worksop, England. The much larger Raleigh bought Carlton to have facilities capable of building real high class bikes.
And indeed, the know-how of Carlton Cycles proved to be very beneficial for Raleigh.
It even led to the set-up of their famous Specialist Bicycle Development Unit. The result were numerous championships for Raleigh-sponsored teams
At the peak of sportive triumph stood the Dutch cycling Team TI Raleigh which was extremely successful from the 1970s to the 1980s.
Many famous champions rode in this équipe, among them Joop Zoetemelk, Jan Raas, Gerrie Knetemann, Hennie Kuiper, Dave Lloyd, Urs Freuler, Johan van der Velde and Didi Thurau.
Our Raleigh Competition 12 stems from 1985 and it's a high class bicycle indeed. The frame is made of Reynolds 531c tubeset, where "c" stands for competition. With slightly shinner gauge than standard 531 it's lighter and has been used for racing and performance bikes. The frame has some nice features like the shot-in seatstays and the overall manufacturing quality is high.
Another reason to consider this British racer is the equipment. Shimano 600 Ultegra groupset works well and it's paired with fine parts like Cinelli stem and bars or nice SR Raleigh seatpost. And the last cherry on the top - the wheelset is freshly laced in our workshop using Shimano hubs and NOS Ambrosio clinchers!
