Raleigh activator ii

This paper examines how, in the period , Raleigh adapted to changing circumstances. These circumstances include customer taste and fashion, developments in marketing techniques, technological change in manufacturing and finished products, and competition from other manufacturers. To provide context, a brief historical background is provided.

There then follows a detailed review of products presented in broadly chronological order. This includes sales trends, product management, the treatment of high-end products and the transfer of ownership from Tube Investments to Derby International. Thereafter there are sections on marketing and production facilities.

The conclusion attempts to assess how well Raleigh performed during the last quarter of the 20th century, and to set this performance in context. Raleigh Street, Nottingham, was the site of a small workshop which in started producing diamond-frame safety bicycles at the rate of three a week.

Frank Bowden, a successful lawyer and convert to cycling, bought the firm in and in December founded The Raleigh Cycle Company as a limited liability private company. In , Sturmey-Archer gears were added to the product range.

Six years later, Bowden bought back Raleigh, which was to remain in family hands for the next quarter century. By the early s, Raleigh was a world leader, capable of producing annually , cycles, , hub gears 15, motorcycles and 50, motorcycle gearboxes. Raleigh survived the Great Depression well. It acquired Humber cycles in and the following year started producing a three-wheeler car.

By , its production of bicycles had grown to nearly , units per annum and the company had stopped making motorcycles and cars. During the Second World War , Raleigh concentrated on munitions work. The name of its budget range, launched in as Gazelle, was changed to Robin Hood, and Raleigh acquired Rudge-Whitworth.

By , it had reached about ,, the majority of which was exported. In , Raleigh produced more than a million cycles. But between and , as increasingly prosperous consumers abandoned the cycle in favour of the car, cycle sales in the UK halved. This led Raleigh in to resume moped production and later to launch a motor scooter. Unfortunately, it was a market that was rapidly shrinking. In spring Raleigh, having stopped making quality lightweight cycles at Nottingham, bought Carlton Cycles, a respected hand-built racing cycle specialist company based nearby at Worksop.

Raleigh urgently needed to increase volume sales to the man and woman in the street. In October , a licensing agreement was drawn up allowing Raleigh to make the new, small-wheeled, unisex, dual-suspension Moulton bicycle. Alex Moulton therefore built his own factory and started delivering Moultons to the trade in March In March , Raleigh showed Moulton the prototype RSW an unsprung small-wheeled shopping bike that was well equipped, more robust and cheaper than the Moulton.

Alex Moulton was prepared to licence an unsprung F-frame small-wheeler, provided the genuine Moulton could be sold through Raleigh dealers. None of these options came to fruition. By mid , Moulton was producing more than 1, units a week.

The new cycle, and the interest it created in cycling as a stylish, modern and practical mode of transport, had arrested the steep post-war decline in UK cycle sales. However, Raleigh was seeing little benefit, except from the Sturmey-Archer hubs it sold to Moulton. In addition, other cycle makers such as Dawes and Royal Enfield were introducing small-wheelers to cash in on the Moulton boom. Scaled-down juvenile versions, such as the RSW14, also sold well. However, the Wisp, a moped based on the RSW16 and launched in spring , proved a commercial failure.

By , both were suffering. In , but with relatively little publicity, Raleigh introduced the Twenty. At one time or another, it was sold under almost every brand name owned by Raleigh. Following the launch of the Moulton, the UK cycle market grew reasonably consistently until , when for the first time sales exceeded the level.

In the late s, Schwinn and other US cycle makers had discovered a grassroots Californian trend towards high-rise cycles for adolescents and were now capitalising on it. It was too expensive and too late for the American market but the following year it was released in the UK, where it was hugely successful. In its ten-year production, about 1. Importantly, it pushed the price point for toy bicycles to unimagined heights. In Raleigh ceased moped production and again concentrated on cycle sales.

Two years later an 18" wheel scaled-down version of the Twenty was introduced, and in another model aimed at youngsters was launched, the Commando. The following year, Raleigh invoked the break clause in their agreement with Alex Moulton and stopped making his cycles. The company also retired the RSW and concentrated all small-wheel production on the Twenty series, reputedly their biggest seller at the time.

In the USA between and , demand for lightweight ten-speed cycles increased forty-fold. Raleigh Record and Grand Prix models, based on Carlton designs, sold there in massive numbers. At one point they were being made in Nottingham, at Worksop by Carlton , in the Netherlands by Gazelle, by Raleigh Ireland and possibly even in Malaysia.

By the eve of the period on which this paper focuses, Raleigh was therefore doing reasonably well. It had survived the virtual death of utility cycling in the UK and its poor management of the Moulton affair. It was now benefiting from the renewed interest in cycling that the maverick small-wheeler had generated and which was being sustained in the UK by a gradual increase in popularity of other types of cycle, such as ten-speed drop-handlebar machines.

With the Chopper, Raleigh had created a new market in the UK and other developed countries for expensive toy cycles, which it continued to exploit. Moreover, in contrast to toys such as the Chopper, it offered fine Carlton lightweights to the discerning enthusiast. Thus, in Raleigh enjoyed record sales , units in the UK, although market share was beginning to decline slightly.

Overseas, Raleigh was also doing quite well. In the Netherlands, not only was it was selling 50, cycles a year under its own name: Gazelle, the leading Dutch manufacturer, now owned by Raleigh, was selling a further , The company had recently opened a new factory in Nigeria, where Raleigh was selling some , cycles a year.

Producing large numbers of old-fashioned roadsters was what Raleigh did most profitably. Annual sales of cycles in the UK during the last quarter of the 20th century rose dramatically, from around 1. Sales were flat initially, rose steeply in the late s and early s, dipped somewhat in the mid s, then grew until the end of the century. Much of this loss of market share is ascribable to imports. Meanwhile the country exported more than a million bikes, 38 times as many as it imported, and the majority of them Raleighs.

By , while exports remained at about the same level, there were nine times as many imports. Six years later exports were overtaken by imports, mainly from Europe and including makers such as Peugeot and Puch.

Then came the mountain bike boom and another step change. When Oakley moved from design to marketing, Rix went with him, seeking a change of career and a new life following divorce. Further advancement was difficult in the design department because of the high levels of technical expertise required. Marketing, she reasoned, depended more on common sense, the ability to perform analyses, flair and being aware of what people wanted.

Rix had always liked bicycles and had strong views on marketing, particularly to women. Via evening classes, Yvonne Rix obtained a diploma in marketing and was promoted to assistant product manager.

She continued studying by day release, was awarded a diploma in management studies and became product manager in This involved developing products, analysing the market, working out pricing, costing and profitability, and programming the factory. In this role, she reported to the marketing director, a member of the Raleigh board.

Below are the significant models for which Yvonne Rix was responsible, starting with some inherited from the recent past. The Raleigh Twenty, launched in , and its derivatives were still selling well in A folding version, the Stowaway, had been introduced in , although the vast majority of Twenties were rigid framed. From the mids, production of Twenties gradually declined but continued well into the s.

During the time that the Twenty Stowaway was in production, the model was under pressure from an increasing flood of cheap foreign imports. U-frame small-wheeled folding bikes, particularly from Eastern Europe, were available from cycle shops, through mail order and even from petrol stations.

In , Raleigh replaced the Stowaway with a U-frame folder of its own, again giving it an ex-Moulton name, Safari. In , it was renamed, this time reusing the name of the RSW16 folder, the Compact. The Chopper had been the first Raleigh cycle designed specifically for children: hitherto, all juvenile machines had been scaled-down versions of adult machines. Launched in , the Chopper remained a significant seller, although sales were now falling. The next follow-up to the Chopper was the Grifter, launched three years later, in June It resembled a BMX bike but with mudguards and a three-speed hub.

Therefore, it could never compete with the welded frames being introduced in the US. However, as Chopper sales continued to slide, the Grifter was presented as the natural successor. It sold well. The models discussed thus far already existed when Yvonne Rix became product manager. Following her appointment, she noticed older teenagers in England riding conventional cycles fitted with dirt track racing handlebars and sorbo protective padding.

This observation led her to instigate the Bomber. To get the desired image and line while minimising the need for retooling, the front end came from a bicycle already in the range, a Nigerian roadster providing the sloping cantilevered back end.

Equipped with chunky tyres and specially-made handlebars, the Bomber somewhat resembled an early mountain bike but was well ahead of the MTB craze and was developed independently of it.

Launched in , it was promoted in an advertising campaign featuring pop star Toyah Wilcox. Raleigh was very late into BMX. The board was reluctant to introduce single-speed stripped down junior machines, as there was less profit in each compared with the Grifter, especially for Sturmey-Archer. They hoped BMX would be a passing fad. It was not and the company initially missed a big opportunity. There were consequently some high level sackings.

The high street auto accessories and cycle chain store Halfords was meanwhile heavily and successfully promoting BMX. This followed a major initiative by their cycle marketing manager David Duffield who had launched the Moulton and had later worked for Raleigh. She came back with the Burner range, which was launched in and rapidly sold over a million units. When Yvonne Rix visited the USA and the Far East in , she formed the view that mountain bikes would eventually come down from the hills and onto the streets.

The reaction from the Raleigh board was, who needs mountain bikes in England where there are few mountains? Not a woman to be easily dissuaded, she kept up the pressure for several years.

Yet there was still very little interest in mountain biking in the UK: a review of the UK cycling scene in the International Cycling Guide made no mention of it. Eventually, Yvonne Rix persuaded the Raleigh board that a move into mountain bike production made sense. Offered in 5, 15 and speed versions, it was built using traditional Raleigh roadster-style brazing. However, initial sales were disappointing. The MTB market in the UK remained relatively small, with few domestic players and no meaningful presence yet from American or Taiwanese companies.

Evidence of this approach is particularly strong in her marketing towards women. The Wisp not to be confused with the earlier RSW-based moped was a Rix concept bike, with a mixte frame finished in pale blue with dark blue flashes and matching handlebar tape and saddle, both finished in blue suede. Launched in , it sold 50, in the first year. Rix shared the view that advertising aimed at women was very important.

With the Raleigh Collection, comprising the Wisp, Cameo and Misty models, a PR company was used to present bicycles in the manner of a fashion clothing collection.

These bikes were developed using ideas that had been piloted in the none too successful Vektar, in collaboration with a small specialist electronics company in Spondon, Derbyshire.

Street Wolf, a 16" wheel machine aimed at year-olds was the most popular model, the others being Wild Cat, a 20" wheel bike for year-olds, and Wolf Cub, a junior version with stabilisers. In , Sturmey-Archer made workers redundant. S-A ceased single-speed coaster brake production in and two years later Dynohubs were dropped, 46 years after their introduction. Derailleurs were getting better, cheaper and more fashionable. But Sturmey-Archer was not encouraged to develop them and, although S-A had prototyped a seven-speed hub in , TI was not prepared to invest in it.

Not until the mid s, after Sachs and Shimano had introduced 7-speed hubs, did S-A market one. By , Raleigh itself was suffering badly, as BMX rapidly died. Being essentially a bicycle designed for a seven-year-old but ridden by year-olds, there was no moving up to bigger machines as riders grew. I got a Max in , and regretted it as it was so much slower. I just got one for free, I do need to replace a brake cable but that is about it. I have had 3 bikes stolen in the past 18 months, all with solid D-Locks.

I wanted to find one that is crap enough that no one would ever want to steal it. I think I have found the perfect bike. I just had mine stolen. Your email address will not be published. A packed-lunch at Yelverton or Meavy, supplemented with cake from the village shop, before pushing on around Burrator Reservoir, then home via Wotter and Bottle Hill.

I can remember bike snobbery creeping into the equation, even then. Indexed or rapid fire shifters, tubing , and true off-road tires were what everybody wanted. The coolest or wealthiest lad had a Marin Muirwoods, which I believe most of us coveted, and for good reason — it was an excellent and stunning mountain bike.

Sadly, I have no photos of my own Raleigh Marauder — the photos below are taken from a gumtree advert of the same model as mine, which appears to be essentially all original. Virtually all components are steel, including the wheels. Together with the gas-pipe steel tubing of the frame made for a heavy, solid-feeling bike. The high profile cantilevers somehow compensated for the awful brake levers. Image from retrobike, here. Seen on this forum. For example:.

A rather nice, vintage Raleigh mountain bike came up for sale recently on retrobike , which set me tripping on nostalgia via google image search. Raleigh did some excellent mountain bikes back in the day — see my titanium Dynatech Diablo and my titanium M Trax , for example.

Their Dynatechs were still a bit cool , but other UK brands or imported American mountain bikes were the new must-haves for the coolest mountain bikers. At least this is how I remember things as a teenaged mountain biker….

However, twenty years on a bit of digging on google and retrobike yields some great examples of surviving 90s Raleighs. Perhaps this is partly down to details like the lugged frame design and the Raleigh head badge, which hint at the heritage of bicycle manufacture at Raleigh and give a vintage feel to an already retro bicycle. Pure awesomeness in the form of a Reynolds mang-moly steel frame.

Photo from a retrobike thread dedicated to Raleigh MTBs. Reynolds Modern mountain bike technology is incredible. One of the great things about mountain bikes during the 90s was their simplicity. No shocks to tune up, no hydraulics to bleed. Thinking about going out for a ride? Just grab the bike, check the tire pressure, squeeze the brakes, double check the most crucial bolts are tight enough, and off you go.

When everybody used 26 inch wheels, borrowing a suitably sized replacement inner tube from a riding buddy was a heck of a lot easier than today, what with 26 inch, b and 29 inch. A single size of wheel also made thing simpler when upgrading to the latest frame — just fit your existing wheels to the new frame, without worrying about whether to make the jump to a trendier wheel size. As a material for frames and cycling components, steel is hugely under-rated.

Steel is cheap, strong, fatigue resistant, and easy to repair. Rear mech hangers can be bent back into alignment numerous times before they are ruined; damaged or rusted tubes can be removed and replaced; disc tabs can be added easily to usher a retro steel frame into the 21st century. There is also an argument to be made that steel bikes are the ethical choice. A good, hand-made steel frame will last a lifetime if cared for properly. Not only are shifts between chain-rings much less frequent than shifts on the rear cassette.

But indexing also forces you to use a single front derailleur position, which can take a lot of tuning to get just right. Goodbye grinding chain, hello perfect front derailleur alignment! However, concerns about bike weight seems to be more about vanity than performance.

Unless you find yourself regularly carrying the bike over obstacles, or your bike is super-heavy, just lose some body weight instead. Originally branded as part of the Raleigh Dynatech range until , and part of the Raleigh M Trax range from to , the demise of the Duo Tech frameset came when the cost of materials and fabrication rose to such a level that the frameset stopped being profitable — at which point Raleigh switched to more conventional designs and materials.

After removing the reflectors and adding modern SPD pedals, at The bike has potential for some easy weigh savings, such as replacing the steel stem, bar and seat post with lighter aluminium versions, and fitting lighter tires. The components match well those listed for the Peak: The Summit would have come with a suspension fork, otherwise being identical to the Peak: Lower down the range were the Apex, which would have had an Exage groupset not Deore LX and a Girvin suspension stem: And below the Apex were the Strata and Ravine, again with cheaper groupsets: None of these bikes match the colour of my purple Raleigh.

So what is it? Sign up to Vintage Steel Rider. Things I look out for A rule of thumb is that buying a complete or nearly complete bike is more cost effective than buying all the parts separately.

Which bikes to choose? Dynatech Voyager with Dynacurve: Compare the above to the non-Dynacurve smaller bike below: Dynatech Voyager without Dynacurve And another example of a Mission, again from retrobike.

Cover of a Dynatech catalogue The innovation made by Raleigh for this range of bikes was the bonding together of the main tubes, often from different materials, to build a frame that is light yet strong. The Raleigh M Trax was my first serious mountain bike. Dynatech steel seat post Kalloy. Steel quill stem and steel handlebar ripe for upgrade to aluminum!